Smol tok nomo |
Smol tok nomo |
It is a tricky little beast at best. It creeps up into our lives daily and dances on the line of right and wrong. To what extent do we carry this cross? Many are called to be pastors, evangelists, missionaries and teachers but we are ALL called to be Christians. What does this mean? The simple act of preferring our brother or sister? It sounds like very pretty words and many love to quote them, Jesus tells us to" love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, body and mind. Oh and one more thing, love your neighbor as yourself. It all hangs on this!" Wow, we love to use this scripture to promote not following less important scriptures or some just avoid this scripture all together because it isn't the deep stuff, the important stuff, the stuff we can use to show how philosophical and learned we are. It is in fact both the simplest and the most complex commandment of all - this commandment to love. It is so simple to quote or even understand, but to act on it is the hard part. Every single day, never once being excused from the class? All humans are built with a natural inclination towards self preservation, we are survivors and some instincts can save your life in certain situations, but in the spiritual realm are we supposed to be saving our lives or losing them? Paul says I die daily. It is so complex to go against everything our flesh wants, to force our will, our intellect, our emotion to surrender daily to preferring our brother. It goes against our society, it goes against everything we have been taught through painful experiences from the school of hard knocks. Some people never learn how to preserve themselves, while others learn it well and feel quite above the rest, they are the natures selection/ survival of the fittest bunch. Then there is another group, the group that is seemingly insane enough to really die on a regular basis, ON PURPOSE!?!. The latter group should describe EVERY Christian. God has called us all to this place where we don't fight His cause, where we live each day unto the Lord and others. Sounds so pretty and we all want to think we do this. We give ourselves pats on the back when we do something nice for someone or we work to justify actions when our true motivation was our selfish preservation. In reality, "there is none that doeth good no not one." To take up your cross and die daily means you are going to suffer, alot. To love God and others more than yourself is going to hurt. In fact it will kill you. It is so easy to expect others to act on it, but make many excuses for ourselves. We don't want to feel guilty. We want to justify it all in our minds, we want to hand craft our own cross instead of taking up the one He has called us all to. See this is why He says all the other laws hang on this one, because that man who can love God and others more than himself, that man who has faced the fire of every selfish desire being burned out (and burned is a good word because the pain of this can be unbearable) that man would find any and all other commandments simple or even easy if he has truly died to himself. The only perfect man to ever live was Jesus. My question is just because our world seems to be spinning more and more into everyone fighting for their cause, opinion, position or perhaps more easily worded, for themselves, should we measure ourselves against others or Christ? Are we setting the bar too low? Do thoughts of loving God and others give us warm fuzzys or are we truly aware of what is really being asked of us? Do we justify ourselves by the fact we are better than some or most? The Bible tells us that as it was in the days of Noah is exactly how it will be in the last days. People eating, drinking, getting married serving their own purposes in life without a thought to His purpose in their lives. However, Noah was a perfect man in his generation. Are we taking the easy way out here? Are we willing to open ourselves up to the massive pain of really treating others how we would really want to be treated even if they never returned this love? Are we really trusting God to fight every battle for us and living unto Him by dying unto ourselves. Where are the Noahs of our generation? Do we justify our self preservation socially, economically, physically and every other way because we are still doing better than the next guy? Or do we view ourselves through the painful lens of how we measure up to Christ and how He has asked us to live our lives even in such a fallen world. I am convinced it is this love that will separate the Church from the World. When they look at us and dont see simply Pastors, Missionaries, Evangelists or Teachers but they see Christians rich in this kind of love, the kind of love that is only supernaturally obtained as it goes against every grain of human flesh, then they will be forced to stand face to face with the reality of Christ. I believe the scripture says it best, "by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, that you have love one for another." Examine yourself with an open heart, have I truly counted the cost? Am I willing to live my life in a way that puts others first without the promise of anything in return this side of heaven? Do I really believe in my own Christian faith enough to hang it all on the line in this life, assured He will reward me in the next? "Awful risky" is what most of our actions are saying, and yet this message is simple, pure and it is His desire for us is to love others as ourselves. It is a painful yet necessary process that requires preserving His ways in us instead of self preservation. Our greatest example is Christ. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter and didnt open His mouth. He had the power, the knowledge and ability to preserve Himself yet even as they taunted Him, "If you are really the Son of God why dont you save yourself?" our greatest example was not interested in self preservation, but in preserving you and I. Love your brother until it hurts even if it kills your "self" in the process.
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AuthorWife, Mother, Missionary, Teacher, Friend ... just a few of the many titles I gladly wear. Never dreamed this is the journey God would take me on. Archives
July 2022
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