Author: gospelgal1

OUR ATTENTION SPAN

I was on my way to check my rent online when I passed via Yahoo and this catching write up on Kardashian and West kind of sidelined my purpose on Yahoo for a minute and led to this brief write up.  I briefly browsed it and it reminded me of the reason I can not only not not marry but also why I must stay focussed to achieve my ultimate goal – return to the Original Man I was created to be.

My goal requires that I focus my whole ATTENTION on the Lord – that I breathe, sleep, meditate and decide on everything with my attention focussed on the Word of God until even my tiniest cell gets drenched in it and it becomes my default, so I absolutely have no time for competitors to my God of this nature because then my goal will be a FORGOTTEN issue, given our ATTENTION SPAN:

 

But it turned out that West was actually upset about something else: He felt that if Saint needed a particular band-aid, Kim would immediately get it.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God. Are you fighting with Saint? Is this a thing?’ ” she said.

Later, Kim admitted her fights with West were “really stupid and lately, we’ve been having a lot.”

“I think so many husbands feel neglected when you start having kids and then all of their attention gets taken away,” she surmised.

“Sometimes men still want to be treated as like, the first baby,” said Khloé. “I know Kim is so overwhelmed and I think sometimes it’s easy to get distracted, or you think because they’re adults they can take care of themselves, but your husband still wants you to take care of him. I’m sure with three kids you’re tired at the end of the day and you don’t make that a priority, but she really has to.” (COURTESY OF YAHOO)

 

This is why in the story of the Guests invited to the Wedding Banquet, those who had just married said: “I cannot come…” Their attention was elsewhere. So, for them the CROSSING will have to wait for their time of DEATH. When they cannot put it off anymore. Or can they wake up somewhere during their adulthood and change priorities????!!!

As far as I have gotten with reading my Bible, there are two ways into the Kingdom of Heaven  – one is through death and destruction and the other is through letting go of things earthly, while you are still on this earth and sending your soul ahead of you as a living sacrifice unto the Lord. That way, the spiritual part of you crosses and leaves the physical part of you still walking this dry earth. In other words, God receives your soul and deals with it even as you are still walking and talking on this earth. However,  this way goes via DENYING yourself and CARRYING YOUR CROSS even as you walk this earth. Very few will go this way because there is lots to take their ATTENTION away from this path, that is why it is called the Narrow way – very few there be that find it. Abraham found it, that is why he left his father’s home, his people and went to a place that the Lord would show him. We all can attain Abraham’s bosom, if we can walk the Lazarus path of DENYING ONESELF AND CARRYING YOUR CROSS.

Alas! There are so many things that draw our attention: I would like to build a house, marry a wife, own vineyards, etc. and thus goes our ATTENTION…. Yet, when you receive these things, they become common place and lose their touch. And will you divorce then and marry another?

Me thinks sending your soul ahead is the safer option…

Abraham had a wife, but most of the time, she was in the tent doing something and he was out there communing with the Lord – the Lord guiding him to do this or that. He also had livestock and servants. Indeed one day, he was talking with the Lord and the Lord asked him, ‘where is Sarah?”  ‘In the tent,’ Abraham replied. Was it that their life of those days, as nomads, could allow for the man to have all the time to look after his sheep and manage servants and only have time for his wife at night and for having children? At least this is what Jacob and his wives felt like – they only came together to conceive! And the rest of the day, Jacob was with his sheep. When would poor Jacob have time to complain about ‘attention,’ from either Rachel or Leah,, the West/Kim way?

It seems to me that if you can marry and MAKE ALL THE TIME for the Lord, you can also make it, but you will have to make certain hard decisions about your life, which your wife must be willing to go by – that is the other thing about marriage – consensus!

And I guess these are the things that were going on through Paul’s mind when he was debating these things in I Corinthians 7,  Phew, what a debate?!!

1 Corinthians 7 New International Version (NIV)

Concerning Married Life

7 Now for the matters you wrote about: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. 3 The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. 5 Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 I say this as a concession, not as a command. 7 I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

8 Now to the unmarried[a] and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9 But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife.

12 To the rest I say this (I, not the Lord): If any brother has a wife who is not a believer and she is willing to live with him, he must not divorce her. 13 And if a woman has a husband who is not a believer and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

15 But if the unbeliever leaves, let it be so. The brother or the sister is not bound in such circumstances; God has called us to live in peace. 16 How do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or, how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

Concerning Change of Status

17 Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches.18 Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts. 20 Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.

21 Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22 For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. 24 Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.

Concerning the Unmarried

25 Now about virgins: I have no command from the Lord, but I give a judgment as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. 26 Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for a man to remain as he is. 27 Are you pledged to a woman? Do not seek to be released. Are you free from such a commitment? Do not look for a wife. 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.

29 What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; 30 those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; 31 those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

32 I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. 33 But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— 34 and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. 35 I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.

36 If anyone is worried that he might not be acting honorably toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if his passions are too strong[b] and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married. 37 But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind not to marry the virgin—this man also does the right thing. 38 So then, he who marries the virgin does right, but he who does not marry her does better.[c]

39 A woman is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord. 40 In my judgment, she is happier if she stays as she is—and I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

Footnotes:

  1. 1 Corinthians 7:8 Or widowers
  2. 1 Corinthians 7:36 Or if she is getting beyond the usual age for marriage
  3. 1 Corinthians 7:38 Or 36 If anyone thinks he is not treating his daughter properly, and if she is getting along in years (or if her passions are too strong), and he feels she ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. He should let her get married. 37 But the man who has settled the matter in his own mind, who is under no compulsion but has control over his own will, and who has made up his mind to keep the virgin unmarried—this man also does the right thing. 38 So then, he who gives his virgin in marriage does right, but he who does not give her in marriage does better.

 

I JUST KNOW ONE THING – MY LIFE IS SIMPLER THE WAY IT IS. And may the others come up with their own formula’s too – JUST AS LONG AS THEY CAN KEEP THE LORD FIRST AND GIVE HIM ALL THE TIME HE REQUIRES TO SAVE THEIR SOULS.

 

 

 

MY PERSONAL THOUGHTS

01 October 2018

There is nothing greater in this World than to find the Lord your God and following His plan to fix you back as you ought to have been right from the beginning. I know very many who have delayed in the physical realm still have their doubts about His existence, but I can assure you, that unless you follow His Word and put it into practice, you will never know for sure if He exists or not, yet He does. Unless you have followed His word and tested it, do not even begin to argue with this because it is a proven fact.  Those of us who gave Him the benefit of a doubt and did as He says in His Word, have found Him and it has been worth every trouble we went through to discover that actually this is not all there is to life. Our life ceased to be an empty shell of a body and became an eternal reality. We have interacted with the spiritual world and have discovered that they actually exist and are very much involved in influencing the lives of those who live on earth. Wishing everyone the opportunity to discover this REAL world and not live in the seemingly solid but actually flighty one, for this physical one you see is evanescent.

Discovering Him brings peace, joy and love – in that order – that you have never ever felt before – it is so pure you cannot contain it in this physical body you have – so that He has kept it for last – he kept it in heaven for you for last. “Where your treasure is,  there also will be your heart.” What He does is give you a fore-taste of it so you can know what to expect because anything kept this side of Eden gets polluted, but access it by giving your ‘soul’ to Him as a living sacrifice (Baptism in plenty of water – like the Restored altar of the Lord that Elijah flooding it  with water offering a bull and the fire came down from heaven and accept it. Your soul will be accepted in similar manner by the Lord and managed directly from heaven. Don’t be mean to your own soul, give it the opportunity to revive – you will never regret it.

 

Proverbs 15:32 He who ignores discipline despises himself, but whoever heeds correction gains understanding.