Lenten Musings #3

Today we went to a homeschooling conference. Our oldest is due to start kindergarten this fall, so we are trying to decide what we should do. I think I lean toward homeschooling. The speaker today was talking about some of the things people point out when trying to dissuade others from homeschooling. One of them was what I have often said to myself... "I went to public school, and I turned out alright." His take on it changed my whole perspective though. "Sure you turned out alright, and that's good. But just think of how you could have turned out if you were given the chance of having a learning environment and curriculum geared to you." That made me feel like homeschooling is the way to go. But we'll see. We're back there tomorrow, and it's all easy for me to say anyway, because I likely won't have to do the bulk of the teaching, my wife will.

Three days in a row of blogging... I can't believe it!

Mark 3
verse 2 - "Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath."
It seems that sometimes when people are very concerned with sin, that is all they can see. Here, some of the people were just waiting for Jesus to slip up, to sin. I wonder if in their minds they felt the Jesus actually did sin by healing this man on the Sabbath? Jesus never sinned, but yet, by the standards of those around judging Him, they may have considered Him to have sinned. Again, it comes down to your interpretation. The Pharisees apparently had a pretty strict interpretation of what could not be done on the Sabbath, and Jesus doesn't seem to loose any opportunity to show them where they are wrong. I can't imagine it would have been easy for the Pharisees to have this upstart showing them up. I mean, plotting to kill Him is pretty extreme.

verses 13 to 19 - 13Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14He appointed twelve—designating them apostles[b]—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15and to have authority to drive out demons. 16These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter 17James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder 18Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

I was just wondering today, how it is that God calls certain people to certain things. One of the speakers at the conference was just sort of mentioning some things about her life, about how they have a farm, and how sometimes she wishes she had more land, and then she remembers she used to live in an apt. in Seattle and how she needs to be happy with what God has given her. I detected this odd hint of entitlement in her, as though she felt she deserved more land. She seems like a really nice lady, and I'm not saying anything bad against her, I just think that sometimes as believers we believe that God has chosen us for such and such. Why does she get a farm, and I don't? Or does God really decide things like that? It got me to thinking about how does God choose people for certain things. Why did David get to be king? Why did Hudson Taylor get to be a pioneering missionary to China? Why do I have to work at a sewage treatment plant? And here's these 12 apostles. Why them? I wonder how many people were following Jesus, an these were the ones He chose. I'll never know, but I just wonder sometimes.

Verses 28-29 - "I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin."
All the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. Wow. What a powerful statement. It's comforting. To know that however badly I screw up, in the end it's OK. I'll be forgiven. Now, as Paul would elaborate, don't use that as an excuse to sin. It's a difficult balance, I think. How do we deal with the seriousness of sin, while at the same time living in the reality that when there is sin, it's not the end of the world. Sin is a big deal, and it is not. Just another one of those paradoxes we have to live with. I try not to sin, but I don't get too upset nowadays when I do. Should I? Sin is bad, but I'm forgiven. Maybe I just don't know how to balance that yet.
On a side note, I've never heard a really satifying explanation of "blaspheming the Holy Spirit", but then again I haven't looked into it that deeply.
Any ideas?