LOVE YOUR ENEMIES

Jesus commanded His followers to love their enemies [Matthew 5:44]. He demonstrated this love in His prayer from the Cross, "Father forgive them for they don't know what they are doing." He was praying for the forgiveness of men who had betrayed, denied, falsely accused, tortured, mocked and crucified Him. He was praying for blind, arrogant religious leaders, blood lusty soldiers, and weak disciples. He was praying for infidels and apostates [Judas]. He never indicated in any way that His followers should force, coerce, terrorize, or murder anyone. This is an amazing teaching that distinguishes the Christian faith from other religions and philosophies. A statement I have heard frequently in Christian circles summarizing this teaching is "Hate the sin but love the sinner." This teaching of Jesus sets forth a line of demarcation that partially defines the Christian Faith. It is a line that is difficult to maintain; but when one crosses it, he has departed from Christ's Way. Whenever any Christian or group of Christians become more motivated by hatred or fear than by Love, they are no longer acting as true disciples of Christ. In Christ we are not allowed to hate any person, no matter how immersed in evil they may be. God hates evil--because He loves all people and wants all to be saved from its darkness. This teaching of Christ reveals a spiritual progression from some Old Testament teachings that were perhaps appropriate for the time. He was ushering in a deeper understanding based upon man's growing capacity to understand the heart and mind of God. In that darkness--in the world of evil--there is the need to hate someone; to find blame, destroy or dominate cultures, kill people, judge and condemn. All this is contrary to the Way of God illumined by Jesus Christ. Any religion that ordains such actions is regressive and detrimental to the human family--even if done in the name of Christ. Any person, group, organization or religion that respects Jesus must understand that they have departed from His Way and His teachings when they hate, murder or terrorize other people.

Politics and Love

Much ado about politics these days. It's an important arena, populated by those who want to serve and those who want power. And it's hard to discern between the two. There currently seems to be a trend toward the desire for authoritarianism in the voting public--people want someone strong, decisive, and opinionated, who is not hesitant to wield power. In the early 70's I asked a lady who had grown up in Nazi Germany how such a man as Hitler could rise to power. She said, "Oh, the people loved him. He made the streets safe to walk again." Apparently the people in Germany at that time were tired of the chaos and violence, and a strong, unifying voice who was willing to be brutal against the "evils" of the day was welcomed and embraced. Some people to this day still embrace him--and [or] his way of governing.
My prayer continues to be that we will govern ourselves; with compassion, self-control, and responsible living focused on the common good. If we drift too far from this way-of-being, only tyranny will subdue us. As Edmund Burke penned "Society cannot exist unless a controlling power upon will and appetite be placed somewhere, and the less of it there is within, the more there must be without. It is ordained in the eternal constitution of things that men of intemperate minds can never be free. Their passions forge their fetters."
I believe, and have experienced in my own life, that it is impossible to subdue all that is not good [that is, evil] in us without the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus brought to this earth and perpetually offers us. It is the Spirit of Love/Truth; and everything in us must sooner or later come under its [His] authority. Otherwise the ego will ultimately overpower the personality. I don't know about you, but  I know that my ego is not good for you. It's not good for me. It is blind.  When we see clearly we realize that Jesus and His teachings are the only solution for human blindness and selfishness. No political system, amount of education, or military can save us from the darkness that is in us. Even religion, as we have seen in stark, frightening clarity, can become a powerful venue of evil. But religion itself is not the problem, as some seem to believe. It is the "god" that inspires that religion. Only the God of Love [the God of Jesus Christ] can transform the heart of one who has been blinded by a god of hatred, violence and terror. No secular political system nor military power will ever subdue religion. We must all [secular and religious] work toward refining religion into its purest manifestation. Jesus said these words: "You have been taught to love your neighbor and hate your enemies, but I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be the children of your Father in heaven." [Matthew 5:44]. He also lived the reality of those words: He walked the walk.  If you can discover anything purer than that, follow it. But if not, then acknowledge that, at least until we attain the fulfillment of His commands to love each other, there is no higher power that we need to be seeking. In fact, it's a distraction and waste of time to be occupied with anything other than that.

Marriage Improvement

Check out this link:


http://timlane.org/blog/the-most-important-ingredient-to-improve-your-marriage


Hint: It's friendship.

Multi-Culturalism and Boundaries

The Civil War is one of many examples of the difficulty of maintaining unity in a nation, especially as large as the U.S.  Division is always fertile ground for strife, whether in the color of the skin or the ideologies men live by. There has to be an undergirding ideological foundation that unifies any culture in order for it to survive and flourish. There is much emphasis currently in our nation on the concept of multi-culturalism.  We have evolved from the "melting pot" to the "salad bowl".  There seems to be a light and shadow side to the concept. Our physical bodies present a good example. The body is unified. Every single cell in the body works to keep the it alive; to nourish and protect it. The body has a boundary [the skin] as does every cell [the cell wall and membranes]. These boundaries allow certain matter to enter and they repel other forms of matter--that which is detrimental to the unity and function of the body. We know that it is destructive to the body to allow any substance/matter to enter randomly. There is a form of biological wisdom evident in the "choices" being made at the cellular level in terms of what passes through boundaries. The repelling of certain matter by the boundaries of any organism does not constitute intolerance, at least not in an unhealthy sense. Contrarily, it is for the good of the organism that it repels that which works against the life-maintaining functions of the systems and subsystems of that organism. Likewise, it is the duty of any culture to discover and adhere to all that is good for the human family, and to prevent any viral, Trojan Horse invasions of its boundaries; or to eliminate them before they destroy the life-enhancing functions of that culture. This process must be characterized by humility and compassion: never hatred or fear. A boundary can be too rigid or it can be too porous to serve the organism well.
Mark Graham

Tyranny

Those who rule by fear, intimidation and force are tyrants; whether in a family, business or nation. And all tyranny must end. The God of this universe is not a tyrant [He has set us free!] and He does not ordain tyranny.
Freedom from tyranny is founded upon a responsible populace that is not lazy or entitled. Sociopathy requires forceful control. The greater the sociopathy in any culture, the riper the ground for tyranny.

Human Growth

Peyton Manning was recently implicated in the use of Human Growth Hormone [HGH]. This is a synthetic version of a hormone that, among other things, enhances cell production, and has been used to enhance athletic performance. It's been banned by the regulators of professional sports, but, until 2000 was impossible to detect since the body produces a form of it.
Anyway, it got me thinking about human growth--not the physical type, but the psycho-spiritual type. Human maturity. One of the great revelations of my life is that human maturity does not  happen naturally or automatically, as does normal physical growth.  If there were a hormone that would induce psycho-spiritual maturity, I would spend all I have for it. But I suspect there will never be such a substance. Human maturity is forged in the crucible of life experiences faced with proactively chosen faith, hope and love. We see that those who use mind-altering or mind-numbing drugs to face the painful difficulties of life retard or halt their growth toward maturity.
This indicates that there are certain ways-of-being, behaviors, etc., that facilitate human maturity; and certain ways-of-being that do not. Not only drugs but absorption in entertainment, sexual fantasies, materialistic pursuits, or just plain laziness will keep us from developing our potential. And, as was stated on an educational commercial, "a human mind is a terrible thing to waste". Human potential is vast and valuable beyond all measure.  How sad for it to be wasted sitting in front of a TV or glued to an electronic device. How sad to waste our lives living in an imaginary world created in the venue of social media.  This is not to say that imagination and social media are evil or counter to growth, in fact they can and are used very responsibly to foster maturity.  But we see very clearly that they can also be an escape from the responsibilities that foster maturity. 
Perhaps the main point here is that maturity does not happen naturally. This calls us into mindfulness of our way-of-being in the world, and whether or not it is facilitative of growth. For me personally, Jesus has awakened me to the deeper, more profound and truly meaningful aspects of humanity. He has caused me to examine myself in the light of His love for the human family, and called me into what Chuck Colson described as the "enduring revolution"--the ongoing increase of the Love of God in the hearts of humans--the progressive overcoming of all that is oppressive to life, peace, and joy. I came to believe in Him as the Messiah almost forty years ago, and His Spirit is still as fresh as this morning's sunrise in my heart. I would say unreservedly that anyone who has not read the New Testament with an open mind is a fool, and cares nothing for the truth. How could you claim to be a truth-seeker and ignore the one who said "I am the truth"? The one to Whom we testify each time we write or speak the date: January 5, 2016 AD [anno Domini, in the year of our Lord]? I encourage everyone that I love [and, in Christ, I love everyone] to be very serious about his/her personal psycho-spiritual maturity. And to look deeply into the teachings and life of Jesus to foster that process. If His words are true, the fullness of maturity is impossible without His Spirit. I know for sure that my capacity for love, peace and joy has been awakened and greatly increased because of my devotion to Jesus. I celebrate with everything within me every step I have taken in response to His loving invitations. I see in Him the solution to the problems that we humans create for ourselves. I challenge you to look deeply into the teachings of Jesus. Only fools and cowards ignore Him.

Dealing With Terrorism

The most powerful way to wage war against this evil is do everything we can to win souls to Christ; personally and collectively. Support the church. Wisely and compassionately encourage people toward Christ. Let His Light shine–don’t be ashamed of the Gospel . Support Christian organizations which are bringing the Gospel into the darkest nations on the planet, i.e. Voice of the Martyrs, Samaritan’s Purse, etc.. Every believer becomes not only safe for humanity, but a blessing to humanity. Now more than ever we must recognize the importance of the Great Commission. {Matthew 28}
We must not hate those who are lost in this darkness, as Jesus did not hate the Pharisees. He knows that they "do not know what they are doing". And we must not fear them or their deeds. We must simply abide in Christ--in His Love, Joy and Peace.