January 14th: Genesis 25-26, Psalm 31 and Matthew 16

I'm kind of a negative person. By "kind of," I mean very. And by "negative," I mean that when my fifth grade band teacher said that I would never amount to anything musically, I agreed with him.

I'm a glass half empty sort of person. So looking at now, I realize it makes sense why I struggle with Prosperity Gospel. Today's reading touched on both sides. In Genesis, you have Isaac growing in wealth like an early nineties tech geek. Flip a few hundred years later to Psalms, and you have David. Sure there is that whole shepherd-to-king-Disney-story, but the "Man after God's own heart" isn't loving life in Psalm 31. Here's verse 11:

"Because of all my adversaries I have become a reproach especially to my neighbors, and an object of dread to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me."

Awkward. Not everything smells like peach blossoms and melon in the life of King D.

Flip another couple of years, like a1000 and you have Jesus saying you have to deny yourself and take up a cross. That doesn't sound good. I don't want to say that God doesn't bless some. He does. A lot, like using summer as a verb a lot. But the thing is, if he doesn't, it's OK. David. The disciples. Good people. Rough times...like sawn-in-half-rough-times. So, my BMW-less Christian existence? Probably actually normal.

See, cup's like a quarter full.