I was just thinking back on a time in my life that has shaped how I treat people as a Christian. I had not always had the same respect shown to me by Christians as I try to show now.
I went through a time where I was sought out and told what I was doing was satanic. How ignorant I thought those people were. What I was into had nothing to do with Satan. Christians needed to get it straight.
Yet, now, I see that it was. I see how ignorant I was for not knowing, for not being able to see their side.
Of course, their side was pretty nasty to my side. I would never lower myself to become a 'Christian' because they were not very good people. Not in my experiences.
The Christians that I had encountered were not ignorant in their theology. They were ignorant in their way and attitude.
I was ignorant of their knowledge.
Ignorance is a fence. People gather around it and settle in on a side.
Today, I never tell people in the occult they are practicing satanic things. I would look ignorant to them- as did those Christians many years ago seemed. Yet, I would never mistreat them, either.
I choose cognizance instead.
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
Friday, April 18, 2014
Good Friday
Today is good for us.
About 2014 years ago, it was not good for Christ.
Imagine going to the party of the year knowing that you are going to die a horrific and terrible death. Then have everyone you love (save a very few) desert you. Then make sure that God deserts you.
Now, know that this is going to happen a week ahead of time.
Do you go? No, probably not.
Jesus did.
We focus on what he did, yet we never talk about what that week must have been like. The pure mental torture that Christ must have endured before he even set foot into Gethsemane.
Perhaps that is part of how He was able to go to the cross so willingly. Perhaps His human mind broke a little. Perhaps not.
The physical pain of the cross and the spiritual pain of having God turn His back on Jesus wasn't the only thing that He had to endure. He had the mental pain of knowing!
Yet He did it willingly.
Why?
So we may have hope and live.
About 2014 years ago, it was not good for Christ.
Imagine going to the party of the year knowing that you are going to die a horrific and terrible death. Then have everyone you love (save a very few) desert you. Then make sure that God deserts you.
Now, know that this is going to happen a week ahead of time.
Do you go? No, probably not.
Jesus did.
We focus on what he did, yet we never talk about what that week must have been like. The pure mental torture that Christ must have endured before he even set foot into Gethsemane.
Perhaps that is part of how He was able to go to the cross so willingly. Perhaps His human mind broke a little. Perhaps not.
The physical pain of the cross and the spiritual pain of having God turn His back on Jesus wasn't the only thing that He had to endure. He had the mental pain of knowing!
Yet He did it willingly.
Why?
So we may have hope and live.
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday, I looked around my church and everyone seemed so happy. It is always a day of reflection for me.
saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. ~Mathew 21:2
This had to be the hardest command that Jesus had ever given His disciples.
He rides into Jerusalem for the last time. People are waiting and shouting to Him. "Hosanna!" They love Him! They welcome Him with open arms. These people have projected onto Him a person He had never claimed to be, and never would be.
All of the movies I see depicting this scene have Jesus smiling and waving at the crowd.
I don't think that happened.
Jesus knows this is His last entrance into Jerusalem. This is His last week with His friends and family. He knows that these people who love and adore Him now will, in one short week, be calling for his death.
The heartbreak He must have felt. The utter sense of betrayal. The crushing weight of His plight must have been bearing down.
No, I can't believe that He was smiling and waving.
He sent His friends, friends who would flea from Him the moment He needed them most, to get the donkey God had prepared for Him. His final luxury, no opportunity to shake the dust off His feet. The march to His last meal before His execution. Next to the cross, this had to be the hardest thing He ever had to do. Knowing that God is honoring Him for the last time. I may have gone insane.
No. He was not smiling. Sadness filled His heart.
Yet, He still went, willingly.
Why?
So we may have hope and live.
saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. ~Mathew 21:2
This had to be the hardest command that Jesus had ever given His disciples.
He rides into Jerusalem for the last time. People are waiting and shouting to Him. "Hosanna!" They love Him! They welcome Him with open arms. These people have projected onto Him a person He had never claimed to be, and never would be.
All of the movies I see depicting this scene have Jesus smiling and waving at the crowd.
I don't think that happened.
Jesus knows this is His last entrance into Jerusalem. This is His last week with His friends and family. He knows that these people who love and adore Him now will, in one short week, be calling for his death.
The heartbreak He must have felt. The utter sense of betrayal. The crushing weight of His plight must have been bearing down.
No, I can't believe that He was smiling and waving.
He sent His friends, friends who would flea from Him the moment He needed them most, to get the donkey God had prepared for Him. His final luxury, no opportunity to shake the dust off His feet. The march to His last meal before His execution. Next to the cross, this had to be the hardest thing He ever had to do. Knowing that God is honoring Him for the last time. I may have gone insane.
No. He was not smiling. Sadness filled His heart.
Yet, He still went, willingly.
Why?
So we may have hope and live.
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Go the extra mile
Why is it I'm always expected to dumb down my conversation for everyone? There's only so much weather to talk about.
I want meat in the words I exchange. I'm starving on milk.
Jesus said to go the extra mile (Matthew 5:41). He's talking about doing deeds without complaining.
Ok, maybe I'm complaining a little.
But I do go the extra mile. All. The. Time.
I just wonder if there is some one out there who would do it for me.
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