Chapter 15 ---------------------------------------
THE WAY OF THE WORLD
I have a story I
sometimes tell to illustrate how we can be easily convinced or conned into following the ways of
the world and our human nature. Before I tell it lets remind ourselves
that while in the womb you had no concept of material needing, longing, nor did you want
for anything everything in your Eden was being provided. You had no concept nor did you have any understand of greed, selfishness, jealousy,
hatred, anger, moral or unethical behaviour, and so on. Imagine these
negative attributes are seeds of darkness and when planted, they feed the human
nature. Within conception your Creator takes care of everything you
needed for your survival. Everything was as it was meant to
be. Here is the story.
There was a time when
one woodsman lived the wilderness who loved the life he had been given.
His freedom was outrageous. There was no need to be concerned for
anything for the forest provided everything he needed, food, shelter and
beauty. He was content, comfortable and provided for. He learned to
live with nature and his natural environment. He had the sun and rain by
day and the stars and moon by night. He was content and his spirit gave
him the sense that life was as it was meant to be. One day the Woodsman
found out he was not alone after all. Another man came into the forest to
alert the Woodsman that there were many others and that they were coming.
He explained to the Woodsman that the time had come when he must stake off a
plot of land for himself. If he didn't stake out his claim now, greed would overrun the forest and he would have nothing left. “You need
to register your land, then fence it off so you will be protected”.
Feeling fear for the first time in his life, he accepted the man’s
advice and sure enough they came and everything was as he said. It wasn't long before another man arrived
at the Woodsman door to tell him how productive his neighbours had become with cultivation,
crops, buildings and livestock. He convinced the Woodsman that he would
be better off to follow suite and become prosperous too, otherwise he would get
left behind. “I am here to help you sir, all you need to do is buy some
seed and livestock from me, get some of the equipment I have for you, build a
building or two and you to will get rich just like everyone else and everything
will be as it was meant to be.” He did and it seemed so.
One day another man came along and convinced the Woodsman that he was so
valuable that he needed protection, “I can offer you insurance”. He
accepted and began to feel protected. On another find day a man
came from the Bank and told the Woodsman that he was spread too thin.
That he needed to consolidate his bills into one payment one mortgage, and it
became so. Then one dark day two men from the bank came to visit the
Woodsman after he had a couple of poor years. They sat at his kitchen
table to inform him, “due to your misfortune and your inability to pay your
debt, we are here to take possession, what was is no more and we have come to repossess and sell to
pay off your debt.
Did you see it coming, deception and darkness I mean. Darkness creeps in, not because we are not aware but because we
have over fed our human nature. Our human nature is convinced that the
ways of the world are the way. Our human nature is easily lead astray and if not put into check can lead us into darkness. Its trouble can be very subtle and often comes in
many disguises that appear to be to our benefit.
Trouble starts out
much like a mischievous child but the Father of trouble is Chaos, and Chaos is
fully aware of itself and its purpose.
None of us will ever
completely escape the ways of our human nature. Why? Because it was
given to us by God in conception and it contains the gift of free will.
When we exercise free will, it is the very thing that can get
us out of alignment with the will of God or, the very thing that can get us
aligned with the will of God, making it one of the bibles paradoxes.
In fact make the
right choice and you will feed the light in your life . Make the wrong choice and you
will feed the darkness in life.
Don’t ever let life
circumstances or someone you know convince you that you have no choice in
life. No one can take away your freedom to choose accept you. Free will
can be your worst enemy or your best friend. That was the way it was
designed. Make a good choice, reap the benefits and learn. Make a
bad choice, reap the benefits and learn. How come the
same???? It’s not about right or wrong, it about choices. It
is all about choices and what we can learn from them. One choice is
full of light and the other full of darkness.
Many of us continue
to follow traditions, rules and laws made by man because we assume there is a
right and a wrong in every situation. Not so, but there is always a
choice and the opportunity to learn from every situation. No one can
judge on the basis of right and wrong. Choose poorly and evil hands out
its punishment, not always immediately. Choose wisely and goodness hands out its reward not always immediately either. Often you cannot use logic in doing the right thing for you because
things of the heart are not always logical to our human nature. When you
make a choice be it good or poor, your thoughts and your actions send out a
ripple. Some ripples are hardly noticeable and others have
devastating consequences. The ripple effect of the choices we make
also affects the lives of innocent bystanders, some may benefit from our
choices, some may suffer, and some may perish. This is why young,
innocent, and good people often suffer in our world. We are all affected
by the choices others around us make and in some circumstances they can be on
the other side of the planet. Hiroshima comes to mind.
Next time: "Learning To Discern From The Heart not The Head"
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