Real Respect
January 29, 2024
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Why ME
When you ask, “Why is this happening to me?”, who is the centre of your universe?
When Jesus was dying on the cross at the hands of brutal people, was the question from the cross, “Why me?” or a plea to “Pay them Back?”?
No. Jesus did not die for self. Jesus died for others, even as they sinned and abused and mocked the Saviour Who died to save them.
If anyone loves God with heart, soul and might (Deuteronomy 6:5), and others at least as much as they love themselves (Leviticus 19:18), Jesus would be the centre of their universe, in good times and disasters.
Would such a person not come to realize that the question is not, “Why me?”, but “How can God save or strengthen those around me?”
Life from The Spirit is not for what I can get out of it, but how I can, in all things, shed the Light of Christ into a dark and broken world.
As a disciple of Jesus I already have the ultimate reward, salvation in this world and eternal peace and life in the next. What more do I need?
Why do I want a life that feeds my temporary ego/flesh instead of bringing hope and healing to people at the working of The Spirit?
Jesus came into the world to bring eternal life to all who believe, not temporary personal pleasures.
A soldier concerned only with personal pleasures and ego-stroking would be useless. So with us.
“The Lord isn’t slow to do what he promised, as some people think. Rather, he is patient for your sake. He doesn’t want to destroy anyone but wants all people to have an opportunity to turn to him and change the way they think and act” (2 Peter 3:9 God’s Word Translation©).
Does this verse also describe your life goal?
That’s a good question.
God’s Bible
The Bible is about God.
Yet people read it for political proofs, religious ideology, for use as a weapon against those with whom they disagree or find unacceptable and as a verification for their own heresies or adrenaline to feed their “I’m-right” ego.
The Bible is about being on God’s Team (with God as the highest honcho) and non-debatable love for each and every one of God’s creations.
If your reading gives you permission to judge and condemn anyone of any time or place, prideful assurance that your doctrine or culture is superior to others, or seems useful as an excuse to abuse or hold power over others, you are not reading The Bible God commissioned, but a social distortion for human justification for wrongdoing.
“The tree had fruit that was good to eat, nice to look at, and desirable for making someone wise [“like a god” Genesis 3:5]” Genesis 3:6.
From the beginning people chose whatever satisfied their personal consumption, titillated them in their vision and set them up to play god.
The Divine Plan was for people to serve in creation, walk with God and nurture each other.
I plan, God being my helper, to follow the Plan and benefit the Community, not my little self-centred, self-created universe. Yes, the price is high, but it is better than the religious vandalism that allows people to mutilate creation and destroy other people.
Advent 1 – Hope
“We were saved with this hope in mind. If we hope for something we already see, it’s not really hope. Who hopes for what can be seen? But if we hope for what we don’t see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance” Romans 8:24-25 (God’s Word Translation©).
Today is Advent 1, and in my tradition “Hope” is the theme of the day.
When the road we walk on is smooth, hope is a distant concept.
When life piles on troubles until we nearly collapse, hope provides air to breathe, both physically and spiritually.
With Jesus we have hope, the anticipation of things working out, not only in this world, but in the forever.
“God wanted his people throughout the world to know the glorious riches of this mystery—which is Christ living in you, giving you the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27 God’s Word Translation©).
Yesterday our nephew-in-law died into the arms of Jesus after more than a year of strenuous combat against cancer. He now lives the hope in the new reality we call heaven. The family and clan have hope in this promise and of the presence of the Comforter, The Spirit. He spent his short life as a Baptist Pastor, but now reaps the rewards which he preached about, and that provides hope for all he met.
Sometimes hope stands as the only thing we have, yet “hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5 New International Version®, Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®).
When life looks like nothing more than a formless vacuum, hope sheds that tiny light that promises this is not the end.
May you live in the hope that faith in Jesus gives when nothing else, no one else, can provide what we need to proceed on our way.
“May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in him. Then you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13 God’s Word Translation©).
A Piece of Peace
I accept the teaching that this is a world of humans. It is the turf of Apollyon/Abaddon (both words translate into English as “destroyer”) who is the great deceiver. We can protect ourselves only by deep, compassionate love (“agape”) to counter the compulsion people have to destroy: physically (murder), emotionally (abuse) and intellectually (by unfounded conspiracies), and by Truth (which Jesus taught was personified, not intellectualized).
Israelis are people, as are Palestinians, however, there are those of every race and professed religion who live as slaves of Satan, the Accuser and Destroyer. Their purpose in life is to destroy things (vandalism) and people (murderers/terrorists). Every person or group “is known by its fruit” (Luke 6:44).
Whoever would condemn one, or other, or both of the sides in the Gaza War, however, remember Jesus said, “The person who is sinless should be the first to throw a stone.” (John 8:7). So I will not judge from my imperfections and ignorance, however, I can pray for peace. And we can make peace where we live, and cast off those attitudes that make us judgmental, stop those actions that attack or humiliate other people and abandon any lifestyle that is self-centred.
Just because there are wars in many places of this world doesn’t mean someone has to start another one with their uncompromising ideology that allows them to dehumanize other people.
“Blessed are those who make peace. They will be called God’s children.” (Matthew 5:9)
Act Or Play
There are only two kinds of people: those who act like God and those who play God. The first are motivated by deep, compassionate love and show respect. The others claim to know best for everyone else and impose their opinions on others with contempt. John Milton accurately portrays this impulse of humans (through the voice of Satan) by writing:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav’n.
(John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II, Lines 240-242)
The theory of those who play God is, even if you can’t reign in real hell, make life hell for others and dominate them.
The theory of those who act like God is, by devotion to the worth of others, make the world a better place.
The Weight of the Wait
In the God’s Word Translation the word “wait” occurs 162 times in the Bible! Why?
Because people, wanting to be like God, want to do when God wants to do it for us and through us. We are constantly forced to review the Garden of Eden sin, lusting “to be like God” (Genesis 3:4).
Today is the anniversary of Pentecost, the day the Body of Christ (Church) was truly born.
In a spectacular way God demonstrated that God can do it, and people can join in.
“Once, while [Jesus] was meeting with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for what the Father had promised. Jesus said to them, ‘I’ve told you what the Father promises: John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’|” (Acts 2:4-5 God’s Word Translation©)
The Church (not congregations) exists because God is at work, NOT because people are smart, skilled, or simply sensational.
Wait for God to lead, call and do. Serve God. Do not chase your need to be a famed or noticed champion deserving accolades and honour!
Truth or Opinion?
“A time will come when people will not listen to accurate teachings. Instead, they will follow their own desires and surround themselves with teachers who tell them what they want to hear. People will refuse to listen to the truth and turn to myths.” (2 Timothy 4:3-4 God’s Word Translation)
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