Ancient Solution to our Modern Dilemma
As Believers in Jesus, the Messiah, we have been given a better way of living. Generosity is at the heart of it. Money is not the essence, but an indicator of who we are. We give it away because we have received far more than the currency this world can offer. The contrast is clear. We give to promote life and hope, while the spirit of this age is on the take leaving carnage in its wake.
This week a young lady carried out a plan that was devised in hell. Our nation is left mourning because of the atrocity that followed.
It is what the culture of darkness does; it steals life because it has nothing to offer. Now the city is confused and filled with questions and anxious thoughts. I was on the phone yesterday with a fellow believer from Nashville, working out the details of our soon-coming Melody of One. He lives and works in the city and attended the church next to the school shooting. He said the city is shaken and there is a lingering “weird vibe” in the air.
I think we as a nation have been breathing that vibe without awareness. I also believe it is time to clear the air. We don’t have to live like this. Satan is a liar and there is no truth in him. He is also a thief and a murderer from the beginning. That means he murdered Abel. Of course, Cain was culpable, as was the shooter in Nashville. She embraced the lie that Satan whispered in her unguarded heart just like he did with Cain.
Hatred is an intermediate message between thought and action.
If not dealt with, murderous thoughts gain access to an unprotected soul. Jesus saw it coming when he told His followers if you harbor hatred in your heart, it is on par with murder.
Christians have been given the weapon to overcome hatred and prevent murder. It begins with loving ourselves, then each other, our neighbor, and even our enemy if we get that far.
Jesus said the world would know Him if we loved one another. Is it possible?
If so, why is it so difficult to point to those who do?
Let’s be real. What does love look like? Do the people who go to church together love each other? Do they know each other? Do they even talk to each other, or for that matter look at each other? Do we really know what love is?
We are living in a time when children of believing parents want nothing to do with the church because they looked but could not find the people that fit the description. So they leave and tell others it’s not real.
But there was a time in history when it was clear. It is recorded history and we can refer to it. It was written in Ephesians and documented in the Book of Acts. Hatred was dealt a fatal blow between two people groups with the longest history of hatred between them–Jews and Gentiles. It had reached its climax at the time when Rome ruled over Israel.
Approaching the entrance of every city, Jews dotted the landscape as they hung limp on Roman crosses. The Roman custom was to scourge the offender for a greater effect before he was hung on display.
As they waited in lines to pay an exorbitant tax, they could not escape the stench of death that lingered in the air.
I know what that hatred feels like because God delivered me from it on the day Jesus saved me. For me, it was anti-Semites. Without realizing it, I had made a pact with myself to hate them.
On the day I was confronted with two of them, who expressed themselves shamelessly, I found myself so filled with hate that I instantly devised a plan to kill them. I was exposed before anything happened though, and my plan failed.
Thank you Jesus.
That night I was so ashamed that I had hated in the same way my people were hated for centuries. I felt as if I was one of them and I broke down and cried out to Jesus, whom I didn’t know yet–and was still afraid of, having been told for years that we Jews had killed Him.
He showed up and embraced my heart with compassion and made me new by His Spirit. I never heard the language, but I knew I was “born again”.
From that day on, hatred became a stranger to be avoided, and never had a home in my heart again. It’s not that I haven’t had the opportunity, but instead of hatred, righteous anger and pity have become my response. I pity the person and despise the evil within.
MO1 carries a message, which is in direct conflict with the culture of death that is prevailing over the lives of so many in this generation. It is a message so little known in the church, and absent from our civilization. It is about what happens when the Spirit of God shatters the animosity and enmity in the soul of a person. Regardless of how we grew up, there lies a common bond that needs correction. We have each gone our own way from early on and think more of ourselves than we ought. In time we defend our fragile identity at all costs and build up fortresses of protection.
Hatred is always waiting in the shadows to respond.
When Jesus died on the cross, power was released like no other time. The curse of hatred was broken between believing Jews and Gentiles. The result was they began loving each other. There is no other way to explain the atmosphere of the early church and the exponential growth that occurred throughout the known world.
No wonder the forces of darkness trembled. It was the beginning of the end for them.
At least it could have been.
Instead of nurturing that relationship between the Jewish and Gentile believers, theology began to surface teaching that God was done with the Jews and so should the Gentiles be.
Without notice, spiritual life began to sap and hatred re-emerge for the next 18-plus centuries.
Love is not an option. It is a command. Without love, we can do nothing. With love, we can conquer kingdoms. But love must be real. If we believe these times are indicating a near return of Jesus it’s time we consider a warning He gave His disciples concerning the last days.
“And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.” Matt 24:10
It is high time to awaken. The evidence of love must become so easily identified among Christians. It is the only combatant against the insanity of our age. Children and young people need to witness adults sacrificially loving each other and giving themselves to a cause outside themselves. Then they will abhor what they are being force-fed from every angle in our culture.
The “One new man” is God’s idea and our solution. No longer can it be ignored or attempted to manufacture. Ask God what that means for you.
Much too much is at stake and far too many have been lost.
If you’re in the neighborhood come and see for yourself or contact us at comfortmypeople.com
Melody of One
Sunday, April 16.
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