Embrace the Within no. 214

“I am giving you a new command: that you keep on loving each other. In the same way that I have loved you, you are also to keep on loving each other. Everyone will know that you are my talmidim by the fact that you have love for each other” (Yochanan (Jhn) 13:34-35). We are to love each other like Jesus loved us. He is to be our example of love in action. Folks will know we follow Him through our love for each other. Adopting or continuing in the habits of the Goyim is not His Way.

Yesterday I spoke a little about the secular trend of “telling it like it is” that has crept its way into church. “Telling it like it is” is something different than speaking Truth. Speaking Truth comes through love for one another while “telling it like it is” comes from an argument mentality of the world to win in the clash of ideas. The great thing about following Jesus is that I no longer need to win anything because He already won for me. I don’t need to argue that my ideas are better or that my way of life is better with my words. My actions of loving like He did will go far beyond what I can say. Mirroring His Way of loving each other goes a long way to showing the Goyim what He is like. And we show that through the fruits of the Ruach HaKodesh, “. . . love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things” (Galatians (Gal) 5:22-23).

We don’t need to win arguments. We don’t need the best scripture references. We don’t need to “own” folks that disagree with our beliefs. Those are things of the Goyim. I should know because I spent a lot of time out there thinking that having the best philosophy and the best argument were going to do something. Let me tell you that it didn’t. Thankfully God used those situations for me to grow and become a better Christian and a better person. And there are rifts that still exist in my life from those days. There are folks that will no longer speak to me. There are folks that have unfriended me. There are folks that will not accept my apology. There are folks that I hurt. And I have to own those mistakes of my past that came out of a culture of “telling it like it is” and trying to win arguments.

We do not need to win arguments. We don’t need to do anything but love Him and our neighbors.

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. 32

“'But even if you do suffer for being righteous, you are blessed! Moreover, don’t fear what they fear or be disturbed, but treat the Messiah as holy, as Lord in your hearts; while remaining always ready to give a reasoned answer to anyone who asks you to explain the hope you have in you — yet with humility and fear, keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are spoken against, those who abuse the good behavior flowing from your union with the Messiah may be put to shame. For if God has in fact willed that you should suffer, it is better that you suffer for doing what is good than for doing what is evil” (1 Kefa (1 Pe) 3:14-17). There is a push among some church folks to be brutally honest. BUT nowhere does Jesus advocate for being a jerk. And oftentimes the line is blurred between being honest and being a jerk. Some people are not easy to love because they mistake an opportunity to be humble for an opportunity to be rude.

“I just tell it like it is.” I am certain you have heard this from both secular and Christian folks alike. It’s almost become the eleventh commandment for some folks. Just “telling it like it is” usually comes off as being a jerk to people. And being rude and spiteful are not fruits of the Ruach HaKodesh, those fruits are, “'. . . love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, self control. Nothing in the Torah stands against such things” (Galatians (Gal) 5:22-23). You can read it again if you like BUT “telling it like it is” is not one of those fruits. And that such a secular way of thinking has permeated and penetrated our walk with the Lord is something to give us pause and reflection. Because we are not to act like the Goyim. We are not to act out of power BUT out of submission and love to one another, “'But Yeshua called them and said, ‘You know that among the Goyim , those who are supposed to rule them become tyrants, and their superiors become dictators. Among you, it must not be like that. On the contrary, whoever among you wants to be a leader must become your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave! For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve — and to give his life as a ransom for many’” (Mattityahu (Mat) 20:25-28). Service is not “telling it like it is”. Usually service to one another takes me dying to what I want to do and doing what is best for someone else.

“Well, isn’t telling folks the truth important?” Of course telling folks about Jesus and His love for them is important. BUT the means are the ends. The ends do not justify doing something that is out of step with His Kingdom. And a lot of the time that same secular notion of the Goyim that “the ends justify the means” also creeps into our Christianity. Jesus never once said that “the ends justify the means”. He was all about the means. He was deliberate. He was submissive to death. He was loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, humble, and controlled. And He was also honest. My delivery of honesty does not need be brutal. The Truth itself will do the work it needs without my intent to be brutal.

So, if you are acting like the Goyim, I pray you stop. Christians often rally around the sins of the world as a problem that needs fixing when we should be fixing ourselves. We often forget to, “. . . take the log out of your own eye; then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother’s eye” (Mattityahu (Mat) 7:5)! And we have plenty of beams for a jousting contest to concern ourselves with first before taking time to cast stones at the Goyim.

Grace and Shalom to your home.

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

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH