Seek First The Kingdom of God no. 25

“How blessed are those who show mercy!

for they will be shown mercy.

How blessed are the pure in heart!

for they will see God.

How blessed are those who make peace!

for they will be called sons of God.

How blessed are those who are persecuted

because they pursue righteousness!

for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs” (Mattityahu (Mat) 5:7-10).

I don’t typically write on Sundays BUT I felt the need to get some thoughts down today before a lot of preachers, pastors, ministers, and other clergy use their pulpit as a place to justify murder. I am writing this from a place of very little information about the current situation with the government of Israel and their conflict with the displaced people of Palestine. I am uninformed mainly because I stopped watching mainstream news a while ago and partially because I was dealing with my mother’s death yesterday. A real loss that occurred in the home of my childhood with actual people that I knew and loved. BUT I think that far too often death and war are things that happen far away from us and separate from us and we distance the real human suffering that death brings into the world. And I don’t want other people to feel that loss, that sadness, that grief. It sucks.

Another point in this whole situation is that church folks like to use the nation of Israel to fight their own proxy war. In American society, there is a rich heritage of getting other folks to fight our battles. Rather than this nation being honest about their intentions, the American government encourages other parties to get their hands bloody. I see the same thing in Christendom and the church when it comes to Israel. Rather than admit they are violent folks seeking vengeance, church folks push their beliefs on to God and the people of Israel. No matter what Jesus says, the church has to be behind getting Israel in position for their end times, apocalypse, sick fantasy of ending the world. And it’s disgusting. It makes me sick that folks can sit in churches and want the world to end. You don’t pray “Our Father in heaven! May your Name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven” and then act contrary to His teaching from a few breaths earlier “You have heard that our fathers were told, ‘Love your neighbor — and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! Then you will become children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun shine on good and bad people alike, and he sends rain to the righteous and the unrighteous alike. What reward do you get if you love only those who love you? Why, even tax-collectors do that! And if you are friendly only to your friends, are you doing anything out of the ordinary? Even the Goyim do that! Therefore, be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Mattityahu (Mat) 5:43-48). Or even before that, “You have heard that our fathers were told, ‘Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you not to stand up against someone who does you wrong. On the contrary, if someone hits you on the right cheek, let him hit you on the left cheek too! If someone wants to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well! And if a soldier forces you to carry his pack for one mile, carry it for two! When someone asks you for something, give it to him; when someone wants to borrow something from you, lend it to him” (Mattityahu (Mat) 5:38-42).

Nope we don’t want to hear that. We want to be the one that takes vengeance either through our own actions or by supporting proxies to do our sick and twisted wills. It’s disgusting and it needs to stop. And it stops when we start seeking His Kingdom and not our own. It starts by really living like Jesus and not some Jesus we made up. Living like the guy who had all the power at His disposal and chose to show love.

Seek First The Kingdom of God no. 24

“‘Don’t let yourselves be disturbed. Trust in God and trust in me. In my Father’s house are many places to live. If there weren’t, I would have told you; because I am going there to prepare a place for you. Since I am going and preparing a place for you, I will return to take you with me; so that where I am, you may be also. Furthermore, you know where I’m going; and you know the way there.’ T’oma said to him, ‘Lord, we don’t know where you’re going; so how can we know the way?’ Yeshua said, ‘I AM the Way — and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me. Because you have known me, you will also know my Father; from now on, you do know him — in fact, you have seen him'”(Yochanan (Jhn) 14:1-7). As some of you may know, my mom is approaching her final days in this life. Rather than that be a time of sadness and overwhelming dread, I have trust in the resurrection and the life in the world to come. And I think a lot of folks would be worried about themselves or others as their life now ends, however, there is an assurance by Jesus of a world to come and a resurrection and restoration. And a lot of that comes from being unsure of the way.

Jesus says He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. You can’t know the Father without knowing Him. And a lot of folks have made that into saying a little prayer and thinking they are all good. BUT mentally acknowledging Jesus isn’t the same as knowing Him. Knowing someone is understanding them. Knowing someone takes an investment of time and resources to listen and learn. Knowing someone takes a commitment. My father knows my mother. Her children, including me, know who my mother is. We didn’t gain this knowledge from a minute, a day, or a week. We gained this knowledge over a lifetime of living and loving her. And I think that is what Jesus is impressing on His disciples.

These dudes spent years following Him around and were clueless on so many things until after He was gone. They really didn’t know Him all that well when He spoke those words to them. BUT they knew enough to know who God was because they had spent years following and listening and learning. I don’t know exactly who my mother is BUT I do know enough to understand what kind of person she is. And I think that is an important aspect of following Him that we simply want to compartmentalize and not allow to permeate our life. That knowing God is not a prayer or a Sunday service or a routine. Knowing God takes an investment of ourselves, just as knowing anyone is an investment of ourselves.

So I pray that you really know Him. And that is going to take diverting your energy and time and resources away from something else and putting those into knowing Him.

Seek first His Kingdom which rests on the foundation of love.

Grace and Shalom to your home. The Kingdom of God is now!

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

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #SeekFirstTheKingdom #NotMyWayYHWH