Meaningful

Making choices is nothing new – even this statement is a little strange, everybody makes choices all the time.

 

For example, you can watch a film about a story when a book form is also available. You might prefer to go this way so you can also enjoy the nice buildings along the way, than the other way which is shorter but not as enjoyable. You might choose to have lunch with a friend even though you had lunch together just a week ago but you enjoy each other’s company, than having quick food style meal at your desk while you work over lunch break and doing more over the day.

If you have new choices, you want to know whether they give you more than your old choices. Otherwise, why change?

 

For example, maybe a “meal and concert” package works much better in place of your lunch with your friend. You have time together having early dinner, and the price you pay includes tickets to concert and so you only need to turn up at the venue a few minutes prior to start time. However, it might mean you stay longer at the office, or find something to do, before you have the meal. And the concert event might not be your first choice but it’s an offer with the meal that you don’t want to miss.

• Maybe you even need to book the package in advance, rather than just turn up. It does mean some change of behaviour.
• In return, you and your friend have an evening to share, much more relaxed without having to go back for the afternoon work.

I said that the concert might not be your choice, but there’s a greater meaning in choosing it as part of package with your friend. It’s a lot to do with what meaning we have for what we do, greatly enhanced when there are two or more of you making joint decisions.

When somebody suggests there are better ways to live your life, they are not saying you don’t know about living a life. They are saying maybe there are other new choices. This is the same when we introduce new choices to others, we are introducing these to people already living their own lives in their own ways.

Yes, it might require change of behaviour, watch the film version of Pride and Prejudice instead of reading the book version. But it opens opportunities for the receivers to discover newer depths of meaning. The re-interpretation in the film version might in fact draw you back to the literary version for ideas and nuances you had not thought of before.

New choices open opportunities for the receiving persons to discover newer depths of meaning.

This is similar to the book of Leviticus when it lays out instructions about sacrifices which is part of worship of God. First of all, the sacrificial system of worship has been superceded by what Jesus provided for us in the New Testament. That is very important, so no one today goes about carrying out sacrifices to worship God. Let’s be absolutely clear about that.

What is important to know about the time of Leviticus is that sacrifices was a very common practice across cultures.

Leviticus introduces sacrifices that is about we carrying out actions that have specific meaning to our relationship to God, that he is our God. Today, when we attend church services, the words we say/sing and actions we take have meaning in the greater sense of who we are in God’s house and why we worship Him. You can attend church without focusing on worshipping God. Leviticus 1 is like saying that when we worship God, we shall devote our entirety to the actions (liturgy) of worship, and that the meanings we put in to worship becomes sweet smelling sacrifices to God.

In other words, the chapters in Leviticus about sacrifices is not a completely new thing for the people of the time of Leviticus.

It’s not like they have been worshipping God by drum-n-bass-led or choir-led worship and then the new instruction is to get rid of drum-n-bass and choir, replace it with sacrifice.

• No. It’s not something entirely new.
• It is re-orientation of sacrifice that bears meaning of why we worship God, who wants to have relationship with us
• We are not making sacrifice to someone / something remote that demands endless amount of costliest things for sacrifice where the only certainty you have is to do as much sacrifice as possible as there’s no way you know whether that “god” accepts your sacrifice.
• With Leviticus, it is a re-orientation of the practice for holy meaning.

The other way to look at it is, if the then current practice of sacrifice is replaced by drum-n-bass-led or choir-led worship, that will be multiple generational leaps of worship practice. It might fit more of what we expect today. In a completely different environment, it’s really not going to work.

When something is burnt, there’s no holding back. You can’t say wait I need to practise my chorus pedal or F# minor scale before I can worship fully.

 

The test of the burn is that everything is burnt. It’s how much to “complete” that I want to worship God.

When it’s completely burnt, the object becomes nothing and it is nothing. No, this is not asking you to literary burn yourself up. When we ask God about how we can lead a better life that fits the way he wants it, we are not destroying ourselves as to nothing.

 

The meaning here is that we got to let go of being our own boss of our lives, and then ask God to do the best in our lives. Our live then will be much more purposeful and meaningful in the plan of God.

There’s one place in town and I always go one particular way to get to that place. There are some 7 “regions” along the way and I enjoy the change of feel going from one to the next region. There is much less meaning to behold in the activities I do at the destination. It is the rich meaning I gain going through these regions that I find enjoyable and character-building. One day somebody suggested taking a small detour. I thought that would not gain time. But now this new region is in my standard travel repetoire because of its utter contrast to other regions. I enjoy this route even more.