I was thinking about this as I was playing my 16-month old daughter Sophia last week. We have a toy which is comprised of blocks in the shape of stars, triangles, circles (cylinders), and squares (cubes) as well as a box with a cover with holes those four shapes. The object of one game, I suppose, is to try to fit those blocks in the corresponding holes and into the box.
We spent a good ten or fifteen minutes doing this over and over again and while she got better at it, Sophia would continue to try to fit the block more through trial and error as opposed to spacial reasoning. In other words, she'd try to cram the star-shaped block into the triangle-shaped hole for a good half-minute or so before I would gently suggest her moving it to a different one. I grew increasingly frustrated with her so I began to call her "stupid", "lazy" and "useless". (I'm totally kidding, it's an inside joke referencing an earlier blog post.)
Watching her try to cram triangular blocks into star-shaped holes made me think of how I am often guilty of "kicking against the goads". I realize that I constantly fight this battle of who my sinful flesh wants me to be and what my sinful flesh wants as opposed to the Lord's true calling for me. This ranges from day-to-day desires of the heart to far-reaching decisions in terms of calling and character. Jeremiah 17:9 reminds us that the heart is deceitful above all things, and along with that comes a stubbornness in which we take our own self-focused desires and try to cram them in God's plan for us. That our heart would conform with that of our Father's is a prayer we should always pray. Seems to me it'd be stupid and lazy for us not to do so.
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5 comments:
I woke up this morning having the phrase "kicking against the goads" in my head for some reason. Stumbled on to this and was very blessed. Thanks Mike!
This entry came up as the fifth Google Search result for the phrase "kicking the goads." :)
Yeah, it's amazing how much Google Adwords charged for that. Kidding.
Hi there :) Well first off, thank you for telling me what the heck kicking at the goads means proper; obviously it's important, seeing as Jesus Himself said it, but it's not really a term you can puzzle out without some kind of knowledge of what He's talking about. But there's one thing that kinda bugged me: near the end of the post, you mention how, in Jeremiah, it says our heart is, above all else, deceitful. And yes, I totally agree that, when the heart is left to its own devices, it's pretty bad. Absolutely cloaked in sin >.< I mean, Paul said we had all fallen short of the glory of God, and there was none righteous among man, which is just...wow. That's HORRIBLE.
But then...well, then Jesus came. Through Him, we're restored. In Ezekiel 36:26 God says that '[He] will give [us] a new heart and put a new spirit in [us]; [He] will remove [our] heart of stone and give [us] a heart of flesh.' And in Romans, Paul says we're made dead to sin and alive to Christ through Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection. So, yes, without God, we're terrible horrible miserable creatures. But with God, through Jesus? I'd have to say our hearts are good ^^
Thanks again for posting about the goads! :D Oh, and if I may, check out John Eldredge, ransomedheart.com; it's really good stuff :) Take care :P
Wolfos55 - Thanks for writing! Yes, our new identity in Christ is indeed something for which we should be tremendously thankful, and we often don't comprehend what an mind-blowing this is. In Christ as new creations, we die to sin's reign and dominion, so while sin continues to wage war against us (hence our temptations and failings), it cannot reign over us. So even with this victory, our hearts can still remain deceitful. Or as Peter wrote to fellow believers (i.e. those made alive through Christ): "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." If our hearts were not prone to temptation or deceit, such admonishment would be unnecessary. If our hearts were not still prone to temptation or deceit, we would never sin as followers of Christ.
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