"Young Man"

"Why do you stare at this young woman of Shulam, as she moves so gracefully between two lines of dancers?" (S.O.S. 6:13b NLT)

""So tell them, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: May all your jars be filled with wine.' And they will reply, 'Of course! Jars are made to be filled with wine!'"" (Jeremiah 13:12 NLT)

  Nothing we can do will ever stop God from loving us; but that does not mean that we can get away with anything that we might do! God is so amazing in His love for us, that He cares deeply for the direction we might be going. It would be uncaring if He would just let us go on without giving us warning or some sort of consequence that causes us to wake up and turn away from our sinful lives. Obviously, it might not be so easy to understand your consequences are hurting you, if you are having so much fun with your sin! 

  Now, let me tell you about the boy, the one who dreamt he was a mountain, but realized he was actually on top of the mountain: He placed his banner upon that mountain and called it his own! If it comes down to being made humble, it is not something that can be bought or taught; you must earn it by giving up on selfishness and pride; two things that cost you dearly to hold onto, but are absolutely free to give away! Does that remind you of anyone in three of the four Gospels? 

  On a little stranger note, this condition here is getting rather exciting to observe; regardless of the way it might turn out, this country is most likely never going to be the same as it was. That said, my prayer is that the church gets strengthened and starts depending more upon God and less upon what man, on so many different areas, whether it be for finances, feedback, or fortitude! The church most not cower in the face of adversity; because, Greater is He that is in us, than he that is the world! If you think that counts for you, as an individual, it is magnified in the body of Christ! 

  About that little verse from Jeremiah, it is not that God was trying to be funny, because it is actually a pretty serious illustration of what we do with what we think God says or allows us to do. He says that we can have a little wine, and we grow a vineyard; He says we can have a little fun, and we build an amusement park. It might not start out that way, but it sure won't take long for it to happen. Sadly, it is true for many churches: the bigger the better, is not actually the case when it comes to churches. But, you won't hear any of the large church pastors say anything like that, because the bigger the church, the bigger the paycheck. 

  On another note: this second portion of this verse is rather interesting, because it is strangely seen as the voice of either one of the two main characters, the Young Woman, or the Young man; but not so much the voice of the Young Women of Jerusalem. Curiouser and curiouser...

""But," some might say, "our sinfulness serves a good purpose, for it helps people see how righteous God is. Isn't unfair, then, for him to punish us?" (This is merely a human point of view.) Of course not! If God were not entirely fair, how would he be qualified to judge the world? "But," someone might still argue, "how can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights his truthfulness and brings him more glory?" And some people even slander us by claiming that we say, "The more we sin, the better it is!" Those who say such things deserve to be condemned." (Romans 3:5-8) NLT