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“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of
Heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” – Matthew 5:10-12 What a mouthful. I find it interesting that this passage is both romanticized and avoided at the same time. I mean, we definitely romanticize this as an idea… “blessed are you when you get persecuted, because you have been found worthy of the Gospel. How amazing. It’s such a great honor!” But how many people do you know that are really, truly being persecuted for living such a bold lifestyle, proclaiming the Gospel, putting Jesus on display, living in true righteousness? We don’t. We see people being picked on for being Christian, but what does it mean to be persecuted for righteousness? When things get truly hard, do we lose faith, or are we encouraged and excited about it? Matthew 5:12 says to rejoice and be glad! Too often we, as Christians, don’t count the cost for living out a lifestyle of righteousness. We think about and imagine the cost for being a Christian, but rarely do we truly live righteousness out. Like I said, it’s romanticized but not lived. What is the difference between being a Christian and living righteously? Well, I would say being a Christian looks like going to church on Sundays, maybe letting people know you pray and are available to pray for them, being kind to people, being a good person, etc. When we say we are Christians, we typically describe that by explaining all things that are done person to person. But living righteously, I believe, means walking as Jesus walked (see 1 John 2:6). It isn’t enough to claim a belief system. There must be action inside you. Also, there must be JOY. Joy isn’t easily come by. You can’t simply desire to be more joyful, and poof! You are… Psalm 16:11 tells us joy is a gift from God, and it comes from abiding in His Presence. Joy is a product from living in close proximity to God, not in theory, but in absolute reality. Psalm 30:11 says, “You turned my wailing into dancing, you removed my sackcloth and clothed me in joy.” See? It’s Him. He gives us joy. We don’t just choose joy. We actually choose to be close to Him. His presence nearest us produces something in us. This will result in JOY, obviously, but it will also produce sparks from within us that will consume what is around us. We will bear fruit, and that fruit will be righteousness. We will reflect His Righteousness! We won’t just be peaceful or kind. We will begin to look and act like God on the earth, to the people around us. When we do this, persecution will definitely come, and you won’t like it very much, but then you will know that returning to God’s presence will fill you with joy and gladness. No one enjoys persecution. But His presence heals our hurts, as well as taking away our habits. The problem is too often, we Christians in the West try to make a shortcut. Instead of removing things that aren’t of God and getting close to Him (hopefully you are aware the closer you are to God, the more He burns out of you and off of you), we try to simply act like Him, or even worse we try to add Him to our lives in a way that benefits us. Christians that live in parts of the world that suffer true persecution count the cost for following Jesus, daily. They consider Christ to be worthy of any and every price. To know Him, to spend time in His presence, and to read His words are literally everything. The cost doesn’t come close to the reward. It isn’t romantic to them to suffer. His presence is romantic. There is nothing better, to them, than looking into the eyes of their Beloved. But here in the West, Christians too often see Jesus as a benefit, or bonus, and not as a cost. Here, we tend to see Jesus as an add-on that upgrades our lives. And, of course, if the upgrades don’t come soon enough, or aren’t beneficial enough, too many people just walk away, or even worse blame Him or create doctrine around how He doesn’t always do what we ask… as if God ever says “no”, or “not right now.” We serve and love a God who first loves us, and He desires to have intimate relationships with each and everyone of us. I am my beloved’s and He is mine. Is there anything more beautiful? So let me ask you two questions: 1- How much has Jesus cost you? Maybe you’ve paid a heavy price for following Jesus and living righteously. Maybe is been mostly about you and your benefits. Maybe your relationship with God is more about you than it is about Him… Today is a good day to change that. 2-Are you filled with Joy in the midst of the heavy price of following Him? The best way to get Joy is to get close to Him. As you can see, the remedy for a lack of joy is the same as changing your relationship from a selfish one to all about God. If you are anything like me, this has been an enlightening blog. I hope it has touched your heart, and that it has given you fresh perspective. It’s time to count the cost, to see the beauty of His love, and to invite His presence to dwell powerfully within us. Bless you…
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“Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” – Matthew 5:9
This is one of those impossible Beatitudes we often nod at and totally ignore. The way I often hear people interpret this sentence is more like, “Peacemakers are good, and we as Christians should strive to do that.” The way I see it applied is more like, “If someone is kind to me, I will keep the peace. If they don’t, surely Jesus doesn’t expect me to let them walk all over me.” Something definitely gets lost in translation, and certainly Jesus set the bar quite high. What does it mean to be a peacemaker? Well, it is someone who is actively making peace wherever they go. I have a couple of thoughts: 1) There is a huge difference in peacemaking and peace keeping when we are applying them to our lives. Keeping peace assumes there is already peace. A peace keeper is simply someone who makes sure nothing goes haywire. But a peacemaker is someone who finds areas where there is No peace and they heal the situation. 2) As you see, when we put peacemaking into an applicable practice it becomes quite an intentional, ACTIVE effort. A Peacemaker is not a passive person. They are not simply being nice to keep people from getting upset with them. They are purposeful, looking for problems between people that need to be healed (whether in their own life, or between others). The Peacemaker MUST initiate healing and reconciliation- and this cannot be done by avoiding people. A peacemaker doesn’t avoid conflict… (did I mention how difficult this Beatitude is??) 3) Peacemakers must seek True Justice. Truth is required in their life (and not just a little. They NEED truth). You cannot create peace without love. Love is the essential element to creating peace. I find it to be beautiful when I contemplate the Peace Jesus left with us. It was filled with Love. Is ours? Love requires truth. Have you ever met a loving person who was also deceptive in all their dealings? No. Love and Truth are so closely related they can’t be separated. So for you to make peace, you must be a person who loves and knows truth. In order to heal relationships, loving them is required, and not just a theory of love, but a real, tangible practical knowledge of love. In other words, the more you practice loving, healing and reconciling relationships, and making peace, the more you experience God’s love in your own life. It’s beautiful (and to be quite honest, it’s relieving) to know I don’t have to have Love and Truth completely perfected in order to imitate God (yes, Peacemaking, loving people, speaking truth, healing wounds, reconciling relationships… these are things God does that we are called to imitate). Isn’t that a relief? 4) Peacemaking is essential for the Body of Christ. How can we be Children of God if we can’t get along? How can we have problems inside our families left undealt with, and still think we are somehow walking in righteousness? It’s preposterous to think that way. Reason being, We are a family in God. We are connected to each other, and God has set up His Kingdom in such a way that we are to all work together. “12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by [3] one Spirit into one body-- whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” – 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 It’s pretty clear we are not supposed to be independent people, independent churches, independent denominations, etc. We are all supposed to be working together, helping each other. In this, we must rebuild our relationships with each other in order to walk in the righteousness of God. Now, I know that each of us has been given His righteousness, and it comes from Grace through our Faith in Jesus. I’m not talking about whether we are righteous in this post. We are. We are righteous. Jesus made us His Righteousness (see 2 Corinthians 5:21). However, what I am talking about is whether or not we are walking IN His righteousness or not. I don’t believe it is possible to walk in the Righteousness of God and yet not be actively making peace with everyone in our lives. And this is very difficult… impossible without God. But if He is calling us to this ministry of reconciliation and peacemaking, we must be encouraged in knowing He equips those He calls. So, remember Jesus’s words… “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid.” – John 14:27. “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” – Romans 12:18 God is with you. He is for you. He has blessed you. He has equipped you. He has given you His peace. Now go and make peace. Bless you… I have a good friend who teaches the greatest vengeance God can dish out is to take away all the
evil Satan has done in this world. I wonder how if we realize that… The greatest vengeance God can bring isn’t to smite our enemies, or to bring worldly justice against people who are constantly unjust in their dealings. Instead, the vengeance is when God removes every inch of ground the enemy has to stand on. The Best vengeance is when God uses the people who have been closest to the devil, when He turns them into His children and then raises them in such a way that they become His greatest weapons against the devil. That is the greatest vengeance. When Jesus began His public ministry, He quoted Isaiah 61 as an announcement: “The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”- Luke 4:18-19 I find it extremely interesting that Jesus didn’t read the rest of the passage from Isaiah 61. If He had, it would have finished with, “and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn.” Some would speculate that He stopped because these are two different things: 1) Year of the Lord’s favor, 2) Day of vengeance of our God. That’s interesting. I can see why they believe that. Maybe they are right, maybe they are wrong, I don’t know. What I do know is Isaiah’s version doesn’t stop at the day of vengeance. Instead it stops at “comforting the mourning.” Apparently, when Isaiah heard God say it, the day of vengeance was a day of comfort. As a matter of fact, Isaiah mentions the year of favor multiple times throughout his prophetic book. For example, Isaiah 49:8-13 talks about it. This is what the Lord says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, Come out, and to those in darkness, Be free! They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up. See they will come from afar- some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan. Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song O mountains! For the Lord comforts His people and will have compassion on His afflicted ones.” This is a beautiful passage, isn’t it? Hopefully it gives more clarity for you about the year of favor. But did you see it? The last sentence… For the Lord comforts… but He comforts on the day of vengeance, doesn’t He? He doesn’t comfort in the year of favor- who needs comfort when they are being blessed?? Who mourns while they are in the downpour of blessings in His presence? When Jesus came, He wasn’t just a baby bringing hope. He wasn’t just God fulfilling a promise. He was destroying the work of the devil. He was light coming into darkness to remove its hold. And He didn’t just ask us to believe in Him… He is still asking us to become His light and to still drive out the darkness. The past few years have been pretty dark, haven’t they? Politics, inflation, health issues, pandemics, and our media platforms have flooded the earth with darkness: fear, anger, worry, anxiety, selfishness, laziness, apathy, greed. Darkness has grown bold and strong. But do you know what? It’s a new year. And there is a new hope. I’m not talking about hoping things will get better. People hope that every year… What if 2023 is a year where we stop looking for something that sounds good, and start partnering with God. What if we turned on the brights and flooded the darkness of this world with so much light that favor shined upon us? What if we stopped caring about our feelings and situations and just made a conscious effort to be the vengeance of God? What if we were the thing that God used- taking something that the devil thought was his, and instead punished him for all he has taken? What if we recovered all that we lost? What if we got our “stuff” back? Today is the day of vengeance. Today is the year of the Lord’s favor. Today. Bless you… |
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