Some when they think of chaos the get excited. The hustle no bustle of trying to get things back in order for some seems like a puzzle, a challenge, something fun. Me as I grow older dislike chaos. I like peace, for after a long hard day of sweating and being sore I enjoy peace, quiet and cleanliness. I go home to my home where my wife runs a daycare. Children do not appreciate the quality of order. They think 5 seconds in front of their face. Because they were made the center of their universe when they were babies they are traveling through the long journey to relinquish their self centeredness. When I was a new father I quickly developed house rules, not to be mean but to instill order and peace. God is much the same way. God gave Moses the 10 Commandments not to rule his people with an iron fist but rather to cultivate peace on the earth that he created. God wants us to love, and to love we must have respect for one another. God didn't give us 5,000 rules but a mere 10. When we respect each other do not lie steal from one another we can love. When we refuse to look at what another has and be envious we can love. When we can respect someone else's wife or husband and not try to lure them away from their mate we keep love intact. When we rest on the 7th day we can regain peace and center through going to church. We can learn and recharge and find community with our fellow Christians. We have a place where we belong and have refuge from this world that constantly tells us to just have it our way and feed our egos, but we have to want that peace. We have to be will to accept the idea that we are not the center of our universe. We have to be willing to love everyone we meet like we love ourselves. We have to accept the fact hat everything in this world was made to help teach us to love so that after this temporary life we might move on to heaven where peace and happiness fill eternity. We have to accept that even as messed up as this world is made by man and woman it works extremely well because it was designed by God, but that's the tricky part. Can we accept that? Can we believe that? Are we soil that God can plant his word in. Will his ways take root and spring up and bare much fruit for us, others and God, or will we refuse or turn away quickly and remain a barren plot of dirt where weeds and thorns that choke life reside?
Exodus 20:1-17
1And God spoke all these words, saying, 2"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3"You shall have no other gods before me. 4"You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. 8"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor, and do all your work; 10but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; 11for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it. 12"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you. 13"You shall not kill. 14"You shall not commit adultery. 15"You shall not steal. 16"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor's."
Psalms 19:8-11
7The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; 8the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; 9the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever; the ordinances of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. 10More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
Matthew 13:18-23
18"Hear then the parable of the sower. 19When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path. 20As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away. 22As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."
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