Presence vs Presents...the Wayfarer 10/20/14
Presence vs Presents
10/20/14
10/20/14
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither
moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
(Matthew 6:19-21)
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is
old, he will not depart from it.”
(Proverbs 22:6)
As holidays, such as Christmas, birthdays, etc. rapidly approach, much
thought and preparation is made for the presents to be given.
Expectation is great in many, in fact
most children as to what will be under the tree for them, which toy or game or
other possession will be delivered for their temporary pleasure…just what “treasure”
awaits.
For some, it need not be Christmas,
merely another day spent shopping; another day spent in anticipation of what
will be brought home for them when mom or dad, or grandma or grandpa finally
return.
Others await the day of visitation of
an absent parent, as allowed by shared custody in case of those living with one
parent, and visiting another. As they wait, too often it is not in anticipation
of the presence of the missing parent, but in anticipation of what is to be
given during the planned visit.
Children are being raised to prioritize
things above people… yet we wonder why they become the people they become as
they finally achieve adulthood without comprehension of responsibility, and
without regard of the need to have any moral compass other than greed and self-gratification.
Presence is required to instill any
values in young lives. Presents are not enough.
That presence needs to include
attention given to the development and welfare of the child’s mind and soul as
well as physical needs as opposed to the baubles they are taught to want through
the greed of commercialism that exists so prevalently in the square babysitter
that so many are abandoned to.
Once, long ago, Saturday mornings
were eagerly awaited for the cartoons that could be found to entertain the
young.
Now that entertainment is available
24 hours a day and is used as a substitute for parenting, and worse, it is
seldom monitored for content as to what a child is learning to be a picture of
the real world.
Ratings on movies have been used to
decide what is appropriate at what age, yet seldom monitored either at the
theatre or enforced in the home where dvds and a vast array of entertainment
have become available.
Games replace learning from nature.
Those games are often of a violent or corrupt and unacceptable nature if one
only take the time to pause and regard the young minds that are being warped
into the belief that what is found in their entertainment is real and what to
expect from life.
God’s children also have and do place
priority on presents above presence.
The scriptures show a continual
turning from His laws and commandments in favor of perceived blessings to be
had by following the will and teachings of men instead of the will and
teachings given by Him.
Prayers are quite often given for the
provision of things, wants, desires, without consideration of what is expected
in return for any true blessing, or what any true blessing may consist of.
We have been shown the guidelines and
ground rules expected of us, yet too many expect presents instead of presence.
The greatest present ever to be given
a child is the preparation for life as given by God throughout the scriptures.
The greatest example of when presents
are appropriate comes from those scriptures as well… as blessings were and are
only given when those prerequisites are met.
Expectations are established when
acceptable behavior is rewarded… and unacceptable behavior results in not only the
lack of reward, but a reestablishment, and reinforcement of what is expected.
The best and greatest present ever
given us by God was His presence in our life though the gift of the presence of
His Son, Jesus who was murdered because of the truths he taught, yet continued
to offer that same presence of His Father to any and all willing to see the
need to prepare for an eternity in His presence.
Yes, gifts and presents are
appropriate… if those gifts and presents are appropriate in nature, and given
for the right reasons.
What better gift could be given than
that given us by Christ?
What better guidance is there to the
expectation of the gift of eternal life than the teachings left us of how to
attain that gift?
Presents, or presence, which is the
priority you instill in your own life, and the lives entrusted to you to guide
as you yourself progress to the end of life taking none of the temporal and
temporary presents with you as you stand in the presence of God?
“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write;
These things sayeth the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of
the creation of God;
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would
thou wert cold or hot.
So then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased in goods, and
have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked:
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou
mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the
shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve that
thou mayest see.
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous
therefore, and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my
voice, and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with
me.
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my
throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the Churches.”
(Revelation 3:14-22)
Even so come quickly, Lord Jesus.
Amen and Amen
the Wayfarer
the Wayfarer
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