I could see you viewing that as an accusation. I was actually thinking of myself when I wrote that first line about love. I know of no Love that wouldn't at least attempt to show you what you are trapped in.
That's what the Lord Did with me. He showed me I was trapped and when I tried to twist and wiggle intellectually He just kept showing me. A lot of people think that Love just tries to be agreeable in an attempt at peace. That hasn't been my experience.
My experience has been more like Peters. When I look away from the Lord, even momentarily, I begin to sink.
I didn't even know I had a technique. But yeah, you're right, I guess it is ineffective. But you should have seen how I did it 4 years ago... It was with a club in one hand and the bible in the other... I'm trying to get away from that, a little lol
p.s. Thank you for calling me young man. I haven't had any one call me that in a really long time...
In my last post I got rather long but I just thought of a perfect example of what I have learned that has enhanced my understanding of Jesus' teachings. This is an excerpt from a book (faster than typing it out!) that I read a year or so ago, about when Mary anointed the feet of our Savior. "You are probably familiar with a dramatic gesture Mary made one day, sitting at the feet of Jesus once again. John 12:3 describes the scene like this: “Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” Without understanding the cultural background in which this event occurred, it’s easy to miss the full significance of Mary’s gesture. What exactly was she trying ro communicate? Jesus himself clarified one aspect of the srory by commenting that Mary was preparing him for the day of his burial (Matt. 26: 12). We understand that her act of devotion pointed toward Christ’s death at the end of the week. But we miss something else that the disciples would have immediately realized, something so obvious that Jesus didn’t even need to mention it.
By anointing him with expensive fragrances, Mary may well have been
making a statement about who she believed Jesus was, proclaiming him
as Messiah. {In fact, the Hebrew word for Messiah
is
Mashiach, which literally means “the Anointed One.”
Christos, or “Christ,” is the
Greek equivalent.} But why “the Anointed One”? The word
“Messiah” alludes to the ceremony used to set
apart someone chosen by God, like a king or
a priest. Instead of being crowned during a
coronation, Hebrew kings were anointed with
sacred oil perfumed with extremely expensive
spices. Only used for consecrating objects in
the temple and for anointing priests and kings, the sacred anointing oil would have been more valuable than diamonds. The marvelous scent that it left behind acted like an invisible “crown,” conferring an aura of holiness on its recipients. Everything and everyone with that unique fragrance was recognized as belonging to God in a special way. In the ancient Middle East, the majesty of a king was expressed not only by what he wore-his jewelry and robes-but by his royal “aroma.” Even after a king was first anointed, he would perfume his robes with precious
oils for special occasions. Listen to a line from King David’s wedding song:
You love righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. All your robes are fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. (Psalm 45:7-8)
Consider, too, this passage about King Solomon: Who is this coming up from the desert
like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant? Look! It is Solomon’s carriage, escorted by sixty warriors, the noblest of Israel. (Song of Songs 3:6-7
During royal processions, the fragrance of expensive oils would inform the crowds that a king was passing by.
Now take a look at another scene from the Old Testament. It describes a newly anointed Solomon being led into Jerusalem from the Spring of Gihon, just outside the city, and then parading through the streets on a mule while people stood by and cheered:
So Zadok the priest ... went down and put Solomon on King David’s mule and escorted him to Gihon. Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon. Then they sounded the trumpet and all the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!” And all the people went up after him, playing flutes and rejoicing greatly, so that the ground shook with the sound. (1 Kings 1:38-40)
Now consider a striking parallel in the life of Jesus. It happened the week before his death, right after Mary anointed him with the expensive perfume.? Just as Solomon had done a thousand years earlier, Jesus rode a donkey on his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Imagine the scene as recounted in John 12. The crowd was not greeting an ordinary rabbi. No, people were shouting out: “Hosannah! Blessed is the king of Israel” They were remembering Solomon, the son of David, who long ago had ridden through their streets on a mule, and now they were proclaiming that Jesus was the promised “Son of David,” whom God had sent to redeem his people.
But the significance of Mary’s action doesn’t stop there. It seems likely that the smell of the perfume with which Mary anointed Jesus would have lingered for days. God may have used Mary’s act of devotion to telegraph a subtle but powerful message. Everywhere Jesus went during the final days of his life he had the fragrance of royalty. Jesus smelled like a king.
Imagine, in the garden of Gethsemane, as Judas and the guards approached Jesus to arrest him, the guards must have sniffed the air and wondered who stood before them. When Jesus was on trial, mocked, whipped, and stripped naked, even then the aroma may have clung to him. What an amazing God we have!
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ [the
Anointed One] among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. (2 Corinthians 2:14-16).
What a fascinating parallel, which shows what Paul meant by the “aroma of Christ.” As Jesus’ followers, we spread the fragrance of our anointed Messiah everywhere we go."
Hope you enjoy this teaching as much as I did!