People are Not Easy to Love no. 34

“They shouted, ‘Take him away! Take him away! Put him to death on the stake!’ Pilate said to them, ‘You want me to execute your king on a stake?’ The head cohanim answered, ‘We have no king but the Emperor’” (Yochanan (Jhn) 19:15). The controversial thing about Jesus being our king was that Caesar was not. BUT how often is Caesar and Rome still the politics and allegiance with which the church concerns itself. People are not easy to love because they follow their Emperor and not the King.

No King But Christ. It is easy to say. A slogan that should be important. BUT how often do I enter churches that are more occupied with Babylonian or Roman allegiance and not His Kingdom allegiance. He is our King so we should be interested in His Kingdom. BUT folks are consistently worried about all types of things that should not concern us if Jesus is our king.

We should not worry or fear what is going on in Babylon or Rome as long as we are assured in His Kingdom and His sovereignty. So, I pledge my allegiance not to a flag BUT Jesus. I pray to God and not to a sky cloth. I support His Kingship and not the division of politics and partisanship. I take His Kingdom seriously because His Kingdom is the only answer to all the problems in Babylon and Rome.

We do have a problem with politics and government in this world. And that problem is that we don’t take our King more seriously than the Emperors of the world. We should treasure His Kingdom like He describes it, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. A man found it, hid it again, then in great joy went and sold everything he owned, and bought that field” (Mattityahu (Mat) 13:44). Too often we no longer, “‘. . . love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength’. This is the greatest and most important mitzvah . And a second is similar to it, ‘You are to love your neighbor as yourself.’ All of the Torah and the Prophets are dependent on these two mitzvot” (Mattityahu (Mat) 22:37-40). We need daily to deny our self, pick up our cross, and follow Him, not a nation, a president, a politician, or a party.

Grace and Shalom to your home.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH

People are Not Easy to Love no. 33

“So then, anyone who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it is committing a sin” (Ya'akov (Jas) 4:17). This observation by James stands directly in my way. How often do I know what to do and fail to do it? Folks are not easy to love because they fail to act righteously.

We know a lot of things about what is right and wrong in this world without having to even glance at The Bible, hear a sermon, or read a commentary. Paul writes that we all, “. . . keep suppressing the truth; because what is known about God is plain to them, since God has made it plain to them” (Romans (Rom) 1:18-19). Folks will see the complexity and order of the world around them and then choose to live out of alignment with His order. We find ways to reorder the world into a way that fits making us less dependent and more independent. We take these systems and make them into a way to forget about God. BUT He is always there.

We find other things to try and fill that God-shaped hole inside of us. And we keep moving further away from Him and then we find ourselves living totally out of His Way. “This is why God has given them up to the vileness of their hearts’ lusts, to the shameful misuse of each other’s bodies. They have exchanged the truth of God for falsehood, by worshipping and serving created things, rather than the Creator — praised be he for ever. Amen” (Romans (Rom) 1:24-25). We exchange His Truth for so many other created pursuits.

We need to remember that, “'No one can be slave to two masters; for he will either hate the first and love the second, or scorn the second and be loyal to the first. You can’t be a slave to both God and money” (Mattityahu (Mat) 6:24). And you can insert anything into the slot for money that you like. BUT money will do for right now. Because there are a lot of folks out there that know what is right BUT are looking for a payday. There are a lot of folks out there that are living a life aligned with a prosperity gospel. There are a lot of folks giving out financial advice that sounds like the world and not like Jesus who said, “Do not store up for yourselves wealth here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and burglars break in and steal. Instead, store up for yourselves wealth in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and burglars do not break in or steal. For where your wealth is, there your heart will be also” (Mattityahu (Mat) 6:19-21).

We know what is right and we go on sinning. That makes us all really difficult to love. I was looking for a perfect church with perfect people and perfect doctrine in my youth. Today I am just looking for a gathering of broken people that are working on repentance. Sure, the hypocrites still bother me BUT that is a problem that God needs to work out with me and not with them. That’s the great thing about having a family and a Father that reminds us, “'Keep your lives free from the love of money; and be satisfied with what you have; for God himself has said, ‘I will never fail you or abandon you’” (Messianic Jews (Heb) 13:5).

Grace and Shalom to your home.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH