The Occasional Occurence

I was reading Luke 7:36-50 the other day, the story of the "sinful" woman washing annointing Jesus's feet, and it caught my attention.

Jesus said to Simon in verse 47, "... he who has been forgiven little loves little."

How should one take this statement? Did Simon's sins need less forgiveness (meaning the woman's sins were greater than his)? Did Simon himself think he had less need for forgiveness and thus receiving less forgiveness and showing less love?

I guess the reason I am wondering is sometimes I feel like I could love Jesus more if I had lead a very sinful life and then had a "conversion experience." Instead, since a very young age, I have tried to lead a life pleasing to God.

I know that to God all our sins are equal and my sin would keep me out of heaven as much as a murdering drug dealer's sins would. But from a human standpoint, who is going to be more thankful for forgiveness? Me or the murdering drug dealer? Personally, I would say him.

Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for salvation, and I love Jesus. But maybe it is another part of the mystery of God that He gives to those who lived "farthest" from Him a greater love for Him when they give their lives to Him?

cw

Well, I set out purposely last night to be an early riser this morning, and it has worked for the most part.

The idea is that hopefully I will have more time to do things like have devotion and prayer time, respond more promptly to email, write blog entries, do other stuff, etc.

I got up promptly at 5 AM. I had breakfast, read a short devotion and had some prayer time. I began responding to some emails, and then I heard it...

...the rattle of a door handle at the other side of the house. Then, the off-beat rhythm of too-early-up toddler feet. My cover was blown.

And here I sit, after preparing him a breakfast, getting him Nemo underpants and, now, I am told by him, a completely unacceptable shirt, trying frantically to finish this thought.

*sigh*

I need to be quieter tomorrow, I suppose.

cw

So we are reading The Purpose Driven Life along with most of our church. It has some good stuff in it, but I keep getting hung up on Warren's view of the will of God and human free-will.

Am I crazy to think that God does not create bad situations to "test" or "grow" us? According to Warren, everything is orchestrated by God. He says on p. 195, "God is pulling the strings."

I'm already more than halfway through the book and I'm going to finish it this time (I closed it in frustration a couple years ago before getting out of the first section), but am I the only one pausing every few sentences and questioning some of the basic free-will issues in the book?

Don't get me started on the Purpose Driven Day-Planner or the Purpose Driven Coffee Mug ... ;-)

cw