People are Not Easy to Love no. 30

“For it was through letting the Torah speak for itself that I died to its traditional legalistic misinterpretation, so that I might live in direct relationship with God. When the Messiah was executed on the stake as a criminal, I was too; so that my proud ego no longer lives. But the Messiah lives in me, and the life I now live in my body I live by the same trusting faithfulness that the Son of God had, who loved me and gave himself up for me. I do not reject God’s gracious gift; for if the way in which one attains righteousness is through legalism, then the Messiah’s death was pointless” (Galatians (Gal) 2:19-21). Some folks want a set of rules and not a relationship. Rules are easy to figure out. Relationships are between people. Relationships are cooperative. Relationships require work and learning. Some folks are not easy to love because they want The Bible to be a rule book.

Rules will not change you, relationships do. Life is all about relationships. Most importantly is my relationship to God. Then I need to work on my relationship with myself as well. And then I get to move on to relationships with other people. That first relationship is the most important because my relationship with God permeates all my other relationships. How I treat God is going to color the way I treat myself and others.

Relationships are difficult. Relationships require conversation. Relationships require spending time together. Relationships require an investment of yourself. Rules are just a list. And the problem I face is turning The Bible into a book of rules rather than an explanation of who God is. I look for a list rather than a relationship because the list is easier. The relationship demands time. The relationship demands learning. The relationship demands me.

And a lot of folks are not ready to give themselves to God enough to have a relationship. They would rather show up, sit down, put in their time, and clock out. They would rather do what they think is just enough. They would rather do the bare minimum. Is that the way to build a healthy relationship? Is that the kind of friendship you want? Is that the kind of marriage you want? Is that the kind of family you want?

Unfortunately, it is the relationship most Americans have with other people and themselves. If we want to work on relationships, the first relationship to fix is the one we have with God.

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. 28

“So Yeshua said to the Judeans who had trusted him, ‘If you obey what I say, then you are really my talmidim , you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’”(Yochanan (Jhn) 8:31-32). If we want to follow Jesus as his students, then we will become freed by the truth. BUT do we really want the truth? People are not easy to love because they would rather hear a comforting lie than a simple truth.

I was one of those seekers of truth out there in the world. I spent a lot of time trying to find out what was really happening in the world. Why were there so many problems? What was the root of all the inequity and injustice in the world? How can we solve the problems of crime and poverty? Is there a system of a law or a rule or a philosophy that can help us be better? And I ended up right where I began . . . with Him.

I know a lot of folks are afraid of the truth because it can tell us some truly scary things about ourselves and our weakness. The truth can cut like a sword and get right through all the skin and meat to the bone. And that is why folks want to create their own lies and worship them as truth. BUT they aren’t any more true just because they are labeled truth. The Truth is the Truth. And the Truth will set you free.

Once I became convinced of The Truth, I could no longer ignore The Truth. And that is another frightening thing about The Truth. Once The Truth reveals itself to you, no longer can we ignore its veracity. And it is much easier and more gratifying to our desires to just doubt Truth. Or we can bury Truth beneath a lot of mental gymnastics and arguments. We can try as much as we want to put Truth in the grace BUT it won’t stay there. It has this habit of always finding life and spreading light.

That is the one thing about Truth, since it sets you and I free, Truth is always setting itself free as well.

Grace and Shalom to your home.

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

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH