Puzzle Pieces

On reading one of my morning devotionals, " Upper Room," I was led to begin thinking of my Christian understanding as if it were a big jigsaw puzzle.

I think that this is one of the most interesting analogies and easiest ways to present Christ's philosophy. Maybe I will be able to understand better myself how to witness of my own life with God as my Guide. It will be like every time I am led to a better understanding of what the Holy Scriptures are saying to me, will be like finding a new piece to the puzzle of seeking God's Kingdom, and the excitement of putting yet another part of my own personal relationship with God and Christ and the Holy Spirit on a stronger footing, and yet locking another piece of the mystery into place.

Abraham was, according to the Old Testament as I understand it, the beginning of God's relationship with who was to become the Jewish peoples, and the lineage to Jesus Christ. They were given values to live by, and if these values were followed they led to prosperity and happiness for all concerned. They were not complicated values to understand, common sense was all that was needed to comprehend them. The people seemed to have built-in flaws in their mental make-up that made it difficult for them to live inside of the boundaries set up by these values. These people were primitive in their life style as far as we can tell, but maybe not too different from some tribes living in the near east today, and not too differant from peoples of the world today so far as the temptations that they had to face. They lived a hard life as Bedouins, dressing in coarsely made garments made from material as gathered from their own environment or traded for, and cooking and preparing meals as best they could with the inconvenience of moving from pasture land to pasture land as they followed their herds of animals. They lived in portable shelters and carried every thing that they owned by hand or on beasts of burden. Later on they lived under the domination of the Egyptians and probably were trained in many skills through many generations of slavery.

Cultures that now have great control over the way people live today have roots going back to this period of time.

During a discussion the other day someone remarked how a thread of some thought or virtue ran through the scriptures as you looked at them on the whole. It came to me as a puzzle piece, just this morning, that there are many threads running through the scriptures, thus making a fabric with which we can clothe ourselves.

I think that cultures are changing generation by generation, we were traveling through Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday period and since I grew up during the forties and fifties, I was amazed at the change of attitude during just my lifetime.

Being more optimistic than some, I think that I can see a pattern of man becoming a more compassionate animal as history can witness to. When the Kingdom of God grows as the leavening causes bread to rise and become a large loaf, or as a tiny seed can become a large tree, it happens according to God's timing which may be hard for us to find the rhythm to. When cultures no longer measure a person by a prejudgment( prejudice) based on skin color, or any other diversity from the dominant popular version of the day, God's Kingdom will be closer to a reality.

I saw a similarity in a person from a distance the other day that reminded me of a man that I used to work with. As I thought about this man I remembered how unhappy he seemed to be. He was constantly at odds with things either going on at home or at work. To me it seemed like he had “Demons” from the past always at his throat no matter which way he turned. His reputation in our workplace was of one to be avoided, he carried a flashing caution light over his head in everybody's mind. The more I thought of this man and his demons from his past the more I realized that all people have their demons, but most people can keep them from dominating their personality quite so much. I think that these demons may be working for God as He shapes his creation. I think that every selfish act or cruel gesture that we perform without seeking forgiveness from the Lord or the person offended will give birth to one of these demons who in turn will haunt us during vulnerable times of thought. These demons are named “Guilt”, and perhaps are tools that God uses to keep his flock from destruction.

It does seem that while “ Good “ is sought by many, the route may be seen from different perspectives, also the use of balancing forces and lines of thought may be the method God uses to let mankind build his road through history. What little I know of the major religions of the world, I have the idea that they all have a theme of compassion. My search for the Kingdom may have discovered another piece of the puzzle. .

Science has always been fascinating to me, when I was in elementary school I would always get excited and give my full attention to the teacher when we got out our science books. I was also actively attending weekday bible school from my elementary school every Wednesday afternoon. I am now seventy years plus and I still actively search scripture and get excited about scientific programs that I can see on television. The more wonderful the world and universe become as their mysteries are discovered the stronger my belief becomes in my creator.

To me the scriptures found in the Holy Bible are a source of the history of my connection with my Lord and the ever lasting wisdom that has been passed down through the eons of time. They are a source of poetic wisdom and truth, a divine guide to prosperity and peace of mind. While there is knowledge also woven into the scriptures, knowledge is a constantly changing commodity as it is revealed to man by the creator.

A favorite quote from Madeline L'Engle is “Truth is eternal, knowledge is changeable. It is disastrous to confuse them.”.

I worry that as education becomes more wide spread in the world, that the Christian Faith will be kept from spreading because rather than the Truth that Jesus came to reveal, the legendary myths will be embraced by the fundamentalist movement, and they will insist that these literal teachings are required beliefs to be a Christian. There is a large value in these mythological biblical stories, just as there is value in the parables that Jesus used to teach with, but they are there for instruction not historical fact.