A Good Idea

"Since you are God's idea, you are a good idea!"
--Max Lucado

This is Holly's blog about God / God-stuff.
(And sometimes she'll talk about other stuff too!)
Feb 17
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It Seems Impossible

This song was written for my beloved. Every time I think about him, I have to realize all over again that our love isn’t just a a fairytale; it’s not a just a dream. The love we have is real> Life feels so perfect when I’m with him, because he was made just for me. Praise God for making someone so perfect for me!

Jonathan David Stafford Pike, I am forever yours :]

—-
It Seems Impossible by Holly Kwasek

When I am near you
My heart bursts
All I know that I know is that
You take away my hurt

Oh, oh, oh,
I just don’t know, know, know woah

This love
I know it is feels so surreal
This love
It’s just dream
And I just don’t know, know, know, woah
That this love is real

Look into my eyes
Whisper in my ear
When I remember you
You take my fear

Oh, oh, oh
I think I know, know, know woah

This love
I know it feels so surreal
This love
Can it be it’s just a dream,
cuz I think I know know know woah
This love is real

Cuz when I remember you
How can it be
That anything, anything else
Can be just for me
You’re just for me

So I think I know know know woah
This love
Yeah it’s so surreal
This love
It’s just a dream… can it be?
I know
This love
Its just for me
And I know I know, woah-oh
This love is real.

Jan 26
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Why the World Sucks

According to Genesis, the world was perfectly created and all was “good.” There was harmony between God, the earth, and humans because humans were created from the good earth. It may be presumed from this text that humans are God’s favourite creation because it is the only creation which was made in the likeness of the Creator. It is also the only creation on earth which actively demonstrates the ability to choose to follow God. This choice is demonstrated by the trees that God had put in the middle of the garden: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It would seem that God’s only rule was to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which makes sense. The only reason why rules are created is to keep people from doing something “wrong,” but the only wrong thing that the humans, Adam and Eve, could do was choose against God.

One day, Eve was standing near the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and a serpent (which the Bible says is Satan) is there as well. He tricked Eve into thinking that she could be like God if she ate from the fruit of the tree, knowing good and evil. (The ironic thing about this deception, in my opinion, is that Eve was already like God, made bearing his image and only doing what was good.) Eve thought that the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil looked tasty and thought it would bring her wisdom, so she took it and ate it. She gave some to Adam, who was with her. It was at this moment that they had “broken the rule.” They had decided to do whatever they thought was best instead of remembering that God knew what was best for them. This is the first sin – the first time that someone went against God’s say-so.

Adam and Eve should have known that God was like their parent, only making that rule to protect them. They felt ashamed of their current state (nakedness) immediately after eating the fruit. They made themselves clothing out of fig leaves and hid themselves when they heard God in the garden. When questioned, Adam and Eve confessed the way many children do when they are caught breaking the rules, “Yeah, I did it, but it’s not my fault! He/she made me!” God responded with a number of curses that many people say are either consequences or punishments, but I say that they are both. (For example, the serpent’s curse involves a punishment in that his tricking Eve would not automatically cause him to be cursed above all animals, and a consequence in the sense that it is only because he had tricked Eve that God needs to have someone come and save humanity from the serpent’s trickery and the sin they’ve fallen into.)

As a result of these curses all harmony and perfectness is broken – this is the reason why bad things happen in the world. The reason for gender inequality is because of the consequence for Eve’s actions: the fact that she will, in sin, want to be above her husband, but God will not allow it. The harmony is also broken between humans and the earth in that, as punishment, the earth would produce thorns and it would be harder for them to cultivate the land. No longer would it simply produce for them. The reason for death in the world is that it is a consequence of sin. God warned the first humans not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or else they would die, and they ate anyway. He says to Adam that they no longer have eternal life and that now, because of their actions, they will return to the dust that they were created from. He also initiates the killing of animals to provide clothing for his creation, showing that he still loves them.

The Enuma Elish, a Babylonian religion, has a different answer for these questions. There was a goddess named Tiamat (meaning “chaos”) who was split into the heavens and the earth. The gods decided to make humans as their slaves and so took the blood of the god Kingu (who was an evil traitor) and the mud of Tiamat and created humans. Therefore, the earth and humans are inherently evil and chaotic because they are made out of evil and chaotic properties. This would be the reason for death, inequality, and evil in the world: People are just like that.

With why the world sucks aside, what I personally find perplexing is why no one seems to ask why good things happen in the world. To those who believed in the Enuma Elish I would ask this question: Why do good things happen in the world? How can anything good come out of people who are so inherently rotten? Perhaps there is an answer to that question that we didn’t go over in class, but as a Christian I’m glad that I have a God who is so perfect and loving that he extends what Paul calls “common grace” unto all of humanity, allowing good things to happen even to those who hate him, and that because of Jesus he extends mercy unto all of his creation should they choose it.

~holly Kwasek

Jan 15
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Jan 04
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for sale soon

Mar 12
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As the leper has patches on his skin which repulse those around him and force him into isolation, so we have patches on our heart that cause repulsive behaviors. For this reason, we need to go to Jesus, as the leper in Mark 1:40 does, and say, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.” I understand that some people have a problem with saying to God the if you are willing part of that request, but it is the most important part of it. The Leper’s request was one which humbled himself in the presence of God. Anyone can make God his/her genie and say, “God, make me clean!” The art of making requests to God is in recognizing that we are subject to his will; it’s not the other way around. The Bible tells us in verse 41 that Jesus is filled with compassion when we bring this request to him, and we expect this to mean cleansing. But it doesn’t always. I have found that there are two ways that God responds to us when we bring this type of request to him.

The first is the more obvious of the two, the one that I have been speaking about. Reading on, the Bible says that Jesus “reached out his hand and touched the man. ‘I am willing,’ Jesus said. ‘Be clean!’” Immediately after Jesus said this, the leper was clean of his disease. This is the response that we constantly expect from God, the reason why we think God is always willing to make us clean, and the reason why we blame our problems and life-struggles on him. It is because of this expectation that so many people are disappointed with the answer to their prayer. People forget that God is our Creator, and therefore our Master, and we must submit to His will rather than asking Him to adhere to our own will. Yes, God wants us to be healthy and what not - that is why He has prepared His kingdom for us and the reason why there will be no more pain or suffering when we get there. However, we tend to forget that we are not there. We are here. We are sinners. We are proud. This is the reason why God sometimes does not cleanse us, but rather responds in a second way.

In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul explains the second response that we so often forget. He explains the reason why we must include if it is your will in our requests to God. Paul wrote, “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me” (verse 7). There is some dispute as to what Paul’s thorn really was. Many say that his thorn was ceaseless temptation, others say it was eye problems, or a speech disability, constant opponents…the list could go on, and some people get stuck in trying to figure out what Paul’s thorn was without giving any thought to what their own thorn is. Paul pleaded three times with God to remove this thorn. What are you constantly pleading with God to remove? My thorn is a strong tongue, as described by James 3:1-12. I am constantly fighting the temptation to loosen the reigns on my tongue and let it speak freely. Everyone has one, so what is your thorn? Have you ever given up on God because of your thorn? Many people do. They think, “I have prayed and prayed and no change has come. Even God cannot take the thorn from my side.” We can all learn from Paul because he reminds us that God does not always grant cleansing. In regards to our thorn, God replies to our request as He replied to Paul. He says to us, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (verse 9).

And so, God will either cleanse you of the patches on your heart, or God will allow Satan to torment you for His own good purposes and always within His perfect will. But how do we respond to these two completely different answers to prayer?

Cleansing is a really big deal. If you pray to God that the leprosy of your heart is removed and it is, you have a great blessing on your hands. In Bible times, the cleansing of leprosy is seen as something only God can do because it was tied to spiritual sin and proves His deity. The same is true for the leprosy of the heart. What do you do with such a great blessing? Jesus tells the cleansed leper in Mark 1:43, “See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” When God cleanses us, He doesn’t say that we should go boast about it to everyone. Rather, he wants us to show people that we have been cleansed by our actions. That is not to say that if you have wronged someone that you should not apologize for it. But you should not say, “I’m sorry for this and that, it was wrong of me. Now see how God has cleansed my heart? I prayed to Him and see what He has done? Blahblahblahbragbragbrag.” I believe the correct response would be to say, “I am sorry for this and that, it was wrong of me,” then show them with your actions that God has cleansed you. If they say to you, “What brought about this change?” then you should reply, “God has shown me grace and cleansed my heart.” They will believe you because you have shown them how God has worked in you, and it will become a testimony to them of how mighty God is.

About the thorn in our flesh, I would go so far as to say that everyone has or will have one. When you go to God and say, “If you are willing, you can make me clean,” and He replies, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness,” how are you to respond? The response to this answer to prayer is practically opposite to the response to cleansing. 2 Corinthians 12 talks about how Paul was given great revelations. The thorn in his side was to keep him humble; to not become haughty, but to remember that it was God alone who made him who he was and that it was God alone who provided such wisdom for Paul. So that we do not become haughty, conceited, too proud, or exulted above measure, we must delight in our weaknesses (verse 9-10). Rather, delight in them and boast about them. Boast about the thorn in your side so that people can see that it is God alone who has provided great and amazing things in this life for you.

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