I have just been reading facebook. Many people were commenting on things that they perceived as hatred. They wrote words of hatred back at those whom they saw hatred. Did they not understand that they were participating in the same thing that they were complaining about? Could they not see their own hatred?
I have a friend who openly expressed his disgust to his wife when seeing something during a movie. The people behind him said, "How intolerant!" to express their disgust for his groan. Did they not see that they were being intolerant for his intolerance?
Sometimes people see themselves as justified by their own hatred at the perceived hatred of others. This, of course, makes no sense unless you are so blinded that you can't see yourself in the mirror.
Christians must have convictions and those convictions will be perceived as hatred by others. However, the Christian cannot walk with the Lord and return hatred for hatred. Christians cannot turn away from recognizing their own sins. They cannot say they love while hating. They cannot love God while hating others.
There are many actions which demand justice but the Christian cannot exact revenge and call it justice. He cannot hate back at those who hate him.
The Christian must say, "You may hate me for what I believe but I will never hate you back. I can't. I have been forgiven of too much by the Christ who loved me when I was against Him. I will love you even if you are against me."
1 Thessalonians 5:15 (NIV)
15
Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
4 comments:
Love, love, love, this. Did I mention that I love this post? So timely and to the point. God is Love; His kingdom is such. When are we going to get it?
Thank you for saying it.
Nowadays, I find myself telling fellow brothers and sisters in Christ that they are living in the supernatural if they indeed embrace the ways of the Kingdom in their everyday life. At times, in fact, in more recent times, quite often, brothers and sisters in Christ, tell me that they face hurdles or oppositions, especially in their work or place of work. Some of them find it strange, that they should be still facing such, even after being a Christian for some years; and others expressed they think they want to run away (from their troubles).
Yes, supernatural is when we stretch our hand and utter a prayer, and we see a leg grows longer to equal the other longer leg! Supernatural is when I prayed for a sister who had had pain in her back for years, and then with a felt of sensation, the pain completely left her and never to come back again. But supernatural is NOT just confined to such! When you live by the ways or prescriptions of God, you are living the supernatural life. Why? Because the ways of the Kingdom of God are NOT the same as those of the world; in fact, often times, they are directly opposing. When one follows the ways of the world, that would be natural; and so, when you are NOT doing that, and instead following the more super ways, of the Kingdom of God, you are supernatural!
For example, the ways of the world say, “An eye for an eye”, the ways of the Kingdom of God or ways of God, for short, sounded more like this, “If he slaps you in the right cheek, turn your left cheek to him!” Another example: the ways of the world say, “If you can cheat a mile, cheat a mile”; whereas the ways of God is “run the extra mile”. The ways of the world also say, “If he is NOT sorry about what he has done, don’t forgive him!” or “if and only if, he pays for damages, do you forgive him”; but the ways of God is, “Forgive regardless!” In the work place, commonly we find this way of the world at work, “Make him look bad, just make sure he does NOT get into the boss’ good book”; “sabo” him {sabotage}; back-stab him, to protect your position or turf!
Ps Prentis cited, 1 Th 5:15 – that we are NOT to pay back wrong for wrong, but the world says, “Give it back to him, man!” The verse exhorts when we have been wronged, we still must always try to be kind to the person, and to everyone else!
When I told that (1 Th 5:15) to people, quite a number times, recently, they stared back at me, like they could NOT believe such was indeed in the Bible! Common is the retort, that one is NOT wrong, and has done nothing wrong, and it is the other party who has acted unreasonably; and it is NOT surprising too, that the party being complained against, is also a Christian! And it even happens in church; a sister went to another church to work, and she came up to me for prayer because of the unkind treatment she got from existing staff of that church!
More people want the supernatural like the kind that extends the leg (although some wants neither!)! But few could embrace the suggestion they are supernatural if they persevere in the ways of God, in the world. One sister, if NOT for the favor of God upon me, seen over time, in church, would have balked at my suggestions, when I told her to persevere. Pastors of churches must teach that the central theme of perseverance is needed in the life of a Christian.
Cont...
Cont. from above
Now, in the doing of supernatural, like the bringing about the growing of the leg, we persevere, too; it is NOT every day I have the Lord doing a miracle like that, through me. I still persevere to give of my time, energy and love to pray for people and minister to people, which are the right things to do. We persevere in the doing of right things. It is similarly for the embracing the ways of God in our daily living, we persevere in doing things according to the ways of God, for they are the right things to do. And so, even as at times, legs don’t grow, the same can happen to you, that you, having been slapped (figure of speech) on the right cheek, you are again slapped on the left, when you turn the latter over, even though you are hoping the party would realise the error of his way, and back off.
No, I am NOT teaching the ways of the weaklings, I am teaching the ways of the Lord; if people insist that, that is the weaklings’ way, then, they go tell it to the Lord. However, I am also NOT suggesting that Christians should allow themselves to be bullied or oppressed over long periods of time. But you do have to know that the ways of God and those of the world are different; it is either you are embracing the ways of God, and enforcing the victory of Christ Jesus, and therefore, establishing His Kingdom on earth, through your own subscribing to the ways of His Kingdom; or you will be undermining the establishment of the Kingdom of Christ, by your continual subscribing to the ways of the world, from which you have been taken out from (you are still in the world but you have been taken out of the world’s ways), and at which time, you have committed to continual submission to the King of Kings.
We are at war, and battles are never easy, and Jesus did NOT promise that once we become a Christian, there would NOT be troubles in our life. There will be troubles, but if you are aligned to (fall-in) to the side of God, your troubles should NOT be stressFULL, for God is with you. To win the war, at times, we have to take the heat in battles - that is normal. What is the difference between a believer and a non-believer? It is NOT that a believer will have no more troubles; the difference lies in the way we, believers, handle our troubles. Believers are to handle troubles (hurdles and oppositions, etc) the ways prescribed by God.
What if I don’t persevere and I succumb to the ways of the world, instead? Then, you will lose out in the growing of grace, the very theme on the banners of the army of God, so to speak. In essence, the ways of the world denies grace, and when you revert back to the ways of the world, you are NOT only, NOT going to grow in grace, you are going to be increasingly be dull to the Spirit of Grace which is the very Spirit of God. At the extreme end, you can become the opposite of 1 Th 5:15, you will lack grace, and practise repaying wrong with wrong! You will no longer try to be kind to those unkind to you. You will be losing the distinguishing marks of a believer, of loving the unlovable; you will become a tick for tack person. You will hate those who hate you, and instead of praying for your enemy, you will be cursing him.
Cont...
COnt. from above
“But I cannot take it anymore, all these unfairness and unreasonableness hitting me!” many retorted. I have said before, it does NOT mean we are to be bullied or oppressed for the long haul, and we do nothing about the situation. You need to be guided by a number of guides:
1. Always pray about your situation. Pray for God’s protection, and provision; and for wisdom. Pray for God’s favour, and timing, for breakthrough of impasse. Press in, to God. You can get others to pray for you, but you must pray for your situation, too.
2. Pray for the other party. Hard, but do it; don’t curse, but bless.
3. Repay wrong with kindness – 1 Th 5:15. Be nice still, be helpful, too.
4. Be humble, according to the measure of faith given you (Rom 12:3); even before men; no one really like an arrogant fellow.
5. Be of clear conscience – if the other party is NOT appreciative of what we did or our explanation, just let it go, after checking your own conscience.
6. Be objective, be teachable, and be of self-control, don’t be lazy.
7. Take care of your relationship with God; Be
a. Embracing His Holiness
b. Loving God
c. Obeying God
d. Worshipping God
e. Serving God (without ulterior motive)
8. Firmly believe and seek to practise these:
a. Matt 6:33 – Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and our need will be added unto us
b. Romans 14:17-18 – The Kingdom of God is about righteousness (His righteousness), and peace and joy of the Holy Spirit, and we are to serve in that way.
c. Ps 89:14 – Righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne; His love and faithfulness follow
d. Romans 8:28 - ………God works it for the good of those who LOVE God, called according to His purpose
e. Ps 91:14-15 – For those who LOVE God, God promises to ……{all the good stuff – go read the text}
9. Bodily harm threat – can be signal that thing is out of hand. Godly counsel should be sought.
10. Demand to sin – stand firm.
Lastly, whether it is at war or doing the right thing, courage is needed. Be courageous. Pray to God for courage. Also, always pray for wisdom, which God will give (James 1:5), but always watch your motive (James 4:3).
So, may I say, “People can’t see their hatred, maybe, they are NOT living supernaturally!”
Anthony Chia, high.expressions Ye are called to be supernatural, for ye have been called out of the ways of the world, although ye are still in the world. Ye are supernatural, if ye persevere in the ways of the Kingdom. When ye’s ways are NOT the ways of the world, they are NOT natural, and when ye’s ways are the ways of the Kingdom of God, they are supernatural, for they are of the supernatural God.
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