Quote: Originally posted by Pick-4_Master on January 06, 2004
GOD wants us to be RICH but he may not necessarily help you do it "PERSONALLY" even if you ask but it doesn't mean you can't do it on your own.
you have either been watching too many infomercials or tv evangelists. as far as representing God goes, that is a lie. if that were true then how do you explain the rest of the world in comparison to the united states and the opportunities that we have in comparison to the world? does God love us more? the idea that it is Gods will/plan for everyone to be rich is born out of selfishness. Gods plan is much bigger than that. his "plan" if you will is to know his ways and adjust to them. it is not up to God to adjust to us in what we feel , want or think.
of course i believe in personal improvement. that we have personal responsibility to be and do the best that we can with the tools that God has given us. but herein lies your problematic thinking when it comes to whether God has anything to do with these arenas of life. God gifts people with certain abilities, talents and opportunities. those gifts are primarily for his purpose, not for ours. that is where people lose sight of the "whys" and "howcomes".
when one looks from the perspective that all there is is this life, those gifts can appear unfair. when you consider that they are given because this life is a dress rehearsal for the next and the next "life" is eternal, then you understand that it is fair and that there is a bigger picture going on than what we see. in order to facilitate truth in this matter, you must be willing to equally accept things that "appear" bad as well as things that "appear" good.
take my illness for example. most people would think something like that is "bad" or unfair. I DON'T. the reason i don't is because i KNOW how life works. i know that it is a part of Gods plan for my life and that ALOT of good has come from it. God has extracted far more out of my life via the designed hardship then if my life had gone "smoothly". but one cannot know or live that if they have no inclination of the "design" behind life.
people make the fatal mistake that only the good things of life are attributable to God and that is not true. so if God allows hardships, whats the big-whoop if he allows things that appear good? whats the big-whoop if he picks and chooses the "who" of either choice? could it be because you are not comfortable with God making those choices for you? i bet it is. one thing "should be" clear. "IF" there is a God, he is the DESIGNER and we are the "designed". does the designed tell the designer whats appropriate and whats not? does the designed dictate how the game of life is played or does the designer? alot of these questions are answered in that vein. alot of the problems we face in this area is that we either don't like the outcome, or we don't understand and or trust the designers...design.
for me, i happen to know the whys, hows and what-fores of life. it doesn't bother me one bit that joe shcmoe down the street has better health than i do or has more money and things than i do. i KNOW the "design" behind my life and as i adjust to it while i am doing all that i am responsible on my end, i have peace.
if a person doesn't know how God works, they are going to act like it by thinking that they can do anything they want. in the end there are some things we can do and somethings we are incapable of doing. we have free-will. we can choose to pursue anything that fills our heart. but to say that you can be anything you want to be is not true. i grew up wanting to be a race car driver and had great physical talent but NEVER was the opportunity ever presented to me. not from lack of effort mind you. people readily buy into that "you can be anything you want to" lie because they have the wrong barometer of what success is. was i not a success because i never acheived my desire to be a racecar driver? shoot no. i am a success because i understand how my life really works and i adjust daily to it's designed course. now i run a different kind of "race".
you have a free-will. you can be what "YOU" want to be, or you can be what you were "designed" to be. sometimes that isn't always clear and so the onus to find that out does fall on our shoulders and we are supposed to do the best that we know how to do. but when you come to a fork in the road where you dis-regard the designers instructions, you have only YOU to blame. it never ceases to amaze me how many times God gets the blame when people wantonly dis-regard his instructions. preferring instead (even demanding) their own "way".
if you believe life is all about luck and what YOU make it, have at it. if you think as the "designed" that you know better than the "designer", then go ahead and make your choices accordingly. just don't blame God for the perceived in-equalities of life as being Gods fault when it is not. it comes from the designed thumbing our noses at the designer. make no mistake about it, "IF" there is a designer, there is ONE set of plans, not "many". and the result of your life is either the adjustment to those plans, or they are in dis-regard of those plans. there cannot be a middle ground. the designed cannot tell the designer what he likes or doesn't like. it will never work that way.
if you are an unbeliever and you think that there is no "designer" behind it, you will live and act accordingly. your life will hold no ultimate answers as it will be purely random. a guess at best. the whole "i am meant to" (or not) shouldn't make sense to you. no design only equals randomness. so all this "god-talk" shouldn't bother you. and neither should the in-equalities of life.
i will boldly say once again that it is GOD that picks and chooses who wins. it is his business as to the "why". as for me, i am happen to be "meant to". to that i say "big-whoop". it has NOTHING to do with anything other than i am meant to. it is NOT an indicator that God loves me more than anyone else because if it where, he would have some explaining to do as to why he made my life so hard. he "picked me" for hardship as well. big-whoop. my life was never about comfort or abilities. it has always been meant to be about "him" and fortunately for me, i figured that out and made it my priority along time ago. because i know that, i never waste my time comapring my life to another. my life has a unique plan behind it. God created me completely independant of anyone else. as he is the designer with a set of plans for my life, who am i to argue with him? i learned along time ago the difference between efficiency and futility. that difference boils down to the known plan of God for my life and my willingness to adjust to it. the perceived (by others) the good, bad and the ugly.
and you?????? if you are willing to put in the effort, you can know what his plan is for you. if you think you know better than him, you will dis-regard it.
as for the lottery issue, i neither encourage nor discourage anyone to play as God doesn't tell me his plans for their life. if you feel like playing, have at it. if you place your hope and future in it, you are wasting your time unless he has told you personally that you are "meant to". if you don't know either way and your conscience doesn't bother you, but (1) ticket and you will dventualy find out.
as in anything in life.......some get it and some don't.
"i alone am God. i will choose whom i will exhalt and to whom i will abase" (chapter and verse escapes me for now)
vision (ionlyhavevisionbecausei"see"fromGodsperspectiveandnotmyown)