There have been times when I have tried to search my heart and my past to see what I may have done to foster hateful attitudes against me on the part of others. Guess what...I can't see anything that isn't normal human interaction, the same interaction others have, that no one is mad at them for.
I believe that when we are following hard after Christ, those in rebellion, interpret our words and actions differently than they do the same words and actions of those who are not born again. Often people interpret what we say and do in terms of their own attitude rather than what we meant by them. When we desire to clear things up they don't want to have the discussion, as though they have chosen to believe what they want to.
There is an automatic rejection of those who have been born again by those who are unsaved. They hate us, so their interpretation of all that we do will be twisted and skewed to make us look wrong.
Prejudice against the believer is monstrous in our world. The Devil has managed to twist the minds of those who are not saved, into deep anger, even without realizing they are doing it, they have formed their opinions of us based on their own hatred for God's principles.
Thank the Lord He warned us this would be the case. I have been chastised by believers for speaking truth, because someone got angry. The psychology of this thinking says that if someone got angry, then someone else "made them angry."
No one can make anyone else angry, we choose to be angry. We either have righteous anger or unrighteous anger. The anger of the unsaved person toward the believer is irrational at best. Because they have minds controlled by the flesh and the devil they cannot understand the ways of God. Nor do they have a desire to.
The only reason to write about this is to comfort those who may be questioning themselves thinking they may have done something wrong because the world acts as though they hate them.
Don't worry about figuring it out. If you have the Holy Spirit and He has given you peace about what you said or did, then you can leave it with Him, confident that if you do wrong in your words and actions, He will let you know. Learn how to discern between real guilt and false guilt, because the world will attempt to instil false guilt in you to silence you. If you have obeyed God, prayed about it and have peace, then dismiss any accusation against you by non-believers.
1 Peter 4:12-19
"12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you;
13 but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.
14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
15 Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler;
16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.
17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?
18 And if it is with difficulty that the righteous is saved, what will become of the godless man and the sinner?
19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right."
Friday, January 2, 2015
The Real God Like Love
I heard a rabbi recently explain that the Hebrew word for love means two things:
1. an action word for giving and 2. an action word for withholding.
The American culture does not understand the second action of love. We have been taught to allow everyone to have whatever they want while believing anything they want, and that is love.
Unfortunately we have the society we have today, because we did not understand love, when to withhold and when to give. We also misunderstood love to be praising one another no matter what our choices.
We have also misunderstood love to be merely what we say to people, "love ya", without any action to prove it. Words are empty when not accompanied by God's kind of love in action.
Love is determining to give what is good for the person, not necessarily what they want.
Love is often a spanking to show the seriousness of sin in one's life. Love can be putting up with small offenses to heap hot coals of kindness. It can be giving someone what they don't need to show kindness, however it can also be withholding what they need so they will learn to work.
Love is telling the truth even if it hurts, to bring the sinning brother or sister back in line with God's principles.
Love never demeans in order to elevate self. Love is SELFLESS!
When we withhold the truth to make others feel good about themselves, we are really loving only our self, the motive is often to be liked rather than to honor God with truth. We feel bad when others are unhappy, but our motivation is often more about relieving the pressure of pain than what the pain can reveal, therefore cleansing.
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
When we feel convicted over sin, we feel bad, but the cleansing that comes from confessing with the desire for change, brings great joy. We rob others of the joy of cleansing and a changed life when we pretend there is no sin by dismissing it through our silence, or giving them excuses for their sin.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
"1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love"
The key to all this, is being able to hear the Holy Spirit as to what is needed and when it is needed. God looks into the heart and can see the need of each person, but the best we have is a guess based on what our culture has taught us.
We must read the Word, know the heart of God and seek the Holy Spirit for each situation to know the right things to do. I no longer listen to the advice of most people in our culture when it comes to love, far too many people have been indoctrinated with the worldly psychological love, to know the heart of God, not to mention their ignorance of the Word of God to make good judgments or have discernment.
Christ knows, lets ask Him!
1. an action word for giving and 2. an action word for withholding.
The American culture does not understand the second action of love. We have been taught to allow everyone to have whatever they want while believing anything they want, and that is love.
Unfortunately we have the society we have today, because we did not understand love, when to withhold and when to give. We also misunderstood love to be praising one another no matter what our choices.
We have also misunderstood love to be merely what we say to people, "love ya", without any action to prove it. Words are empty when not accompanied by God's kind of love in action.
Love is determining to give what is good for the person, not necessarily what they want.
Love is often a spanking to show the seriousness of sin in one's life. Love can be putting up with small offenses to heap hot coals of kindness. It can be giving someone what they don't need to show kindness, however it can also be withholding what they need so they will learn to work.
Love is telling the truth even if it hurts, to bring the sinning brother or sister back in line with God's principles.
Love never demeans in order to elevate self. Love is SELFLESS!
When we withhold the truth to make others feel good about themselves, we are really loving only our self, the motive is often to be liked rather than to honor God with truth. We feel bad when others are unhappy, but our motivation is often more about relieving the pressure of pain than what the pain can reveal, therefore cleansing.
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
When we feel convicted over sin, we feel bad, but the cleansing that comes from confessing with the desire for change, brings great joy. We rob others of the joy of cleansing and a changed life when we pretend there is no sin by dismissing it through our silence, or giving them excuses for their sin.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
"1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love"
The key to all this, is being able to hear the Holy Spirit as to what is needed and when it is needed. God looks into the heart and can see the need of each person, but the best we have is a guess based on what our culture has taught us.
We must read the Word, know the heart of God and seek the Holy Spirit for each situation to know the right things to do. I no longer listen to the advice of most people in our culture when it comes to love, far too many people have been indoctrinated with the worldly psychological love, to know the heart of God, not to mention their ignorance of the Word of God to make good judgments or have discernment.
Christ knows, lets ask Him!
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