All We Can Give is All We Have

This blog is very heavily referenced to: THE GRAVE ROBBER by Mark Batterson

J Lo Questions...
Am I satisfied with my life?
Is there anything about my life that I would like to change?
Do I believe in stuff (including spiritual matters) just because it's always been done that way?
Do I search the scriptures for truth on my own?
Do I search for God on my own or do I depend on the preacher?
Mark writes a great deal about the way things can be changed and why we sometimes keep the status quo. The following part of this blog are lessons taken from THE GRAVE ROBBER.
"If you want to repeat history, do it the same way it's always been done."
"Jesus offended the Pharisees with great intentionality and consistency."
Pharisees, over many centuries, compiled a list of do's and don't's called the MITZVOT.
It included 613 CODIFIED LAWS!
There were 248 POSITIVE COMMANDS.
There were 365 NEGATIVE COMMANDS.
Recall the miracle of Jesus healing the man at the Pool of Bethesda (found in John 5). Jesus told him to stand up, pick up his mat and walk. The man was healed instantly! The man, who had been an invalid for 38 years, broke the MITZVOT by carrying something (his mat) on the Sabbath.
My reaction: WOW! Are you kidding me?! We must NOT continue doing something just because it's been done that way for a long time. Especially, if we are making up rules that shackle people. Jesus came to set us free!
Mark does some in-depth teaching at this point.
1st Order Change is BEHAVIORAL. It's doing things different (little by little).
2nd Order Change is QUANTUM. This is change that happens all at once. It sees things differently. It's thinking about the problem differently. If Jesus would have tried to solve the problem as presented, he would have repositioned the man closer to the pool. However, Jesus changed his life by changing the rules.
* Convergent thinking is whittling away at a problem until you find the solution for it.
* Divergent thinking is the ability to look at the natural and see the supernatural.
Rolf Smith did a study:
* Children ask 125 probing questions per day.
* Adults ask 6 probing questions per day.
Mark concludes WE LOSE 119 QUESTIONS PER DAY AS ADULTS!
He goes on to say: Our imagination dies. It's also the day miracles stop happening.
We're too quick to explain what we don't understand.
God is predictably unpredictable.
Recall the miracle of feeding the 5,000 (men), plus the women and children. Here is a boy with 5 small barley loaves and 2 small fish. But, how far will that go among so many? There are about 40,000 residents of Galilee and about half (or 20,000 ) are there.
Phillip's response: IT WOULD TAKE MORE THAN HALF A YEAR'S WAGES TO BUY ENOUGH FOOD FOR EACH ONE TO HAVE A BITE.
Mark's insightful response: THE LITTLE BOY DIDN'T LET WHAT HE DIDN'T HAVE KEEP HIM FROM GIVING WHAT HE DID HAVE.
J Lo's learning from God through Mark Batterson: All we can give is all we have.