Oxymoron - Oxymonoric

"Oxymoron" and "oxymoronic speech" is common today.

The word oxymoron comes to us from the ancient Greek, via ancient Latin, for a word that means (oxy)sharp (clever) or keen +  moron, meaning dull, or stupid.

So literally it means sharp dull, or smart stupid, making the word itself an oxymoron.


Sometimes oxymorons are deliberately intended to confuse and sometimes they are crafted just to demonstrate contradictions.

Sometimes they express provocative ideas.

Recently I have read binging on moderation, deliberate mistake, genuine imitation, pretty ugly, planned serendipity....mournful optimistic...silent noise? dark light? clever fool?

Remember living dead?

An oxymoron occurs when we put two words or expressions together that really do not go together.
They don't really fit!

A current one might be: private email!

I ran across a really good example in the New Testament, in the Book of Acts, Chapter 11.

It's about Peter's vision:


"I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was.

"I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles and birds of the air. Then I heard a voice telling me, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.'

"I replied, 'Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'"

Clearly an oxymoron -- "No, Lord"

If Jesus is our Lord, we can't say "No, Lord"

These two words just don't go together.

That's something to remember every day- we can't call Jesus our Lord and not be obedient to Him.

Jesus said:

As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now  remain in My love. If you obey My commands, you will remain in My love.
   -- John 15:9-10

If you love Me you will obey what I command....If anyone loves Me he will obey My commands...
    -- John 14:15, 23


How about profoundly simple? That's what this idea is - if we truly call Him Lord and love Him as our Savior, we will obey Him!

We will never utter the words, "No, Lord"!

How Demons Try to Trick Us - C. S. Lewis

 

From Screwtape Letters, by C. S. Lewis....

Supervisor Demon during training of young recruit on how to mess up Christians, especially

in regards to pleasure:

Supervisor Demon says, "Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its

healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy's ground.

"I know we have won many a soul through pleasure. All the same, it is his invention, not ours.

He made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All

we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures our enemy has produced, at times, 

or in ways, or in degrees, which he has forbidden...

"An ever increasing craving for an ever diminishing pleasure is the formula. To get the man's soul and give him nothing in return-- that is what really gladdens Our Father's heart."

Absolutely sure - Charles Spurgeon

We  know that for those who love God, 

all things work together for good.

--Romans 8:28

Upon some points a believer is absolutely sure.

He knows, for instance, that God is the center of the vessel when it rocks most. He believes that an invisible hand is on the world's tiller, and that wherever providence may drift, God is steering it.

This assuring knowledge prepares him for everything.

He looks over the raging water and sees the spirit of Jesus walking on the water, and he hears a voice saying, "It is I -- do not be afraid."

He knows too that God is always wise, and knowing this, he is confident that there can be no accidents, no mistakes and that nothing can occur that ought not to happen.

He can say, "If I lose everything, it is better that I should lose it than to keep it if God ordains it."

"We know that for those who love God, all things work out together for good."

The Christian does not merely hold this as theory, but he knows it as a matter of fact.

So far everything has worked for good; the poisonous drugs mixed in proper proportion have effected the cure; the sharp cuts of the scalpel have cleaned out the disease and facilitated the healing.

Every event as yet has worked out the most divinely blessed results; and so, believing that God rules all, that He governs wisely, that He brings good out of evil, the believer's heart is assured, and he is learning to meet each trial calmly when it comes.

In  the spirit of true resignation the believer can say, "Send me what You will, my God, as long as it comes from You; there never was a poor portion that came from Your table to any of Your children."

His method is sublime and His heart profoundly kind,

God is never too early and never behind.

Use the Front Door!

Under AARON...

The LORD said to Moses, "Tell your brother Aaron not to come whenever he chooses into the Most Holy Place behind the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or else he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement cover.


"This is how Aaron is to enter the sanctuary area: with a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He is to put on the sacred linen tunic...." (Leviticus 16:2-3)


Under JESUS...


Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess...Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:14, 16)


We will find grace to help....

reminder from the revival....G I N Y...Grace Is Now Yours....


Never go hungry while the daily bread of grace is on the table of mercy. -- C.  H. Spurgeon

How does adoption work?

Notes from Follow Me, by David Platt, describing the process through which he and his wife adopted a baby from Kazakhstan.



First, they had to go through a "home study." Since their home had been destroyed in Katrina, family friends and church members helped them put together an "apartment" as soon as possible.

As part of that home study, they had to be fingerprinted by "what seemed like every type of government or civic organization in the United States."

Then they had to get physicals that would verify a clean bill of health for them as parents.


David Platt continues:

"With home studies, fingerprints, and physicals past us, we began the long, agonizing process of waiting. Every single day we thought about our child, wondering if it would be a boy or a girl and longing for the day when we could hold that little one in our arms.

"Finally, about a year later, I received an e-mail. It was a picture of a boy.

"Nine months old, abandoned. I printed out the picture and ran to show it to Heather. We laughed, we cried, we rejoiced, we prayed, and within two weeks we were on a plane, headed to Kazakhstan.

"Upon arrival in the city we were immediately taken to his orphanage, where the director met us and escorted us in to a small room.  She shared all sorts of medical information with us about our son, and then it happened.

"A woman rounded the corner with a precious ten-month-old boy in her arms, and words can't describe the immediate swell of emotion that filled the room.

"The woman handed him to us, and for the first time, Caleb Platt looked into the eyes of a mom and dad.

"For the next four weeks, we visited Caleb in his orphanage. We held him, fed him, sang to him, laughed with him, and crawled all over the floor with him until the day finally came for us to adopt him.

"We were instructed on what to wear, what to say, and what to expect when we stood before a Kazakh judge.

"Our hearts were pounding in that courtroom as the proceedings played out.

"Finally the judge pronounced, "I grant this application of adoption, and this child now belongs to David and Heather Platt."

"We left the room with tears steaming from our eyes, ready to pick up Caleb from his orphanage for the last time.

"The parallels between Caleb's story and the gospel story are many, but I want to point out one that is particularly significant:

"Adoption begins with the parent's initiative, not a child's idea.

"Before Caleb was even born in Kazakhstan, he had a mom and day working to adopt him.

"While Caleb was lying alone at night in an orphanage in Kazakhstan, he had a mom and dad planning to adopt him.

"And one day when Caleb was placed in the arms of his mom and dad, he had no idea all that had been done, completely apart from any initiative in him, to bring him to that point.

"It seems obvious, but it is especially important: this precious ten-month-old baby did not invite us to come to him in Kazakhstan to bring him into our family; he didn't even know to ask for such a thing.

"No, this orphaned child became our cherished son because of a love that was entirely beyond his imagination and completely outside his control.

"He did not pursue us, for he was utterly unable to do so; instead, we pursued him.

"This is the heart of Christianity, and we are prone to miss it when we describe becoming a follower of Jesus as inviting him into our hearts.

"The reality of the gospel is that we do not become God's children ultimately because of initiative in us, and he does not provide salvation primarily because of an invitation from us.

"Instead, before we were ever born, God was working to adopt us. While we were lying alone in the depth of our sin, God was planning to save us.

"The only way we can become part of the family of God is through a love entirely beyond our imagination  and completely out of our control.

"Christianity does not begin with our pursuit of Christ, but with Christ's pursuit of us.

"Christianity does not start with an invitation we offer to Jesus, but with an invitation Jesus offers us."

We ourselves groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons. (Romans 8:23)

In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will. (Ephesians 1:5)