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