"Mizu Kiri"

 "And they which were sent were of the Pharisees." (John 1:24 KJV)

"Watch out for those dogs, those people who do evil, those mutilators who say you must be circumcised to be saved. For we who worship by the Spirit of God are the ones who are truly circumcised. We rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us. We put no confidence in human effort, though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more!" (Philippians 3:2-4 NLT)

 When it comes to practicing any sort of art or skill, whether it be for pleasure or professionally, there are usually a few steps or procedures that are commonly used to initiate your session or routine. Not that I have something I can associate with that; well, except maybe this blog. It is just that I have something to illustrate here; something that might just make some sort of sense. 

  Let me begin with the word, "watercraft," which basically means anything that is able to be considered as a vessel, whether ship or boat or submarine, which can by crafted to move in any sort of way on or in the water. A raft or log, that might just float, is hardly considered a watercraft; it just goes wherever the water might take it. Are you following me thus far? 

  As I was preparing my thoughts, prayer mostly, for this mornings post, I did something I commonly do, which was to ask God to give me a title for this mornings post. I had the verse pretty much memorized, as it really isn't that complicated or hard to understand; so asking for the title seemed like a pretty logical request. Much like He sometimes does, He answered almost instantly. Some times, He will give it to me in the middle of the night; which will usually mean that I will not sleep much. And then, some times I will not even ask the night before, but just wait until the morning, after I pray and get set up to blog. 

  Funny as this might seem, but God gave me a vision of what this Pharisees might look like, if you could place them as an object or an effect: Stone Skippers or Stone Skimmers; which ever way you might want to relate that practice, the art is one of throwing a rock through the water in order to cause some sort of effect; whether it is to the rock, or in the case of a Japanese custom, it also includes the art of effecting the water.

  As if that could not satisfy the humor in that vision, this morning God gives me this other illustration, showing His giant hand skimming rocks across the water, as if it was He that caused all of the effects. Whatever we might try to make of whatever that might represent; the Water is the body which might get skipped upon, splashed into, or even skimmed across; but any of your effect is only temporary and cannot alter the Water, any way or any how! 

  Believe it or not, but that is about the closest thing to the truth that I could come up with; even though I still don't totally understand everything that it represents; like the ripples and the splashes, or whatever other parts are cause and effect. These are those that manipulate the Water, with whatever means that they might get, but only cause ripples, temporary little waves, that will soon have no effect. God's Word is that Water, and without getting too cartoonish with this illustration, these Pharisees are the stones...

"I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin - a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith. I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!" (Philippians 3:5-11 NLT)