People are Not Easy to Love no. 36

“For if we were reconciled with God through his Son’s death when we were enemies, how much more will we be delivered by his life, now that we are reconciled” (Romans (Rom) 5:10)! God loved us even when we did not love Him. He loves us when we are at odds with Him. He loves us when we are fighting against Him. And we are to love each other in the same manner. I am to love those that do not love me. I am to love the folks who have problems with me. I am to love the folks that are fighting against me. Some folks are not easy to love because they cannot love their enemies.

It’s a lot easier to love Jesus than Judas. BUT being a follower of Jesus means loving Judas. It means loving the folks with whom we do not agree. And loving them in a radically different way than folks are used to loving. I always go back to the Sermon on the Mount and the explanation of ‘Thou shall not kill’ as, “But I tell you that anyone who nurses anger against his brother will be subject to judgment; that whoever calls his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing!’ will be brought before the Sanhedrin ; that whoever says, ‘Fool!’ incurs the penalty of burning in the fire of Gei-Hinnom” (Mattityahu (Mat) 5:22)! And that love should be shown through service to our enemies, “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) 5:39-42). And Jesus continues with the idea of loving our enemies just like He loved and loves us, “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) 5:44-48).

So, stop with the hate, the pride, the anger, the enmity, the bickering, the fighting, and get into His love. There is nothing radical about being like the Goyim. The Goyim are angry and divisive and rude and arrogant and selfish . . . We are to be as Him, “'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things” (Galatians (Gal) 5:22-23).

Am I showing His Kingdom or being a Goyim?

Grace and Shalom to your home.

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

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH

Embrace the Within no. 216

“For with God, nothing is impossible” (Luke (Luk) 1:37). I pray that is one thing on which we can all agree. And that is why so often He tells us to not be afraid. There is no need to worry. There is no need to fear. He is enthroned. He is in control. He has a plan. He has overcome.

There are a lot of ways we can lack faith in God BUT we do that mostly by not letting Him have sovereignty. We do not let Him be in charge. And there are a lot of reasons for that. I struggle with giving Him control because I know He has a plan. And that plan is not the same plan I have for my life.

There is a cost to following Him and I think we need to make that clear to everyone before getting them into following Him. “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Don’t you sit down and estimate the cost, to see if you have enough capital to complete it? If you don’t, then when you have laid the foundation but can’t finish, all the onlookers start making fun of you and say, ‘This is the man who began to build, but couldn’t finish” (Luke (Luk) 14:28-30)! Following Him and being His talmid requires careful thought and weighing the cost of discipleship. If we want to study Him and follow Him, then we have to stop being afraid of losing ourselves because we have to lose ourselves. We have to embrace Him within us.

“So every one of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has cannot be my talmid . Salt is excellent. But if even the salt becomes tasteless, what can be used to season it? It is fit for neither soil nor manure — people throw it out. Those who have ears that can hear, let them hear” (Luke (Luk) 14:33-35). Following Him is serious business that takes denying self, taking up our execution stake, and following obediently. And it costs a lot. Am I willing to give it up for Him?

The Kingdom of God requires everything that I am. “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). If I want to follow Him, there is everything to lose and everything to gain. Have I considered the cost?

When the plague hit and I started this journey at being all in for the Kingdom, the commonwealth, the Way of the Lord, I was not ready for the cost. BUT when God starts to move you can either follow or not. And no matter what the cost, I am invested in seeing this journey out. I didn’t look for partial change to my life when the plague hit, I was looking for total change. I was looking for physical, mental, and spiritual health. And that is the journey He took me through since then, now, and continues to lead. “Then Yeshua told his talmidim , ‘If anyone wants to come after me, let him say ‘No’ to himself, take up his execution-stake, and keep following me. For whoever wants to save his own life will destroy it, but whoever destroys his life for my sake will find it. What good will it do someone if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or, what can a person give in exchange for his life? For the Son of Man will come in his Father’s glory, with his angels; and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct’” (Mattityahu (Mat) 16:24-27).

Grace and Shalom to your home.

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

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH