September 11, 2011
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Reflections on 9/11: "You have heard that it was said... But I say to you..."
Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Romans 12:1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.Ephesians 4:17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
You have heard that it was said...But I say to you...
Related:- Kingdom-Obsessed People don't keep looking in the rear view mirror at past hurts, # 5
- Lenten Reflections: "Come near to me, please." (Genesis 45)
- God's people ought to be welcoming "Hookers & Robbers"
- knowing mercy ~ reflections on Osama Bin Laden's death
- Are you a Jonah?
- God's Mercy to the Worst of Sinners
- "the infinite significance of the eternal Kingdom"
- Lessons from the Slurry Wall: "What Remains When Everything Else Falls Down"
Photo credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:National_Park_Service_9-11_Statue_of_Liberty_and_WTC_fire.jpg (Public Domain)
Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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Comments (15)
The next question is, what does it mean to love your enemies?
nice
So where's the reflection? The thought process?
@PinkLeopards - I'd say that the very process of comparing the three passages broadens the subject for our reflection.
@quest4god@revelife - There's no comparison. Just quotation.
What is a Gentile?
@llamalima - Hmm... Yes, that's the question we definitely must ask. And that's somewhat addressed in the post I've been chewing on for almost a week now. This one came to my heart this morning while riding in the car; I guess it's sort of a prologue to the next one... whenever that one's finished.
@PinkLeopards - @quest4god@revelife - I presented the Biblical quotations without any personal reflection of my own in the hope that Christians would read them and be led by the Holy Spirit to do that further reflection, to examine themselves in light of God's truth, to see if they are making a Biblical response to those who've harmed or offended them. Psalm 139:23-24.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Christians are to read and reflect on the Word of God by means the Spirit of God so we might know the mind of God (I Cor. 2:6-16) and then examine ourselves and act according to God's will, God's thoughts and God's ways. If we don't do that, we'll go wrong every time. Our own flesh / our own sin nature will remain mired in unforgiveness and bitterness and seek revenge and payback, but God's way is for us to entrust ultimate judgment to Him (for the repentant sinner, that judgment will be settled as all his sins will be punished in Christ; in contrast, for the unrepentant sinner, their sins will punished in himself in an eternity in hell), and by God's power working in us to extend love, mercy, grace and forgiveness to those who've wronged us and sinned against us, e.g. - Romans 12:15-21. It goes against all that seems right and fair to us to love our enemies, but that's exactly what God did for those who are Christ's. All men are born as enemies of God, but through Jesus Christ, God extended His love and forgiveness to all who would receive Christ, He died for us while we hated Him, He loved us first.
What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this
That caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul!
@FrenzElectric - In that context, Gentile would refer to those who are not Christ's, those who are living for themselves and not for God, living life based on their own selfish desires rather than God's desires, and living life based on the world's standards rather than God's standards. The apostle Paul wrote those things to remind Christians that because we are purchased with Christ's blood, we are no longer to live for ourselves but for God, and we are no longer to live according to the world's ways – and because we now have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, we have God's power to do just that.
@naphtali_deer - Thanks for the clarification. I thought God created life, so is not living for one's self living for God?
@FrenzElectric - You're welcome.
Great question. Yes, God did create life, but because of Adam's sin, all men and women are born with a sin nature that is opposed to God (Romans 5:12-14, Psalms 51:5 & 58:3, see also the first part of Romans 3), so as much as we may try to do so, we cannot live for God and we cannot please God, we all fall short of God's glory. The whole human race is born spiritually dead to God and the things of God and the desires of God, that's why Jesus said in his conversation with Nicodemus that we need to be born again, or born from above, for apart from that second birth, we can't even see the Kingdom of God, much less enter it.
However, all who are born again, all who repent of their sins and believe the Gospel, are not only forgiven and cleansed of all their sins, fully justified in the eyes of God and reconciled to God through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, but they also receive God's Holy Spirit who makes us spiritually alive, gives us a new heart with a supernatural love and a desire for God and the things of God that we could never work up ourselves due to our prevailing sinfulness.
As that work of regeneration (the second birth) occurs and continues on (the Bible refers to that life-long process as sanctification), our living for self actually does become living for God because God's Spirit works in us so our thoughts and our desires become more and more conformed to God's: we become less selfish and self-centered and more God-centered, God-focused, more Christ-like. As a result, the pursuit of our own happiness becomes more and more wrapped up in and consumed by living for God, for we seek more and more to love and honor and glorify and please God with our lives, and we're grieved when we don't do so. That's true living for God, but no one can live for God until he receives life from God Himself.
I John 5:12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
@naphtali_deer - That is interesting. I believe the exact opposite. Nobody is born to sin. Sin is learned from those around us and it is not until others make us feel guilt that sin is acknowledged or even conceived of.
Hey Karen,
This is Dave (from travelingstranger). I decided to give it a shot and return.
I'm still crazy busy, but I really missed staying in touch with everyone.
Anyway, hope things are going well!
@FrenzElectric - Your words sound a little like what Adam and Eve did after they sinned; they both blamed others for their sinfulness and sin: Adam blamed his wife and Eve blamed the serpent. However, God declares each and every person guilty and our default state is that we are born under condemnation because God is a just and holy God, and He must punish sin. Unless we are given grace to see our sinfulness in the eyes of God, we will never seek the salvation He provides by faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:9-26).
John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned [there's the opportunity God provides to all men for salvation], but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God ["already" - there's the default state for all men apart from belief in Christ].
@FearofGodandPerfectLove - Hi Dave, Welcome back!
I've not been so active here, especially lately, as I've been taking a bit of vacation/break, but I still do keep in touch w/ a few people.
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