Welcome back to Life of LAB, our 7day
quick LAB series. It’s day 4
in our theme of compare and contrast. Today’s blog is titled, Favored vs.
Favorable and it's truly a quick LAB.
The original title was, “On the Origin of Species by Means
of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for
life.” This work by Charles Darwin is now known simply as “The Origin of
Species”.
Long lost in translation, we are now left mostly with the
religious sentiment, “I’m blessed and highly favored.” Still "favored" by biblical standards has
hardly been captured. As Christians use
their worldly favor and influence to separate themselves from those, be it
Christian or otherwise, who don’t appear to be on God’s list of well-known and
well-loved individuals; I am taken moreso by the context of the original idea,
which is to be favorable. Also, I’m
struck by the life of Jesus, and taken by the great contrast in the life of
what we know was the greatly beloved and well-known son of God by the Father.
Another distinction I can see right away between the terms
favored and favorable, is that one points inward, and the other extends
outward. Now, Jesus who spent a lot of
time drawing metaphors for who he was; sometimes calling himself the gate,
other times the true vine, and even the Life; clearly is not offended by
identity or truth, and yet every time he drew one of those metaphors it was for
the purpose of helping people to understand the moment that they were caught
present in. It was for the building of
the Kingdom and directly served the purpose for which He was sent.
In a modern world and in the context which most Christians mainly consider “favored”, it is not Jesus that they appear to resonate with, but
with the very people that crucified Jesus, and who have and will always
exist. Part of the reason Jesus did not
appear on earth in a Kingly manner, is because God needed Him to show himself separate from
what was already established. Therefore
Jesus did not come as favored, but rather as favorable. He came to bring an ideal, an understanding,
a level of communication that would prove more favorable.
In Luke 10:38, we hear of a story of two sisters Mary and
Martha. Martha who was distracted by all
the household type things that needed to be done was disturbed by her sister
who sat around listening to Jesus as He spoke.
Martha eventually says to Jesus, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister
has left me to do the work by myself?
Tell her to help me.”
In verse 41, Jesus replies, “Martha, Martha, you are worried
and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will
not be taken from her.”
Here we see that Mary is seeking the biology that will make
her a favorable specie. She recognized,
as Jesus declared many times during his ministry; that the Kingdom of God had come near. And for the one who sees God’s
favor (known as Grace), and accepts the Son, they trade up for a biology that
says; in the end they will ascend.
Thus, let us not stop at the Lord’s favor, but let us take
what He has given, and become a favorable species that struggles not to survive
but to be fruitful and multiply.
Thank you for stopping by, and for joining Life of LAB. Remember to go within that you may never go without. The God within you awaits you. Until our path collide again, I wish you... Peace, Love, Life, and Complete Wholeness in Christ.
In Service,
NaTisha Renee Williams
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