Humility Month: Part 2–God is God, and You are Not

 

Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus says the Lord God:

Your heart has grown proud,
and thus you say, “I am a god;
I sit on a godly throne
in the heart of the seas.”
But in reality you are a man, and not a god,
even though you compare your mind
with that of a god.
Are you as wise as Daniel?
Is no secret hidden from you?
By your wisdom and your intelligence,
you have amassed great wealth for yourself.
You have deposited gold and silver
into your treasuries.
Because of your skill in trading,
your wealth has greatly increased;
and as a result of your riches,
your heart is filled with arrogant pride.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God:

Because you consider your wisdom
to be equal to that of God,
I will bring foreigners against you,
the most barbarous of all the nations.
They will draw their swords
against the beauty of your wisdom
and defile your splendor.
They will hurl you down to the pit,
and you will die a violent death
in the heart of the seas.
Will you then still say, “I am a god,”
when your murderers confront you?
No, you are a man, not a god,
in the hands of those about to slay you.
You will die the death of the uncircumcised
at the hands of foreigners.

I have spoken, declares the Lord God.
(Ezekiel 28:2-10 NCB)

 

As our guest author Karen Pennington noted in part 1 of this series,  “Simply put, pride involves the idolatry of placing ourselves in front of God, in any way, or for any reason.”

In front of God is bad enough. However, in the passage above, the prince of Tyre was making himself EQUAL to God. Definitely a career-limiting move on his part.

The word “pride” in verse five above is accompanied by the word “arrogant. ”  These two words frequently hang out together. It is never a good thing when they do.

Arrogance is a rejection of wisdom. It results from a person elevating incomplete knowledge to a level it does not warrant.

Everyone knows a lot about a few things and a little about many things. A person blinded by arrogance does not make the distinction between knowing a lot and knowing a little.

Pride, then, is arrogance in action. This is when a person professes that their incomplete knowledge is equal or superior to Wisdom and Truth. When left unchecked, this pride can proliferate into a god complex, whereby a person esteems his own intelligence to be unlimited.

This is asking for trouble.

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Only God is God

 

Now it´s not likely that you or I will ever find ourselves ruling a city-state in the Middle East, but pride can creep into the life of anyone in any situation. It rears its head not just when you´re on top, but even when you are at rock bottom. Consider the story of Job.

 

In a single day, Job lost all his children, all his property, and all of his servants. Everything but his wife and his life. Then, to make matters worse, his entire body was covered with painful sores. Yet, he never sacrificed his faith or integrity.

Even so, there´s only so much a man can take, even a righteous man like Job. He goes off on a six-chapter rant, justifying himself and complaining why he doesn’t deserve his circumstances. Then God answers, with seventy-two verses of sarcastic questions, ending with this:

“Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? Or will you yield? Do you—God’s critic—have the answers?” (Job 40:2 TLB)

After a bit more chastening, Job responds:

“You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! Let me put the questions to you! See if you can answer them!’

“But now I say, ‘I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you, and I loathe myself and repent in dust and ashes.’” (Job 42:4-6 TLB)

 

Job exchanged his unintentional pride for intentional humility. As a result, God restored to him double what he had lost, and he lived to a ripe old age to enjoy it.

Strength in Surrender

So as we can see, pride makes us enemies of God, but humility sets things right again. By surrendering our pride, we open up Blessing Blvd. to traffic. God hears our prayers and answers them according to His will.

This is what we need to remember when our circumstances go south. Because they will. In fact, if you take a look at the world around us, they already are.

It is so difficult to look at the chaos of our society and believe that God is in control. But He is. It is WE who aren’t. Because it´s not our job.

For only God is God.

 

 

 

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Love Your Neighbor: Part 2–Rights or Responsibilities?

 

Freedom is a word that gets thrown around a lot here in the US.  Especially in an election year.  ESPECIALLY especially in THIS election year.  Vote for (fill in the blank) because OUR FREEDOM IS AT STAKE!!!  Another word that we use interchangeably with this kind of freedom is “rights.”  Our Constitution has a Bill of Rights.  We have the right to do this, or not to do that.  Don’t you dare violate my rights!  But Christians are called to a different, I would even say higher, form of freedom.  While American freedom is preoccupied with individual rights,  Christian freedom is about communal responsibilities.

 

Loving your neighbor calls for the realization that you are part of something bigger, a member of a larger body.  Within the Church, we refer to ourselves as the Body of Christ.  However, any community is also a body, whether it is a household, neighborhood, city, state, or country.

 

No one lives in a vacuum.  What we do affects others, whether we can see it or not.  A HUGE problem in our society is that people have forgotten the basic principle that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.  Paul addressed this problem in the church at Corinth in this way:

There’s a slogan often quoted on matters like this: “All things are permitted.” Yes, but not all things are beneficial.  “All things are permitted,” they say.  Yes, but not all things build up and strengthen others in the body.  We should stop looking out for our own interests and instead focus on the people living and breathing around us.  1 Corinthians 10:23-24 (The VOICE)

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Yes, we have rights.  Yes, we have the freedom of speech; therefore, yes, we ought to be able to speak truth, whenever and wherever and amongst whomever we find ourselves.  Technically.  However…

Just because we can doesn’t always mean that we should.

Here is something you might not have considered.  Even if you’re right in what you say, someone hearing it may not have a full understanding of the issue at hand.  If someone questions you out of simple ignorance, you can gently educate them to build them up to where you are.  However, if you argue, shout them down or otherwise dig in your heels to assert your rightness, not only are you failing to get your own point across effectively, you are also making it less likely that the other person will ask other significant questions in the future.

 

Furthermore, they may likely develop an attitude about you as a person, and by extension any group with which you are affiliated, that is closed off and hostile.  Can you see how potentially devastating it can be when Christians behave this way?  Great job Ace, you won an argument that you never should have been in (slow hand clap), and you lost a soul for the Kingdom in the process.  You exercised your Constitutional right to voice your opinion, but you broke God’s commandment to love your neighbor.

via GIPHY

 

It all comes down to the question of rights.  If you’re only focused on your own, sooner or later, you’re going to be depriving someone else of theirs.  Rights are about exercising your freedom.  However, responsibility is the freedom to lay aside your rights for the greater good, just as Jesus laid aside His divinity to come down here with us.

For example, freedom of speech is great until you say something that isn’t true, and it spreads like COVID on the Internet.  By that point (and it only takes hours in this age of technology), it’s too late for an apology or retraction.  The damage is done and is not likely to be undone.

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For this reason, love dictates that the freedom of speech should be in submission to the responsibility to speak truthfully, and to lift others up instead of tearing them down.  As Paul directed the Ephesians:

 

Do not use harmful words, but only helpful words, the kind that build up and provide what is needed, so that what you say will do good to those who hear you.  Ephesians 4:29 (GNT)

 

This is useful advice in any context, but especially on social media.  Here are some questions every Truthseeker should ask themselves before posting:

 

    • Is what I am saying building up orders according to their needs?
    • Do I even know what those needs are?  (I.e., Did I really listen to what they were saying?)
    • Have I tested my own perceptions and beliefs before questioning theirs?
    • Do I for sure know what I’m talking about, or am I about to spout an opinion based on emotion rather than reasoning?
    • What effect might my words have for those lurking on this post or page that aren’t directly involved in the conversation?
    • What is my motivation for making this post? Am I trying to illuminate Truth or win an argument?
    • If a non-believer reads this post, is it going to make them more curious to see what this God thing is all about, or will it make them say, “See, I told you those people were all ignorant douchebags.”

 

The best practice we can all learn is to do everything we can to widen the gap between stimulus and response.  It’s easy to feel anger.  It’s harder, but more beneficial, to take a breath, think things through, and respond constructively.  It requires wisdom to understand that sometimes the most constructive and loving response is no response at all.

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Love Your Neighbor: Part 1–And Your Enemies Too

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40 (MEV)

 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor.  Hate your enemy.’ But here is what I tell you.  Love your enemies.  Pray for those who hurt you.  Then you will be children of your Father who is in heaven.  He causes his sun to shine on evil people and good people.  He sends rain on those who do right and those who don’t.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?  Even the tax collectors do that.  If you greet only your own people, what more are you doing than others?  Even people who are ungodly do that.  Matt 5:43-47 (NIRV)

 

So, Jesus said to love our neighbor AND love our enemies.  There are two implications here.  The first is that our neighbors might BE our enemies.  The second, is that what Jesus is really saying is to love everybody, that way you don’t miss one.

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You all remember the story of the Good Samaritan, right?  But do you remember the story behind the story?  Here’s how it went down:


A lawyer got up and put Jesus on the spot.

‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what should I do to inherit the life of the coming age?’

 ‘Well,’ replied Jesus, ‘what is written in the law?  What’s your interpretation of it?’

 ‘You shall love the Lord your God’, he replied, ‘with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your understanding; and your neighbour as yourself.’

 ‘Well said!’ replied Jesus.  ‘Do that and you will live.’

 ‘Ah,’ said the lawyer, wanting to win the point, ‘but who is my neighbour?’

 Jesus rose to the challenge.  ‘Once upon a time,’ he said, ‘a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and was set upon by brigands.  They stripped him and beat him and ran off leaving him half dead.  A priest happened to be going down that road, and when he saw him he went past on the opposite side.  So too a Levite came by the place; he saw him too, and went past on the opposite side.

‘But a travelling Samaritan came to where he was.  When he saw him he was filled with pity.  He came over to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine.  Then he put him on his own beast, took him to an inn, and looked after him.  The next morning, as he was going on his way, he gave the innkeeper two dinars.  “Take care of him,” he said, “and on my way back I’ll pay you whatever else you need to spend on him.”

‘Which of these three do you think turned out to be the neighbour of the man who was set upon by the brigands?’

‘The one who showed mercy on him,’ came the reply.

‘Well,’ Jesus said to him, ‘you go and do the same.’  Luke 10:25-37 (NTE)

 

With this parable, Jesus answered two questions—”Who is my neighbor?” and “What does love really look like?”

 

A neighbor is anyone you come into contact with, not just those you would PREFER to come into contact with.

 

And love?  We have discussed before that agape, the Greek word for “love” in this example, is not an emotion, but an action.  It is kindness in motion, having an unselfish concern for others, seeking the best for them, and doing everything in your power to make that happen.  The Samaritan had no incentive to help the Jewish man in the story, as Jews and Samaritans hated each other with a passion.  Nevertheless, he was motivated by love for God to show compassion to this man, who on any other day would just as soon have spit on him as looked at him.

 

Love involves sacrifice in any context, but much more so when it involves our enemies.  It’s easier to step on someone’s neck than lift them up, especially if they don’t like you either.

 

Love of this nature can only come from a posture of humility.  To seek the best for others, you must already be in the habit of having a mindset that the welfare of others takes priority over your own.

 

Now that does not mean to never look after your own interests.  Just consider the needs of others first, THEN yours.  Have the heart of a servant, just like Jesus did.  He set us a crystal-clear example of what that looks like, throughout His entire ministry, and explicitly at the Last Supper.  So why do we have such a hard time following that example?

 

(To find out, come back for Part 2—Rights or Responsibilities?)

 

 

Evidence: Part 2–Where Your Treasue Is

Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or—worse!—stolen by burglars.  Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars.  It’s obvious, isn’t it?  The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.  (Matthew 6:19-21 MSG)

 

Have you ever been truly in need?

 

There’s a chance that some of you have.  I don’t know the personal story of everyone reading this.  But if you’re reading it now, then you have access to the Internet, which means you likely have shelter and enough means to know where your next meal is coming from.

 

The point is that whoever you are and whatever your situation is, someone has it worse than you do.  This is true for every human being on this planet except one.  Theoretically, someone has to be at the end of the line, and whoever that is will probably be dead by the time I finish typing this sentence.

 

The reverse is also true.  If there is always someone that is worse off than you, then obviously, that means that you are better off than someone else is.  If all of your needs are met, and you have one extra penny in your pocket, then to a great many people in this world, you are rich.  So if you are reading this, you have more than you need.  It might be a little more; it might be a lot more.  And lots of folks out there have less than they need.

 

Let me be clear that I am talking about needs, not desires. You need clean drinking water, but you don’t need Perrier.  You need clothing, but you don’t need the little black dress from Chanel.  You need shelter, but you don’t need a mansion in Bel Air.

 

Some people get the wrong idea about how to get what they need.  They decide that because you have more than you need, they might as well take some of what you have.  Some might call that “redistribution of wealth,” but what it really is is theft.

 

If you have more than you need, technically, you are always at risk of having it taken away from you.  The more you hoard for yourself, the more you stand to potentially lose.

 

There’s a way around this though.  We as a nation need to get over this ridiculous mentality of piling up wealth for ourselves.  Malcolm Forbes is frequently quoted as having said, “He who dies with the most toys wins.”  Well, Malcolm Forbes is dead.  Someone else got his toys.  So what did he win?

 

Remember what we’ve talked about before—the toys aren’t even yours to begin with.  Everything you have is on loan from God, because you don’t take anything with you.

 

So if you have more than you need, and what you have isn’t yours anyway, why not give some of it away?  Nobody can take from you what you have already voluntarily surrendered.  All you have to do is get to a place where the people you meet that have less than you are more important than the stuff you have that they don’t.

 

But if you’re not at that place yet, then how do you get there?  In a word, trust.

 

Trust that God is your provider.  Trust that He will continue to meet your needs as He always has.  Most of all, trust that He can do more with the money you’re giving away than you could if you kept it.  

 

It’s this trust that leads to a life of generosity.  Think about it—why do we try so hard to hold on to our money?  Is it because we worked hard and we earned it?  Maybe, but I think it’s more about fear.  We are afraid that we will LOSE what we have earned.  We have probably set goals for ourselves that involved “moving up in the world.”  Maybe we have been successful in attaining those goals, at least in part.  We get jealous for what we have acquired along the way, because we have devoted so much of our lives to acquiring it.

 

This tells me that maybe the goals are the problem.  If the ambition of our lives is to build our own legacy, what’s the point of that?  We won’t be around to enjoy it.

 

On the other hand, when we trust God to take care of everything we need (again, not everything we want, but everything we need), we find ourselves holding on more loosely to a lot of things, but especially money.  The less we try to grasp at the material things in our lives, the more we find ourselves learning to be content.  We learn what the meaning of “enough” is.  We learn that if we have enough today and trust that we will tomorrow, God will open our eyes to people we can help and situations we can change with the more-than-enough with which He has blessed us.

 

Best of all, we learn that when we help someone else have enough, we find that we STILL have enough.  And by being kind and thinking of the needs of others first, we pay our blessings forward.  And maybe, with this generosity as the evidence that God is doing something in our lives, we might inspire someone else to follow our lead.

 

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord,     and he will repay him for his deed.  (Proverbs 19:17 ESV)

 

(Come back for Part 3: What Leads to Peace)

Evidence: Part 1–Be Kind

 

Live in peace with each other.  And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone.  Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.  (1 Thessalonians 5:13b-15)

 

The number one thing that should set Christians apart from the world is the evidence of the Holy Spirit working in their lives.  One of the fruits of the Spirit is kindness.  But what does it actually mean to “be kind?”
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He started it!

 
If you have more than one child, or if you grew up in a house with more than one child, you have heard this one (or maybe even said it).  When two kids are caught in the throes of conflict, they are less concerned with ending the conflict than with determining and/or declaring whose fault it was that the conflict began.  One of my frequent lines when my boys were little was, “I don’t care who started it; I’m FINISHING IT!”

 

Kindness is about learning how to finish it before it even starts.  Bellowing like a deranged grizzly bear might have gotten my sons to shut up and stop fighting, but it didn’t really teach them about being kind to each other or to anyone else.

 

To be kind is to seek peace, which is nearly impossible to do if you are also trying to get your own way.  Kindness, like mercy, goes first.  It was the kindness of God that moved Him to send Jesus to save us.  He didn’t wait for us to be good enough to earn His kindness.  He went first, putting our benefit first, with the goal of restoring our relationship to Him.

 

Jesus’ message about loving your enemies from the Sermon on the Mount is another demonstration of kindness:

 

But I tell everyone who is listening: Love your enemies.  Be kind to those who hate you.  Bless those who curse you.  Pray for those who insult you.  (Luke 6:27-28 GW)

 

There is more to kindness, however, than just being nice or turning the other cheek.

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WARNING!!!

 

Sandwiched in the middle of the scripture at the top of this post is an admonition to “warn those who are idle.”  That may not sound like kindness to some.  If kindness is about living at peace with people, then why do you want to be all up in their grill when they’re just chillin’?  (Can you tell I have a teenager?)

 

Remember that the main goal of kindness is seeking the other person’s benefit.  If it would benefit the other person not to lose his job, then you are doing him a kindness by telling him to get off his lazy tuchas and get to work.  If it would benefit someone to kick an unhealthy habit, break off an unhealthy relationship or not get arrested, then anything you do to prevent those things qualifies as being kind, even though it may come off as “meddling.”

 

Let me be clear.  If you are in a position to keep someone from ruining his or her life, you are not doing that person any favors by “staying out of it.”  Sometimes kindness is displayed by helping people who can’t help themselves, but sometimes, you can also show it by helping people who WON’T help themselves.  That one is harder, and to be honest, it doesn’t always work out.  But at least you have done your part.  And, you have done something that most would not have been willing to do.

 

This kindness is the evidence that God is working in your life.

 

(To be continued in Part 2–Where Your Treasure Is)

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Called to CARE

 

Way back in 2012, before Truth Mission was even a thing, I was approached by Jimmy Rousey, a friend and former employer.  Jimmy has always had a heart for helping people make the most of their lives by finding their calling and learning how to relate rightly to each other.  He had always wanted to write a book about this, but didn’t know quite how to go about it.

Jimmy and I spent the next 4+ years getting together whenever he was up from Kentucky to kick ideas back and forth.  We started and stopped on more than one occasion, even completely scrapping the manuscript and starting over at one point.  Finally, we finished it.  And now, it’s available for you.

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Called to CARE is a book designed to help you:

  • Find your Calling
  • Develop a life-giving Attitude and put it into action
  • Build authentic relationships founded on Respect
  • Live a life of Excellence

Calling, Attitude, Respect, Excellence–>CARE.  See what we did there?

Jimmy and I don’t make a penny off of this book.  All proceeds from the sale of Called to CARE go to the River Foundation, a private charitable foundation started by First Southern Bancorp in Stanford, Kentucky, where Jimmy has served on the Board of Directors.

I would love for you to have a copy of this book. Writing it with Jimmy changed my life, and I believe reading it could very well change yours too.

Blessings,

M. Scott

Update–January 15, 2022

My experience writing Called to CARE with Jimmy has led to other ghostwriting and editing opportunities, such as editing God and a Man for Tim Brown.

As such, I am announcing today the launching of my new writing and editing business, A Clever Turn of Phrase by M. Scott.  I am available for all shapes and sizes of editing and/or writing projects.  Please click on the link to request a quote for your project, or contact me at ms***********@gm***.com.

Cheers,

M. Scott

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Do Unto Others: Part 7–Pure

God, create a pure heart in me, and renew a right attitude within me.  Do not cast me from your presence; do not take your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and let a willing attitude control mePsalm 51:10-12 (ISV)

 

The goal of the Christian life is not to be better than anyone else, but to be better people today than we were yesterday.  When people interact with us, all they see of our lives is a snapshot.  So if they have repeated interactions with us, they expect to see actions that are consistent with what we profess to believe.

 

Of course, being human, we have our bad days, just like anybody else.  So what’s the trick to maintaining consistency?  What can we do to help our spiritual progression stay on track?

 

Luke 6:45 reminds us:

 

Good people do good things because of the good in their hearts.  Bad people do bad things because of the evil in their hearts.  Your words show what is in your heart(CEV)

 

By our words and our actions, we show the world what is really in our hearts.  Therefore, it follows that if our words and actions are causing problems in our relationships, then we need to focus on the internal.

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The excerpt at the top of this post is from Psalm 51.  King David wrote this after having been busted for committing adultery with Bathsheba.  If you know the rest of that story, there was a lot more than illicit sex going on there.  David actually had her husband KILLED so he could get with her.

 

Chances are good that no one reading this is guilty of a crime that heinous (at least I HOPE not!).  The point, however, is that God allows us to approach Him for forgiveness no matter how dark our sins are.

 

Even more importantly, notice that David is asking God to create a pure heart in him.  This is not something we can do ourselves.  The word “pure” is frequently translated “clean” in this passage.  This is a reference to ceremonial cleanliness according to Jewish law.  They had numerous rituals for making their bodies ceremonially clean, but there is nothing they, or we, could do to clean up a filthy heart.

 

How great is the news, then, that God actually WANTS to clean us up from the inside out, rather than just throw us out with the trash.  He knows that we need pure hearts to make our words and actions pure so that we can be useful to the world in which He has placed us.

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Those of you that are Truthseekers, do you remember what it felt like when you first reported for duty in God’s work?  Did it feel like you were totally on fire to live out your mission?  Do you still feel that way today?  Maybe, but probably not.

 

Life has a way of dragging us down.  We get distracted and weighed down by the cares of this world, and we lose our single-mindedness of purpose.  If we aren’t careful, we can spiral downward into depression because of our ineffectiveness in bringing change to the world.

 

But we know that there is work that God has planned for us specifically to do.  We also know that we need to finish what we start. What we forget is that God never intended for us to do all these things on our own.

 

IF we remember to ask Him, God will straighten us out, give us the right attitude and give us the strength we need each day for the work ahead of us.  As we train ourselves to rely on God to guide us internally, the world will notice the difference in our words and actions.

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Do Unto Others: Part 5–Faithful

Hold on to loyal love and don’t let go, and be faithful to all that you’ve been taught.  Let your life be shaped by integrity, with truth written upon your heart.  That’s how you will find favor and understanding with both God and men—you will gain the reputation of living life well.  Proverbs 3:3-4 (TPT)

In Part 3, we learned that one way to win the respect of others is to mind our own business and show appreciation.  Here’s another one—being faithful.

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Probably the most common way we use the word “faithful” today is in the context of a relationship.  When we are “faithful” to a significant other, it is a sign of focus and commitment.

 

The original Hebrew word emeth, rendered “faithful” in the verse above has much more depth.  It means sturdy, stable and trustworthy.  Something you can depend on without thinking twice.  In the King James Version, emeth is most frequently translated as “truth,” so you can see why it’s a favorite word of mine!

 

The word signifies things that are firmly established as being right.  To apply this word to a person would be to describe them as reliable, sincere, and one who clings to the Truth.  And as we proclaim God as the source and embodiment of all Truth, it stands to reason then that a faithful person is reflecting the image of a faithful God.

We like it when we can rely on people, don’t we?  It sure takes a lot of stress out of life when you know you can count on someone.

 

Sometimes, though, it seems that we may not put as much energy as we should into being that kind of person.  If faithfulness is a sure way to win respect, then a sure way to lose it is hypocrisy.

 

A hypocrite is, at the heart, a pretender.  A hypocrite shows you one face while being someone else underneath.  If a person makes a habit of being this way, it won’t take long for the word to get out.  A hypocrite is untrustworthy, because you never know what to expect from such a person.  One thing you won’t expect is truth and faithfulness.

 

There is no room for hypocrisy in the Church.  As Paul advised to the Colossians:

 

Don’t lie to each other.  You’ve gotten rid of the person you used to be and the life you used to live, and you’ve become a new person.  This new person is continually renewed in knowledge to be like its Creator.  Colossians 3:9-10 (GW)

 

If you have professed Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, none of the bad stuff you did before counts against you, but there’s a catch.  You can’t go back and do that stuff anymore.  (Of course, if your conversion is genuine, you won’t want to anyway, so it’s all good.)  But God created you in His image, and if you have accepted His invitation, you have become eternally adopted into His family.  Since God is the source of all love and the essence of all Truth, that means you have His faithfulness in your DNA.

 

It doesn’t matter who you are or where you came from.  God created you to do the work He had planned for you, but He also gives you the strength and endurance to perform this work faithfully.  When you follow through with that, it pleases God to see His plan working itself out in your life.

 

And as an extra added bonus, other people will notice not only the work you’re doing, but also the manner in which you do it.  They will see your sincerity and know that you are someone they can trust.

(Some days this is easier than others, however.  Come back for Part 6—Courageous.)

SkyGolf

Do Unto Others: Part 3–Respect

It is God’s will that your good lives should silence those who foolishly condemn the Gospel without knowing what it can do for them, having never experienced its power.  You are free from the law, but that doesn’t mean you are free to do wrong.  Live as those who are free to do only God’s will at all times.  Show respect for everyone.  Love Christians everywhere.  Fear God and honor the government.  1 Peter 2:15-17 (TLB)

 

Many Christians love this passage . . . right up until you get to the last three words.

 

Honor the government?  But what do we do if the government is not honorable?  Do we still have to submit to a president or a congress that does not have our best interests at heart?

 

The answer, though we may admit it reluctantly, is yes.  Let’s break down this passage.

 

Verse 15 says that God wants us to shut up the ignorant folk who think we are deluded or even dangerous.  But He wants us to do this not with our words, but with our lives.

 

Verse 16 says that being free from the penalty of God’s law does not give us license to do whatever we want, but to do God’s will.  And what is that will?

 

To show respect to everyone.

 

The remainder of verse 17 gives examples of this.  Love Christians everywhere.  Fear God.  Honor the government.

 

This isn’t multiple choice.  ALL of these examples fall under the heading of showing respect to everyone.

 

“Everyone” also includes the people in verse 15, whom one might describe as enemies of the faith.  But remember in Part 2 when we talked about loving our enemies?

 

There’s just no getting around this, so what do we do with it?

 

First, as painful as it may be, we simply have to accept the fact that the world is full of stupid people.

 

Second, and equally painful, we must realize that no matter what good people we may think we are, not everyone is going to like us.

 

The third thing we must do, and this is where the freedom enters in, is to stop caring about the first two things.

 

Live quietly & mind your own business so that you may win the respect of others and have need of nothing.  1 Thess 4:11-12

 

We don’t solve the problem of finger-pointing by employing the method of sign-waving.  We don’t stifle the ignorance of idiots by yelling louder.  And we don’t solve problems in our government by advocating revolution or anarchy.

 

A Christian should never be concerned about other people’s issues when our primary function is to meet other people’s needs.  Whoever they are, their chief need is Jesus, whether they realize it or not.

 

It all comes down to respect.  Honor.  The Greek word Peter uses in the passage above is “timao.”  It means to add value.  A synonymous word in English would be “to appreciate,” but not in the sense we casually use it today, for example, “I would appreciate it if you would put away your laundry.”

 

No, this is in a much larger sense.  It means to esteem, by giving someone his or her due.  By showing a full understanding of their inherent value, especially how it relates to you.  To consider another more important than yourself.

 

 

This is what respect is.  You may not feel respect for Donald Trump’s character or for that of Barack Obama before him, but you are called to respect the office of the president, because:

Every person must submit to and support the authorities over him.  For there can be no authority in the universe except by God’s appointment, which means that every authority that exists has been instituted by God.  So to resist authority is to resist the divine order of God, which results in severe consequences.  Romans 13:1-2 (TPT)

 

Bottom line: if you call yourself an American, then THE president is YOUR president, the same as if you call yourself a Christian, then God is your God.

And your pastor is your pastor.  And your teacher is your teacher.  And your boss is your boss.

 

You may disagree with them.  You may cringe at the sound their voices.  You may even find yourself making voodoo dolls of them in your spare time.

 

But they are all people, the same as you, and made in the image of the same God as you.  And this same God has commanded the same respect for all.

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Bill Burr Ticketsnbsp;

Do Unto Others: Part 2–Mercy

If you love only the people who love you, what praise should you get?  Even sinners love the people who love them.  If you do good only to those who do good to you, what praise should you get?  Even sinners do that!  If you lend things to people, always hoping to get something back, what praise should you get?  Even sinners lend to other sinners so that they can get back the same amount!  But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without hoping to get anything back.  Then you will have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High God, because he is kind even to people who are ungrateful and full of sin.  Show mercy, just as your Father shows mercy.  (Luke 6:32-36 NCV)

 

Many people believe in the Golden Rule—Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  Yet, it seems that many folks are waiting to be done unto before they do any doing.

 

In the passage above, Jesus is advocating a totally different strategy—mercy.  Mercy is not concerned with everyone behaving properly or with showing favoritism toward those who do.

 

As Christians, we are called to set ourselves apart by being merciful as our Father is merciful.  So what does that look like?

 

Romans 5:8 says, “…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Jesus didn’t wait for us to get in line to meet His standard (which is impossible anyway).  He didn’t ask, or even consider, what we could do for Him.  He went first.

 

This is probably the easiest way to define mercy—mercy goes first.  Mercy looks to the needs of others, and sets about meeting them before considering anything else.

 

This doesn’t come naturally to most of us.  In our culture, we’re used to “getting what we paid for.”  If we are going to exchange our money, time or talent, we generally expect to get something in return.  For this reason, it seems natural for us to think about how we’re going to be paid back before we make an investment.

 

The thing is the people who are the most in need of mercy tend to be the ones who CAN’T pay you back.  But they CAN pay your mercy forward.

 

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you relied on someone else’s mercy, knowing you wouldn’t be able to reciprocate?  You might have felt gratitude at first, but later, the sense of indebtedness might have made you feel guilty.

 

Don’t go there.  There’s a better way.  Instead of focusing on what you can’t do for the person who helped you out, think instead of what you ARE able to do for someone else who is in a more desperate situation than you are.  There’s always someone.

 

Here’s the catch, though.  The person most in need of your mercy might be someone you don’t like.

 

This is where the “love your enemies” bit comes in.  Jesus never asked us to LIKE our enemies.  Remember though that agape love is not a feeling; it is an action.  As such, it is perfectly possible to show mercy toward someone who has been adversarial to us, even if there’s still a part of us that wants to push them down the stairs.

 

But here’s the part we all need to remember.  We were just as adversarial to God when He chased us down.  He continues to bless us, even when we don’t thank Him.  So if we are endeavoring to be “sons of the Most High,” we shouldn’t be standing around waiting for thanks either.  It feels nice to be appreciated, but remember, this is not the goal of mercy.

 

This is mercy–to listen with compassion to the people who annoy you the most in order to learn what their greatest burden is, then to speak only that which will help relieve them of that burden, and if that is not possible, to remain silent and allow God to do His work in them, rather than burden them further with opinions and judgment.

 

And that is what God offers to us all day, every day.  Think about that for a second.  How does it make you feel to know that you don’t ever have to put on a fake face for God to receive His mercy?

 

Now how does it make you feel to know that you have the power to make somebody else feel a little bit of that?  So go do it.  And focus more on the “you’re welcome” than the “thank you.

 

(Come back for Part 3–Respect.)

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