Serve One Another in Love no. 18

“For, brothers, you were called to be free. Only do not let that freedom become an excuse for allowing your old nature to have its way. Instead, serve one another in love. For the whole of the Torah is summed up in this one sentence: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’; but if you go on snapping at each other and tearing each other to pieces, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other! What I am saying is this: run your lives by the Spirit. Then you will not do what your old nature wants. For the old nature wants what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is contrary to the old nature. These oppose each other, so that you find yourselves unable to carry out your good intentions. But if you are led by the Spirit, then you are not in subjection to the system that results from perverting the Torah into legalism” (Galatians (Gal) 5:13-18). Back before I was free, I thought I was free. The one thing I was not free from was being selfish. And that sin of selfishness is one I confront daily in myself, in my brothers and sisters, and in the world. Too often I put my needs above the needs of others. Too often I put my rights and my person above loving another. One of the most pervasive sins of our modern society is the sin of selfishness because selfishness is twisted into something virtuous in America. 

This weekend was a blur of activity. Within that blur, I saw the heart of servants and the heart of this world. People should help one another, and Christians are called to service, BUT too often we serve only ourselves. I witnessed some folks that proudly parade their Christianity cause strife and ignore the work at hand this weekend. I also witnessed folks that are not outwardly professing Christianity take upon the mantle of service and bring peace. So, I don’t want folks to get their faith twisted into something that is already a final transaction. Jesus even tells us how folks will know we follow Him, “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). And how often do we fail at that commandment.

We fail because we don’t feel like doing what He says. It is too easy to be selfish and look out for ourselves. It is too easy to see a problem and walk away. It is too easy to see the work that needs be done and leave it for others. It is too easy to let someone else do it. And we do that all the time and still walk around like we are somehow better than other folks. We act like our Christianity is something that makes us superior. Our belief in Jesus is not an excuse to not do the work, to not be a servant, and not to love. BUT too often we make it our excuse.

I learned a long time ago to never put my faith in people. We all fall short in living up to His example. BUT we have to try. Even if we fail in trying, at least we are moving toward being more like Him. BUT too often folks are insecure and need affirmation that they are better. I was not called to be above other folks, I was called to be right there alongside them. I was called to be in the filth and the work and the struggle and the concerns and the problems and all the nastiness of life with everyone else. BUT while I live in that world, I am not part of the way the world does things. So often our actions put us to shame. So often folks that are not professing Christians make us look bad by their humility and service. Too often we are too busy being concerned with titles rather than being servants. And that happens all over churches today. Folks are still busy being seen on Sundays in positions rather than struggling with folks who really need our help. And that problem isn’t going to change any time soon unless we allow God to change it by changing ourselves. 

So, let’s serve. Let’s stop wasting our time being right and being important and being seen and being perfect and being everything else that isn’t showing His love. Let’s get in the mud of life and stay clean. Let’s get involved with others and help them with their struggles as Jesus did. And let us stop being Pharisees. Too often we use that word for each other and need to start applying it to our own lives in what hypocrisy lies within us.  

Serve His Kingdom by serving one another in 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 #ServeOneAnotherIn Love #NotMyWayYHWH

Serve One Another in Love no. 17

“But you are a chosen people, the King’s cohanim , a holy nation, a people for God to possess! Why? In order for you to declare the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; before, you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and temporary residents not to give in to the desires of your old nature, which keep warring against you; but to live such good lives among the pagans that even though they now speak against you as evil-doers, they will, as a result of seeing your good actions, give glory to God on the Day of his coming” (1 Kefa (1 Pe) 2:9-12). Once I was not a people of God. I was a total mess and that journey is well covered in the pages of this blog. I was drinking a lot. I was looking to the world for solutions. I was always right and everyone else was wrong. I had it all figured out. And I was an unhealthy mess. BUT, the Good News is that I came out of that darkness as if I was told audibly, “My people, come out of her! so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not be infected by her plagues, for her sins are a sticky mass piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes” (Revelation of Yeshua to Yochanan (Rev) 18:4-5). BUT I was called internally, over time, slowly seeing His Truth and accepting His wisdom and Way.

Now that I have received mercy, I give mercy. Now that I have grace, I give grace. Now that I have His love, I give His love in return. Is it a war? Of course. Every day is a battle against the old nature. Every day is a struggle to be more like His example. Every day is a struggle to live in the goodness He has shown. BUT I don’t want to be a hypocrite. I don’t want to be a stumbling block. I don’t want to be the reason someone without His mercy, grace, and love does not experience the same in their lives. I take that really serious. So when folks accuse me of being like the old me, I get really hurt. I take it all internally and I let it get me down a lot more than it should. I let it hit me probably a lot harder than I should. And I worry that maybe I am being that hypocrite. The hypocrite that I wanted to not become in this whole journey. 

When I started this journey, I wasn’t looking for God. BUT He found me regardless and sent me on this path. And even though I wasn’t looking for Him, I knew that when He started me down this path what I didn’t want. I didn’t want to be like the folks that I grew up in church around that were hypocrites. I didn’t want to be like the folks that I saw weekly in Catholic Church. I didn’t want to be the Sunday lunch crowd that were rude and nasty to the wait staff. I didn’t want to live a half invested life in Him. I am all in on Jesus. And maybe it seems a little over the top to most people. BUT I don’t do anything half. When I was all in on the world, I wasn’t half with that. So, there was no way I was going to be half on this either. He saved all of me. He gave all of me a shot at being good and walking out the way of His Kingdom. And I am not going to use Him as an excuse to do things half. I don’t care about a lot of things BUT I do care about how I live my life. And I never want to believe at all that I am being half or a hypocrite. So, I take those accusations seriously. 

When I started this journey, I relied a lot on my own little witty statements of truth to guide me. One of them was, “Courage is choosing to change”, and I still feel that even though it isn’t scripture, it is truth. It took a lot of courage to stop drinking and fighting with folks about politics. It took a lot of courage to eat better and start exercising. It took a lot of courage to build and plant a garden. It took a lot of courage to change from a person that knew Christians were a bunch of hypocrites to becoming an all in Christian. I did a lot in the past four years. And I will not have the Adversary win. I will not let his attacks of lies and destruction move me from being all in on God. 

So, I want to just encourage everyone to remain focused on Him. We do not have to agree on everything theologically BUT we will be known by our love. And there is a lot of room for grace and mercy and love within each of us, especially me. I love a lot of people that hold political, social, and theological views with which I disagree. BUT I still love them and see them as fellow image bearers of God. And if a perfect Jesus could love a bunch of broken and sinful folks all His life, I can find it in me to tolerate folks with whom I disagree. I wasn’t born knowing all this stuff. It took time and study, prayer, meditation and immersing myself in His Word. So I want to encourage everyone that you can get as deep with Him as you want. You can get all in. You don’t have to be half or hypocritical. He is willing to meet you where you are. And He will take whatever you are willing to give, “For God has not intended that we should experience his fury, but that we should gain deliverance through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who died on our behalf so that whether we are alive or dead, we may live along with him. Therefore, encourage each other, and build each other up — just as you are doing” (1 Thessalonians (1 Th) 5:9-11). So, let’s encourage each other more going forward. I know that is going to be my focus on the weeks ahead as we move forward in Advent and Christmas and the New Year because the holidays are difficult for many folks, including me this year. So let’s encourage each other as a way of showing His grace, mercy, and love.

Serve His Kingdom by serving one another in 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 #ServeOneAnotherIn Love #NotMyWayYHWH