How can you fight a winning battle if your comms with HQ are patchy and often silent??
One problem with living by the law is the lack of qualified enforcers, although there are many unqualified who apply for the job. I set the standard that he who was without sin should cast the first stone. This is one of the most familiar and quoted Bible passages by unbelievers. It fits with removing the plank from your own eye to see clearly to assist your brother in removing a speck from his eye. Don’t misunderstand these passages to eliminate the concepts of right and wrong. Applying correction to others is something to be done in fear and trembling even for those appointed to the task. Apply the same eagerness you have to judge others to yourself instead.
You live in a commercial culture, and are bombarded with advertisements trying to get you to buy particular products. Advertising has gone far beyond a mere declaration of the desirable features of a product. Successful ads make an emotional appeal, and even imply that they can satisfy the deepest human longings. Those who are spiritually immature are taken in and disappointed. You know that these are false promises and cannot deliver. Do you understand that your deepest needs are spiritual rather than material, and you must look beyond this present world for satisfaction? Don’t look for transcendent meaning in material things.
Have you ever been in a charged atmosphere? You could apply this in a literal sense to the area in the vicinity of an electrical storm, but it is used more often in a metaphorical sense about the tension that accompanies a dispute. You are not only aware of this; it is hard to ignore even if no words are spoken. Have you not also been in church services or had other spiritual experiences in which the atmosphere was full of glory? I acknowledged to my critics that they were aware of the condition of the sky and knew the implications of a red sky in the morning or the evening. I want you to be just as aware of the spiritual atmosphere you live in and what it means.
Do you belong to my invisible Kingdom? For I taught that the Kingdom of God comes not with observation. You don’t have to chase down rumors of my appearance. For my Kingdom is within you. It is not visible to those outside it, but it surrounds everyone. So you and the person beside you can experience a different reality in the same situation. That which is visible is temporal and will pass away. That which is unseen is eternal and will endure forever. Yet it is not unseen for those in the Kingdom. I promised that if you seek you will find. If you seek those things which are above you will see them.
You know that all unrighteousness is sin. If you think you have enough of your own to worry about you are right. If the evil of the day is sufficient thereof without worrying about tomorrow, then so is everyone’s own sin without worrying about the sins of others. Yet have you noticed that people have an insatiable desire for this? Sins of prominent people are called scandals and these are reported far and wide in great detail by reporters who know what their audiences want. On a more local level it is called gossip. I have called you to judge yourself with the promise and positive purpose that you should not be judged. What is the purpose for an interest in the sins of others?
A seldom seen picture of Maori and Pakeha in New Zealand
I’ve got a bone to pick with you God.
I’ve got a bone to discuss with you Mark but you go first.
Do you pray? Do you come to me when you need something, and come with a list of petitions to present? If you do so and you get what you want, then you say that your prayers have been answered. If it doesn’t happen, then do you patiently continue to pray, or assume that the answer is ‘no’ or ‘later’? But prayer can consist of more than petition. You can come and spend time with me even if you don’t ask for anything. This too is prayer. How will you know when it is answered? I will give you things you didn’t ask for, that you didn’t know you needed. I will reveal to you the mysteries of my Kingdom. I will transform you into my likeness.
Most games are zero-sum games in which an advantage for one side is a disadvantage for the other side in exact proportion. This is to say that it all adds up to nothing. Do you see theology as a zero-sum game? For there are different schools of theology that appear to be in conflict. If one side makes a point to gain the advantage, does it come as a cost to the other side? This implies a conflict, a winner, and a loser. It doesn’t have to be this way. Both sides may have different perspectives of a greater unified truth. You can learn from those who disagree with you. Theology is not a game, and it doesn’t add up to nothing.
You know that you are saved by grace through faith, and your conversion can occur in a moment of belief. You are not saved by works, but my word also teaches you that faith without works is dead. In like manner faith without knowledge is dead. You don’t have to pass a test to be saved, but when you have received salvation you should want to know more about the basis of your faith. I promised to send the Comforter who is the Spirit of Truth to teach you and lead you into all truth. This doesn’t happen in an instant. It takes time and curiosity on your part. But if you continue in my word you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.
