Unjust Treatment

Posted on by korgrocker

“For God is pleased when, conscious of his will, you patiently endure unjust treatment. Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you.”
1 Peter 2:19-20 NLT

Have you ever noticed that people respond or react in a bad way when they are accused of something that is false, or when they experience an injustice? For example, if someone pushes in front of them at a supermarket checkout queue, or in roadworks on a motorway. A schoolchild accused of a misdemeanour that was not their fault, and so on. We could construct a list that is endless, because we have all experienced at one time or another an injustice at the hands of another person. So how do we respond in these circumstances? The natural reaction is to lash out, probably angrily. To push back against the accusing person, sometimes violently. This is how fights develop, especially when alcohol-fuelled. 

If the accusation is correct and we have been found out for a misdemeanour, then some form of punishment or correction might be justifiable. That is the basis of our justice system. So if we are caught speeding, then points on our licences and a fine are an apt punishment for the oversight, and will help us remember that there is such a thing as a speed limit. If a schoolchild is given a punishment exercise for not doing their homework then there can be no complaint. Peter wrote you “get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong”. In other words, God will just let things take their course. He will forgive a repentant sinner of course, but there may be consequences imposed by our earthly masters or authorities.

Peter wrote that “God is pleased when, conscious of his will, you patiently endure unjust treatment”. Jesus, of course, taught exactly that. We read what He said in Matthew 5:39-42, “But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. If you are sued in court and your shirt is taken from you, give your coat, too. If a soldier demands that you carry his gear for a mile, carry it two miles. Give to those who ask, and don’t turn away from those who want to borrow”. And Jesus Himself exemplified His words, as we read in Matthew 26:67-68, “Then they began to spit in Jesus’ face and beat him with their fists. And some slapped him, jeering, “Prophesy to us, you Messiah! Who hit you that time?”” Jesus never reacted. He stood submissively enduring terrible abuse. But He was of course conscious of His Father’s will and acted accordingly. In fact He went even further, when, in terrible pain, He prayed for His executioners, as we read in Luke 23:34a, “Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing“.

We pilgrims will, I’m sure, never have to suffer as Jesus did. But we will be faced with many an injustice here on earth. Perhaps we need to remember those four letters WWJD – What Would Jesus Do. So before we let out a tirade of righteous anger, let’s pause a moment. Take a deep breath, and lift up our eyes to Heaven. And imagine how pleased God will be if we just turn away.

Dear Heavenly Father. Thank You for such invaluable guidance. Please help us to live the way Your Son did. In His precious name. Amen.

Thought Programming

Posted on by korgrocker

“Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
Romans 12:2 NLT

“Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity.”
Romans 12:2 J B Phillips

The implication of Romans 12:2 is that the world thinks and acts in a different way to God. How did that happen? After all, weren’t we made in God’s image? Of course, we know the answer. It’s all down to sin. Even though we know, intuitively sometimes, how God would behave, we act in a different way, because it feels good. Or it’s an easier option. We could very quickly compile a table with three headings – Behaviour, God’s Way, World’s Way. And the results would be shocking. Let’s take some examples:

BehaviourGod’s WayWorld’s Way
Treatment of enemiesLoveHate
Response to accusationsTell the TruthTell Lies
TemptationDon’t give inJust do it
AdulteryRun from itGive in – no one will know
RelationshipsPrefer one anotherLook after ourselves
   

The list is endless and I’ve left a space for our own additional and personal contributions. Wise old Paul could see the “behaviour and customs of this world” for what they were – riven and influenced by sin.

Paul appealed to his readers to allow the transforming power of God to change them from worldliness to Godliness. And that is never more important than in these dark and Godless days. Days when the society around us is confused and misguided – as an example, just look at the mess the Scottish politicians have made with their legislation to allow a person to change their gender at will. A mess that could have been prevented if they had just opened a Bible. On the same subject, there are people who blatantly and openly behave in homosexual acts, and engage in “Pride” events. Businesses decide that they can sell more of their products if they embrace fashionable ideologies and customs. The societal cauldron in which we live is constantly fuelled by sin, becoming a merry go round of behaviours that compete to be the worst possible. Thankfully, believe it or not, God holds back the worst excesses. One day His restraints will be removed and society will become a forerunner of hell. However, before anyone takes issue with that statement, we need to note that there are many Godly behaviours we can see even in ungodly people. Kindness, love, or other-centredness for example. God’s grace will shine through mankind in many different ways, even in those who don’t know Him, but there will come a time when His grace will be replaced by judgement.

So the question must be – how do we let God change us, in the way we think and behave. Some years ago, youth events would be taught how to obtain God’s perspective of a behaviour by thinking “What Would Jesus Do”. Rubber wrist bands were handed out with the initials WWJD engraved on them. And that is really the way we find out what God’s thoughts are. The teachings of Jesus in the Gospels are fundamental to our every day lives, and as we read them and align ourselves to His principles, we will find that increasingly we become a new person, thinking God thoughts. We must remember what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realise what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right“. Reading the Bible, and referring to it for guidance, will expose us to God’s thoughts, with the consequence that we will “learn to know God’s will for [us], which is good and pleasing and perfect”. 

Dear Father God. Thank You for Your grace and mercy, as they guide us day by day through our journey to paradise. We worship You today. Amen.

Death to the Law

Posted on by korgrocker

“So, my dear brothers and sisters, this is the point: You died to the power of the law when you died with Christ. And now you are united with the one who was raised from the dead. As a result, we can produce a harvest of good deeds for God. When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death. But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.”
Romans 7:4-6 NLT

Perhaps we can see how the Roman Christians became a bit confused, prompting Paul’s detailed and enlightening letter. They must have thought that if the Law was replaced by something far better – their faith in the redeeming power of Jesus – then they were free to do what they wanted. Paul associated the Law and its many rules and regulations about what to do and what not to do with arousing within them the desire to do what they shouldn’t. Imagine the scene. There is a door to a cupboard in the house and a small boy living there is warned to never open it and look inside. What is the first thing he would do when the opportunity arises? He will open it and have a look. Perhaps if he had not been given that instruction, he might never have given it a thought. Paul wrote, “the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds”. 

Paul wrote that because of Jesus and all that He did at Calvary, and through their faith in Him, they were released from the power of the Law. So for the small boy in our example, instead of listening to his “evil desires”, he has the opportunity to listen to the “still small voice” of the Holy Spirit within him, leading him to make the right decision. Perhaps not a good example but it hopefully illustrates the point.

God’s Spirit has unfettered access to the hearts and minds of redeemed Christians. And we pilgrims welcome Him in with open arms. Without the Holy Spirit we are very spiritually impoverished and thrown back to a time when all we had was the letter of the Law. But thanks to God and His wonderful plan we have a new way – life in the Spirit.

There was a principle taught to youth groups a few years ago, and it spawned a number of wrist bands with the letters WWJD engraved on them. The letters stand for ”What Would Jesus Do”. Perhaps this could be a mid point between the legalism of “obeying the letter of the Law” and true life in the Spirit. For most people it is perhaps too big a leap going from a Law-inspired life of sinful thoughts and actions to one of pure obedience to the Holy Spirit within us. So on occasion there might be a fog of doubt and confusion as to whether the voice within was really the Holy Spirit. To put skin on the Spirit’s voice is often helpful in times of uncertainty. But as we listen more and more to the Holy Spirit within us we increasingly recognise His voice and learn, almost intuitively, how to learn the ”new way of living in the Spirit”.

Dear Father God. What would we do without Your Spirit’s dwelling within us? Going back to slavery in the Egypt of laws is not an option we can consider. We are so grateful. Amen.

A Hint Too Far?

Posted on by korgrocker

“But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. For of this you can be sure: no immoral, impure or greedy person – such a person is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.”
Ephesians 5:3-5 NIVUK

These three verses need a bit of unpacking. Paul covered a lot of ground in the theatre of human behaviour when he wrote them. It’s all very well for him to be writing about things like “sexual immorality” but what did he mean, specifically? Similarly, with “impurity”. Can we, or should we, develop a set of rules and regulations, a sort of New Testament version of the Jewish Halakha? The questions continue with “obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking”. Again, what was the Holy Spirit saying to him as he wrote this? And how can we avoid violating these “must nots” and “should nots”? The last verse today ends with a warning – “no immoral, impure or greedy person – such a person is an idolater – has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.” I think we can all agree that there is something important, no – essential, in these verses. 

But before we head for Google to try and throw some light on the dilemma, here are a few thoughts for today’s pilgrims. Firstly, regarding sexual immorality, is what we are doing based on and grounded in love? Not love of ourselves, but love of another? Is what we are doing or saying honouring the other person? Thinking about their highest good? And are we aware of possible consequences further down the roads of life? Scriptures that come to mind are 1 Corinthians 13. But also, how about 1 John 3:16, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters”? There have been many examples where the short term seeking of pleasure has led to long term grief and distress. The act of sex is a wonderful God-given gift and not one to be abused, distorted and violated. Instead, it is an essential part of humanity, to be enjoyed in God’s presence and in accordance with His guidance.

Paul continued to write about impurity and greed. Impurity is the opposite of what God demands of His people – Jesus said in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.” Impure people, it seems, won’t get into God’s presence. In a chemical sense, impurities can corrupt and reduce the worth of a compound. And so it is with us; if we allow anything into our lives that corrupts and destroys our integrity, we become impure. A lie perhaps. A slanderous comment about someone we know. The potential for impurity is limitless. We need to be on our guard at all times.

Greed is normally associated with the excess consumption of food but it can apply to anything we do. A hoarder of money perhaps? Greedy people grab what they can, often to the detriment of those around them. The last sandwich on the plate. Or chocolate in a box. Buying two hamburgers when one would have been sufficient. But in the process of greed, we can become corrupted in our behaviour, always looking out for ourselves and not putting the interests and needs of others first.

But in everything we do, we should shine on it the light of God’s perspective. I remember rubber wrist bands being handed out at a youth conference some years ago, with the letters WWJD written of them. The letters forming an acronym, “What Would Jesus Do”. Perhaps the best advice of all. Because Jesus loved everyone. He had compassion on all those He met. His grace for others knew no bounds. He knew the right way to behave and live a life to purity.

Paul finally wrote that thanksgiving should replace “obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking”. This is a hard one, especially in the work place, where group talk can quickly descend into a negative place. But such difficulties can occur anywhere in society around us. And as pilgrims we have to develop the skills to step back from such offence, instead elevating ourselves into a zone of thankfulness.

Summing up, impure behaviour at any level moves us into a sin-zone. Into dangerous territory. But thankfully, our loving Heavenly Father knows our human frailties and will always welcome a repentant sinner home.