Thoughts on The Shack.

This post is coming straight out of my report for a class.

I am currently reading The Shack and it is just blowing my mind away.

It is such a good book and I recommend it to everyone.

This was just my thoughts on a few of the pieces from the book.

Imagine and enjoy.

“Consider our little friend here,” she began. “Most birds were created to fly. Being grounded for them is a limitation within their ability to fly, not the other way around.” She paused to let Mack think about her statement. “You, on the other hand, were created to be loved. So for you to live as if you were unloved is a limitation, not the other way around.” ---- “Living unloved is like clipping a bird’s wings and removing its ability to fly. Not something I want for you.” (pg. 97)

This little dialogue between Papa and Mack explains a lot to me. We were made to be loved and when we don’t allow God to love us and people to love us, then we are losing our ability. Our characteristic and our best talent goes down the drain. Just like if you clip a bird’s wings, when we don’t allow God to love us, we’re not flying, we’re not what we call, human.

“The problem is that many folks try to grasp some sense of who I am by taking the best version of themselves, projecting that to the nth degree, factoring in all the goodness they can perceive which often isn’t much, and then call that God. And while it may seem like a noble effort, the truth is that it falls pitifully short of who I really am. I’m not merely the best version of you that you can think of. I am far more than that, above and beyond all that you can ask or think.” (pg. 98)

This part is so true. So many times, we as mere humans think that we can explain God and know God fully. We draw up this image in our heads and put the best qualities that we can think of, but God is not one to be grasped. Our finite minds do not have a glimpse of the glory of God. We don’t even understand the simplest things of God because God is so grand and that’s the amazing part. God is far beyond our comprehension and human minds, and we need to realize, who made who.

“Who wants to worship a God who can be fully comprehended, eh? Not much mystery in that.”(pg. 101)

Really, who would want to worship someone that they know fully about? That would make it like worshipping your best friend that you’ve been down with since you were babies. For me, it would be worshipping my best friend Ben and that just doesn’t seem right to me. There is a sense of awe and excitement to not knowing God fully. It would honestly be really weird if God knew me fully because then I would not feel like God is even really worthy to be worshipped because I would be somewhat at his level since I knew everything about Him. The mystery is what keeps me clinging on to Him and find out more about Him throughout my lifetime.

“Love and relationship. All love and relationship is possible for you only because it already exists within Me, within God myself. Love is not the limitation; love is the flying. I am love.”(pg. 101)

Love within the Trinity itself is the reason we even know what love is and the reason why we could even feel it. This helps me to understand why God is love and how the Trinity works within themselves. This is great because love does not just appear out of nowhere and God doesn’t just command us to love one another and Him, but He himself does the very thing and He is the very thing! There is love within the fellowship of the Trinity and that explains why God is so for love and goes so in detail about it in Scripture. Love is what binds us together and we were purposed for love because God is one that shares in that love. It’s an awesome feeling.

We are more than conquerors.

Romans 8:37-39.

37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing, i repeat, nothing, can separate us from the love of God. It's everlasting.

As seasons start to change.

So, I was watching Fresh Prince of Bel Air and it was the episode with poetry and the black movement.

As seasons start to change

by Charles Chung

As seasons start to change,

and leaves start to fall.

There's One that never does,

the creator of it all.

Before time began,

and after time ended.

We ask ourselves one thing,

How did we spend it?

As we weep on our knees,

and feel the tears drip.

The pain and the sorrow,

we feel our hearts rip.

Oh God, Oh God,

Why have you forsaken me?

Did i do wrong?

Did i disobey thee?

Then God speaks a whisper,

and tells us this.

I love you my child,

give papa a kiss.

As the seasons start to change,

and leaves start to fall.

He'll never change,

and He'll never fall.

Feed the need.

So, a little while ago I went to new student orientation at my current school, Nyack College Manhattan Campus and a brother spoke some words of wisdom. I wanna share it with whoever that reads this because it just made me step back for a second and see how I was doing and how others were doing as well.

Imagine this. There's a room, like an old fashioned room, like a woody pub, and its just one room with a big circular table. You and a bunch of people are prisoners of war and everyone is tied up with their hands in front of them and everyone is tied down to their seats, but everyone is sitting at the table. The people who have you guys as prisoners bring in a huge pot of soup and nobody has eaten any food in the past few days, so everyone is just dying for food. They give everyone really really long wooden spoons and everyone goes to get a spoonful of whatever soup it is. They try to bring it in to their mouths, but the spoons are too long and their hands are tied so they don't know what to do. They can't feed themselves because theres no way to turn the spoons around with their tied up hands, so they fail.

In another room, same situation, same scenario. They get their food and all, but they all decided, instead of feeding themselves, they would feed the person on their left. They couldn't reach themselves, but the spoons could reach and feed the next person. Everyone ate and got full. They succeeded.

Now, why this story? Why did it make me think of me and others? I thought of my church(First Korean Church of Brooklyn) members, most of them at least. Which scenario would me and my church members fit? We would probably be the first scenario with the people that failed to eat the soup. We don't really account for one another, we rarely help each other in need, and we rarely seek to show love. I guess this was the problem for me and made me realize, wow, what have we been building up all these years. We could say we're a church family of brothers and sisters in Christ, but honestly we're no better than the backstabbers on the next block. We gossip about each other, we make fun of each other, we find flaws in each other, and most importantly, we hate one another. We're all in this boat and I can say that I'm the one steering the boat.

I find myself so many times at the end of the day just thinking, how did I impact anyone today. Did I do anything spectacular? I mean it sounds like I'm looking for some sort of attention or recognition from people, but in a way I just want to have done something by the end of the day. Many times I just sit on the same seat I'm sitting on right now and think, "How did I glorify Christ today?" Most of the times, 99/100 times, I have a blank stare at my off white wall.

But, there is hope. Christ.

If we all look to Jesus Christ and what His whole life was about then we can have a chance at growing with each other. He prayed for those that loved Him and those that hated Him, He fed everyone spiritually, and when people were in need of whatever and whenever, Christ came to the rescue. Christ lived His whole life to glorify God and to proclaim the Father's news and with that came love. Christ's ministry was a love ministry.

1 John 3:16 says, "By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers."

We have the privilege to even know love because Jesus was slain on the cross for the sake of the world. His life, His death, and His resurrection was the epicenter of love. And so it lives on through us. It does not stop there to just understand and to know what love is, but to do much more. The second part of the verse requires for us to lay down our lives for the brothers (and sisters). We share that love amongst everyone. We have an obligation with that love and many times we fail to share it. We even fail to keep it a sacred treasure in our hearts.

Going back to edification within the body of Christ. The very focus of trying to build relationships with one another, trying to help one another, and attempting to love one another as Jesus did for us is nothing without love. Even non-believers can show care and kindness to strangers which they do. We need more than that. We as believers have experienced and believed what Christ has done on the cross, we've experienced love itself and now love itself is dwelling in us. We need love at the center, for Christ is love. As brothers and sisters and sinners, let's love one another. Let's pray for one another, call one another, be a part of one another's lives, let's hold each other dear because the devil is out to get us. If we stand alone it's easy to fall, but with all of us together holding each other up, the devil will fail.

So, let's feed each other, not try to feed ourselves and fail. Let's look to the people around us, that most likely need us just as well as we need them and pursuit a love relationship with them that Christ has with us. Let's feed off of one another and grow together. In times of loneliness, in times of trial, and in times of fear, let us focus on love.

p.s. LOVE ONE ANOTHER!