Repent Of Your Own Sins

2nd section of the Gospel reading for 3rd Sunday of Lent; John 2:23-25 KJV; Repent of your own sins. The Lord knows everyone's thoughts and actions you don't have to tell him about your neighbors sins.

Love Is The Summation Of The Law

Exodus 20:1-17 KJV; 3rd Sunday of Lent; The ten commandments remind us to love God above all other gods and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Confess The Name Of Jesus

atthew 10:21-33 KJV; 4th Sunday after Pentecost; Do not fear to confess Jesus before others for in him you have eternal life.

He Created All Things

Psalm 8 KJV; Trinity Sunday; He created all things in the heavens and earth. God help us to care for all that he created including our friends and neighbors and don't forget the answer to the question: "Who is our neighbor?"

God Of Hope

Romans 15:13 KJV; Do not be troubled for our God is a God of hope.

Looking Down On Others

Luke 14:7-14 KJV Not a good idea to think more highly of yourself than others.

Michael On The Way

Hebrews 13:1-7 KJV Welcome Angels! Welcome your neighbor! Welcome the Stranger!

Don't Brag Proverbs 27

Walk In His Way; Do His Will

Psalm 128:1-6 KJV

Blessed is every one that feareth the Lord; that walketh in his ways.

For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.

Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.

Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord.

The Lord shall bless thee out of Zion: and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life.

Yea, thou shalt see thy children's children, and peace upon Israel.

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It is a good thing to walk in the ways of the Lord; to do His will.  God did not make rules just to punish us. The law reminds us what can and cannot do if we would live peaceably with God and with one another. After all the essence of the commandments can be summed up in one word: love. We are to love God and our neighbors.

When the Israelites listened to God things went pretty smoothly. But, the Israelites, like us, had a tendency to do their own will; make their own rules, rather than listen to God. They often fell away as we do.

Blessed is the one that walks in the ways of the Lord!

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Help Us To Help

PSALM 14 KJV

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.

They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the Lord.

There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.

Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the Lord is his refuge.

Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

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Is there any understanding of the good will of God for all people? The Psalmist doesn't seem to think so. Indeed, we are all sinners. We look out for our own welfare while eating up our neighbors (next door and around the world). We desert those in need for our own welfare and prosperity. What a shameful world it can be!

May God grant us all eyes to see; ears to hear; and open hearts so that we might come to the aid of others according to the good will of our Father in heaven.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Love Your Neighbors

Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord. (Lev 19:18 KJV)

Love your neighbor as yourself. According to Jesus this is the greatest commandment following love the Lord with all your heart. 

"Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." 

                                                                                     (Matt 22:35-40)

Just because we feel slighted does not necessarily mean that our neighbor meant to offend us. Feeling offended does not mean we get to offend our neighbor by causing them undue harm. There are systems of justice both in this world and in the spiritual realms. If the rulers of this world cannot take care of the injustice; God, surely will. That justice may not always be to our liking. But, be assured it will taken care of according to God's will. He knows exactly what needs to be done for the good of all people.

There would be a whole lot less injustice in the world if we could only remember to love the Lord with all of our hearts and with all our souls and with all of our minds. If we did that we would also love our neighbors as ourselves and not take vengeance into our own hands for they too are the children of God, created in his image. His will is that we love one another and not  do harm to those who might make us feel uncomfortable.

Love the Lord and all of His creation that we might live in peace.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

I Prefer The WIlderness

 

"It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman." (Prov 21:9 KJV)

Whether it is a contentious man or woman or even a contentious and angry neighbor, it is better to dwell in the wilderness where one is not wholly distracted by conflict. God did not intend for us to spend our lives fighting with others.

I have had more than my share of contentious neighbors. I have often said that I would prefer to live in a tent than in a situation where I don't even want to go outside. There have been more than a few places like that. The last place that we lived in had a dock on a canal that I could launch my kayak from. By the time we finally moved I rarely sat on the dock because my neighbor would watch every move I made. I felt like I was being stalked!

I am now living in a more rural area without too much land; but, with wooded areas surrounding us. The area is growing. But, at least for now my yard is not visible to any of my neighbors. We also own a small home in a cedar swamp on a river off of Lake Superior. We should sell it since we don't use it much; but, I am reluctant to because I am not sure if one day I will begin to feel closed in again and I will have to retreat to it and hide out in the wilderness.  Many would disagree that this would be a right way to go; but, that is who I am.

Simply put: After years (decades) of living house to house with others, I love the wilderness. I love people too. But, I do need quiet time and space to spend with the one I love most. I don't appreciate it when anyone disrupts my ability to commune and communicate with my God; with my Lord and Savior. 

The prophet Isaiah wrote:  "Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!" (Isa 5:8)

I thank God that He has provided me with quiet and at least semi-wilderness places to abide with Him at this point in my life. (I also thank God for Robin who shovels our roof in Michigan and makes sure home in Michigan still has a roof when we get there!)

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Do No Harm

For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

                                                                                   (Rom 13:9-10 KJV)

St. Paul wrote to the Romans that we should do no ill to our neighbors. Those neighbors include everyone and not just those who live next door. In the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus tells us that the one who not only does no harm; but, shows mercy and helps the one in need is the good neighbor. You don't have to know them to help them. You don't have to live next to them to have mercy.

It also follows that sometimes our actions harm people we aren't even aware that we harm. Lately,  I have been hearing "Do no harm" a lot. What does this mean? For those who remember their confirmation class days you might remember that purposefully breaking the commandments does harm to others. Unintentionally breaking them does as well. But, as Christians we try not to break them even as we acknowledge we are not always successful in those attempts.

These attempts to follow the law can be most fruitless if we follow the law for the sake of the law. The law will not save us. Only Jesus saves. His love saves us. It is love for others that will empower us to do what is right and to not harm others. It was love for us that drove Jesus to the cross for us. It is his love; the spirit of his love, that empowers us to do good rather than to harm our neighbors. 

"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us."  1 John 4:7-12) 

Do no harm. Cast off the ways of darkness and live life! Walk honestly and strive to do no harm to your neighbors both known and unknown to you. Be kind! "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." (Luke 6:31)

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Vengeance is God's

For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

                                         (Hebrews 10:30-31 KJV)

Those who do not know Christ often call it karma. In other words what goes around comes around. We most often get to suffer consequences for our own bad behavior. In Paul's letter he wrote that God is in charge of vengeance. Vengeance is one of those negative things that will come back around and bite you if you for some reason you imagine that you have the authority to avenge anything or anyone. God is in charge of vengeance. Yes, we are to call out injustice for what it is. We do have recourse for injustices done to us or others. There are legal and civil means both in the world and in the church for justice to be served. We do not have to be perpetual victims.

I have found, over the years, that those who take vengeance out on others usually  prefer not to use authorized legal means because they themselves do not desire to have their own crimes found out.

Vengeance is God's. It is not ours. 

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 

                                                                          (Matt 22:37-39)

But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.  (Luke 6:35)

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Love Your Neighbors Even If They Are Your Enemies

"Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord." (Lev 19:18 KJV)

"Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."                    

                                                                                       (Matt 22:36-40)

What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? How about don't be doing to others what you would not want done to yourself! 

Vengeance is not ours. It is not ours to take the law into our own hands. We are sinners and way too often judge by our feelings and not the facts. Would we want to be judged, persecuted, and even killed because someone has a bad feeling about us based on their own bias'? 

That is exactly what happened to Jesus. The people demanded that he be executed based on the false witnesses and their personal reasons for demanding his death. The people were incited to the point of near rioting so Pilate gave him over to death to avoid more trouble. The innocent one was put to death. The guilty Barrabas was set free based on feelings and not fact. 

Jesus was not loved by everyone. He is not. We are not loved by everyone even though the command of God is to love others even as we would love ourselves. The command to love our neighbors includes even those we might consider our enemies. Yet, we do not. 

Jesus said: 

"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? (Matt 5:43-46)

Being that we are sinful human beings loving our enemies can be tough. So, if we really can't act in love toward others then the loving thing to do might be to walk away from them instead of causing harm to them. Let them live life without the turmoil that we would cause them. Would we not desire that if someone hated us that they walk away from us rather than attempt to exact their own idea of vengeance or justice upon us?

"Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them..." 

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Hope Rather Than Panic

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

                                                                                    Romans 15:13 KJV

There is a whole lot of panic going around. Panic is usually fueled by fear. What are we afraid of? Nothing in this world is greater or stronger than the power of the Holy Spirit that can bring to us joy and peace in the midst of the worst tempests.

Trust that the Spirit of Christ is with you; with us all, for our good no matter what it may look or feel like to us at the moment. God is the God of hope. Trust Him and go on doing the good that He would have us do; helping our neighbors and living in peace! 

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Loving Others

"For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." (1 John 3:11 KJV)

Quite often, I try to imagine what the world would be like if everyone actually attempted to love one another. Being sinful human beings that can be pretty tough at times. It is tough to love when a person is being abused or neglected. Sometimes, it is tough for them to even love themselves when the people that should care about them consistently put them down and work to destroy them. They begin to think that they really are not worthy of love.

But, God considers us all worthy of love. He wants us to live in the knowledge and the reality of his love. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

According to St. Paul: "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom 8:5)

It can be very difficult to love those who hate you and persecute you; but, it may be worth the effort. It also might mean that you have to distance yourself from others so that you don't get pulled into a situation of fear, anger, or outright hatred. It is much easier to love when you aren't being abused. It would be nice if abusers would learn to love others as well. But, we live in the world and for now, in most cases, that's not happening. 

As Christians, we should love one another. We should love even our enemies.  Jesus said: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.." (Matt 5:43-44)

Alas, sometimes (often) it is easier to love our enemies and our frienemies with a measured amount of distance between us. At times like these we can still love. We do not have to live in resentment or hatred. We can bless them by praying that their hearts might be changed. 

We should do all that we can to show love one another even as God has shown us that he loves both our enemies and even us in spite of our sinful ways.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Justified By Faith Alone

"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." (Gal 2:16 KJV)

Remembering the poor is a good thing. We are called to love our neighbors. We are called to be charitable. But, sometimes we can get so wrapped up in doing good; those things which our traditions dictate, that we forget that we are not justified by our good works and we go about acting like we've done something grand that can be credited to us. Paul had to confront Peter about this. Although Peter accepted and even approved Paul's ministry to the gentiles, Peter kept himself apart from the gentiles. He was saying grace, grace... but, he was living by the laws of tradition.

Paul reminds us that righteousness cannot be gained through the law. It is by the grace of God that we are found righteous. It is by the grace of God that we are saved. We earn none of it. We deserve none of it. And.. if good works are done through us let us remember these words of Paul. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Gal 2:20)

So when we start thinking that we are accomplishing much, let us remember that it is not we who accomplish these things. Thanks be to God for the abiding presence of Christ! 

God's Peace - Pr. J

Commanded to Love

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

                                              John 15:12-13 KJV

"Love each other." It is as simple as that. Love fulfills the law. If we have love; then we will do all that we can not to do anything to hurt the people around us. If we have love; we don't need to know and memorize every minute detail of every law; because the law is written upon our hearts. (Psalm 37:31, Jer 31:33, Heb 8:10, Heb 10:15)

In giving his life for us, Jesus showed us how much he truly loves each of us. If we remain in his love we will love even as he loves. Love isn't going to worry about who is going to make it in first at anything. Love tells us it is not only good to be the last in line; the last to receive; sometimes, it is way more preferable for all of our sakes.

Be a friend. Be a good neighbor. Do nothing that might cause any harm or danger to come to others. Do all things for their good that God might be glorified. Love each other. This is the command of Jesus.

God's Peace - Pr. J

Vulgarity Does Not Glorify God

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;

Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

                                                                                (1 Peter 2:9:12 KJV)

I was outside drinking my morning coffee in the dark yesterday morning. Children were at their stops waiting for the school bus. A dog was barking and roosters crowing in the distance. Suddenly, I heard a very loud motorcycle revving up its motor within a few blocks from the house. Shortly after this noise began, I heard swearing. A lot of very loud, screaming and very vulgar, swearing! This was not from a neighbor. We have no close neighbors. It was at least two or three blocks away; yet, I could hear every curse word that was screamed. The motorcycle continued roaring on and off for a few minutes then took off. The swearing ceased as well. 

I, unfortunately, have been known to swear a time or two or maybe more. When I do it, I cringe. Yesterday morning, I really cringed at the thought of someone being so out of control of themselves or such little lack of respect for themselves, their neighbors, and for the children waiting for buses, that they would be screaming the f.. word and a bunch of others not so nice words in the quiet of the morning so that all the world could hear. I pray for calmness and peace for that man as well as for the man who was revving his bike up in a way that seemed very intentional so early in the morning.

As Christians, we are a chosen generation, a holy nation. We ought to be speaking gently and truthfully. We ought to be the examples of moderation in all that we do that our Father in heaven might be glorified.

God's Peace - Pr. J