1:1-3 A hello from Paul to whoever in the world or reading this text believes in that which God promotes: natural, patient wisdom and humble love. From even the beginning of his conversation he wishes for our well-being, our peace and for Godspeed in our lives. There is a specific serenity we gift the world when we begin each conversation and encounter with such intentions for those around us.
1:4-5 Paul recognizes and acknowledges the blessing that it is to find and be among people who are filled with love and compassionate purpose. He is grateful to God for providing the strengths, outlets and opportunities for His children to thrive. The truest happinesses are gifting happiness and observing delight and joy in others, Paul is grateful for this life which allows those circumstances.
1:6-7 When this natural, patient wisdom and humble love is planted inside of you, your soul takes root. The establishment of these values gives us access to certain gifts, abilities and opportunities to change the world on both small and large scales. Our faith is the spiritual-umbilical cord through which our souls our nourished. The wider and stronger it is, the more we receive and are therefore able to give.
1:8-9 We put our faith in God but we often do not realize that God puts His faith in us, too. He trusts us to become and to create. When our faith in Him and His faith in us align throughout our lifetime, the culmination of that faith is a joining. A permanence. A solidification.
1:10-11 Paul wishes that we not become distracted by categorization and minute differences (when we review the conditions of our globe, this advice is quite ironic). If God is the destination then there are many qualified, able and beauty modes of transportation through which to reach Him. He enabled our differences because they inspired His creative hand, yet in the core of each of us is the DNA of Himself, our souls. It is regressive for us to separate ourselves based on nonessential details. So many focus on what people do and how people do it when the only thing that matters is why. Anyone with good intentions, no matter how they are displayed or expressed, is a child of God...a valued member of the same family.
1:12-13 If we come from the same base, the same core of creation, the same tree, each branch is connected and relevant to the rest.
1:14-16 Paul does not wanted to be distracted by reverence; he knows Who (or What) he and all souls come from.
1:17 Happily, gratefully and purposefully, Paul accepts his purpose: to be a living testimony of the Spirit and the Wisdom which changed and subsequently saved his life. Humbly he traverses the world, not of any gain for himself but for others.
The reason why Paul's humility is imperative and instructive is because arrogance distorts perspective and perverts the truth. If Paul had become fascinated with himself, his testimony would not have been a selfless reassurance of God's presence and abundant love.
1:18 The messages within this book are sometimes disregarded. Paul wants us to understand that disregarding creation's intention of compassion and life is foolish because well, swimming against the flow is really difficult and altogether fruitless.
1:19 Humility produces while arrogance disassembles. Our humility uncovers and allows for growth in the places we can improve ourselves. Arrogance blinds us from our flaw and therefore never provides us the opportunity to become and to grow.
1:20 Essentially this verse calls us to perceive the truth that no wisdom or eloquence on earth can match or challenge God's. Humanity as an entire species is beautiful, capable and also fallible. God, however a person conceives of divinity is everything, even the creator of beauty and capability. The creator of the possibility for beauty and capability. We should find comfort in our humility rather than arrogance in ourselves because it has been through humility we have received all things.
God has revealed to us, through these words but also through our experiences that unkindness and injustice is foolish. Creation's intention has always been and will always be the promotion of life and therefore anything working against that intention is foolish.
God has revealed to us, through these words but also through our experiences that unkindness and injustice is foolish. Creation's intention has always been and will always be the promotion of life and therefore anything working against that intention is foolish.
1:21 And yet despite humankind's persistent flaws, God, creation, life has sought out the kindhearted, remained and guided those who do align with the creation's intention. Yes there is confusion here, yes there is chaos and injustice but God knows that His children are capable and willing to diminish those things. He places His faith, His trust, His heart and His spirit within us to meet our abilities.
1:22-24 As history and experience has shown us, the specifics of scripture can be argued endlessly. The differences between religion and spirituality can be profound. Yet in many ways, we find what we look for and if in every ideology we seek to find good intention, the details begin not to matter. Humans can manipulate things and people to be perceived in certain ways and even sometimes humans unintentionally influence things and people. The point is that you can basically make any text or scripture read how you want it to but when we observe the earth and life that it represents: we find truth. When we observe creation all around us, life thriving and bursting in various forms, we can discern the intention of the universe. To have life. To give life. To sustain life. To spark joy. To inspire innovation. Our earth is a looking glass into infinity. Infinity looks back on earth, on us, confirms and constantly bursts new life.
So as humans, it's important that we not become tangled up in proving each other wrong or even in proving ourselves right. The many manifestations of life require that there be many manifestations of ways to define and observe it. At the end of the day, it is the same divine wisdom which has calculated the possibility of this world and if we're listening, it instructs us every day: humbly, subtly, profoundly.
So as humans, it's important that we not become tangled up in proving each other wrong or even in proving ourselves right. The many manifestations of life require that there be many manifestations of ways to define and observe it. At the end of the day, it is the same divine wisdom which has calculated the possibility of this world and if we're listening, it instructs us every day: humbly, subtly, profoundly.
1:25 Our talents and abilities and knowledge added up together still cannot make an earth. We cannot build a universe. Wisdom, Creation, Divinity, God is and is the creator of the very elements with which make up our soul and organs and earth. Certainly are disagreements on earth are insignificant compared to that.
Life has decided that compassion is the way and who are we to contradict it? What is a pile of money compared to a universe? What is a material possession compared to the ensured safety of a child? What is power when a weak heart grows strong? The beauty in the world that kindness, justice and freedom create puts the ideals of the world to shame.
Life has decided that compassion is the way and who are we to contradict it? What is a pile of money compared to a universe? What is a material possession compared to the ensured safety of a child? What is power when a weak heart grows strong? The beauty in the world that kindness, justice and freedom create puts the ideals of the world to shame.
1:26 God is not looking for the arrogant, the wealthy, the powerful, the bold. God is watching for His children who are humble, removed from desire; He looks for His children who are perceived or treated as weak and timid and He makes them strong. To the human who is thought of as poor He gives wealth incomparable: patience, wisdom, love, guidance, protection, hope, and joy. He sees beauty in the disregarded, value in the trampled-on, ability in the insecure and He reaches in and pulls it out to shine.
People who are prideful believe that they cannot be improved and for that reason they never do improve. Narcissism works to strip all humanity out of them, and is effective in doing so. The consequences are grave. Wake up every day and think about all the beauty and patience and wisdom you still have left to learn; find value in life and love rather than wealth and power.
The rewards of compassion abound, rebound.
People who are prideful believe that they cannot be improved and for that reason they never do improve. Narcissism works to strip all humanity out of them, and is effective in doing so. The consequences are grave. Wake up every day and think about all the beauty and patience and wisdom you still have left to learn; find value in life and love rather than wealth and power.
The rewards of compassion abound, rebound.
1:27-29 The irony will be revealed: procurement of material, power, wealth and fame is fruitless. A barren tree. A soul cannot subsist on anything but life, and life is sustained by humility and compassion.
1:30-31 Remember that what is important to believe in is what Jesus manifested: patience and love, faith and compassion. Anyone who has those qualities in their heart has everything. Has God. Has life and love. It's not about the particular man Himself... it's about the message. The message that is taught in many different ways, through various mediums, abundant even in every natural thing around us.
