Hearing, Learning, & Loving

Tuesday, September 20, 2022

Even though I am a free man with no master, I have become a slave to all people to bring many to Christ.  When I was with the Jews, I lived like a Jew to bring the Jews to Christ.  When I was with those who follow the Jewish law, I too lived under that law.  Even though I am not subject to the law, I did this so I could bring to Christ those who are under the law.  When I am with the Gentiles who do not follow the Jewish law, I too live apart from that law so I can bring them to Christ.  But I do not ignore the law of God; I obey the law of Christ.  When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ.  Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some.  I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings.                                      1 Corinthians 9:19-23

The WHY of apostle Paul’s living a somewhat chameleon-like life, blending-in with every sort of different person, nationality, or social status, was his learned ability to love.  It was so important to Paul to treat others with an open, loving heart, he virtually gave himself to others, so that he would have the opportunity to introduce them to Christ. 

Paul changed; he was no longer a fire-breathing zealot on a crusade to destroy everything related to Jesus Christ.[1]  In place of the old Saul, there was now the new, loving Paul who would literally give his life to bring others to Christ.[2]  Why the shift?  Jesus confronted Paul in the middle of his holacaust work of destroying the church, and taught him to love, because he was loved.  In the process, Paul couldn’t get enough of loving others.  Real Christianity is contagious!

Finding common ground with others is how you learn to love the unlovable.  You cannot do that when you’re unwilling to hear others with the receptive ear that helps you learn who they are, underneath, in their being, and understanding what wakes them up in the middle of the night with the cold sweats.  If you’re serious about sharing the love of Christ, that someone else might know Christ, and find eternal life, you cannot engage in screaming matches, or massive campaigns to exclude people from your life.  In short, you just can’t be afraid of others who are different…you must hear them, and understand them, so you can love them.

There’s an old idea that just doesn’t ring true for me, that dogs will chase cats because dogs hate cats.  Well, my daughter’s pets didn’t get that memo.  Boomer, the huge Mastiff, has gotten quite used to Carrie’s feline borders, Smith & Wesson.  In the picture you see just how close a 100-pound Mastiff can relate to a 7-pound kitty he could have for lunch.  It wasn’t always that way.  Whenever Boomer came into a room, Wesson used to run for the nearest place the hound couldn’t reach.  Little by little that changed.  Now they even play together.  Somewhere along the line, they began hearing each other out…listening, and learning…and now loving.   

Boomer is still a dog…a big, drooling mess of a mush, incapable of not being loved.  Wesson is still a mischievous feline, climbing-on anything high, jumping-off anything dangerously placed, and squeezing-in any tight spot (especially if there’s a slight trace of food to be had).  Neither of them have changed species; but now they play together…and they’re both the better for it.

For You Today

Learn Paul, Boomer, and Wesson’s lessons…listen, learn, love – and play nice!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Living in a Dumpster and When Tolerance Grows Up into Spiritual Maturity

[1] Images:  via Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] See Acts 9

[2] See Romans 9:3

When the Tie That Binds Becomes the Knot That Blinds

[1]

Thursday, January 31, 2019

Even as Peter was saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were listening to the message.  The Jewish believers who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles, too.  For they heard them speaking in other tongues and praising God.  Then Peter asked, “Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?”  So, he gave orders for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.  Afterward Cornelius asked him to stay with them for several days.                    Acts 10:44-48(NLT)

I have wonderful memories of church services that so vividly proclaimed the mystery that is God’s church, when, as one in the bond of love, we joined hands and sang Blest Be the Tie That Binds.  I also have a few nightmares that mark the times when it was more like Cursed Be the Knot That Blinds.    

It’s been a couple of thousand years since Jesus built His church, starting with just two beams of wood.  Over that long a time it’s a little too easy to forget the struggle with which the birth took place.  We forget such things as the passion of Christ during that holy week of Hosannas with palm branches, as well as the Horror of crucifixion.  It’s no wonder Jesus gave that Last Meal image to us and told us never to forget it was His body, and His blood that purchased our freedom.  We also tend to have the memory of power struggles fade out, becoming an indeterminate mist, a shaded spot that we just don’t talk about. 

One of those shaded, easily-discarded misty memories is the reality that the Church of Jesus Christ was originally a sect of Judaism.  Lest we forget, Jesus was a Jew, and those 12 who followed him around were also Jews.  And when that early church of Apostles, persecution, wonder and miracles was faced with accepting the Goyim (Gentiles), into the club, the tie that binds got a little tangled.  The tie of God’s salvation which binds us to Heaven quickly became the knot that blinds human eyes to the dangers of Hell.

In the months and years after Jesus was crucified, resurrected, and ascended to Heaven, the church had to face whether Jesus’ words come unto me…ALL, really meant those not born into a Jewish family too.

Back then it was what family heritage you had; later it was what part of the world; much later it became whether you had enough money to buy the dead church’s indulgence for sin.  In the last few centuries the color of skin, or just how far you’ve wandered into sin has been a sticking point.  Today the church and gender/sexuality issues are the forks in the road.

Standing against all that human division is that one misty, but ultimately rock-solid truth of Jesus’ high priestly prayer that we be united, not un-tied:

I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.                           John 17:21(NLT)

As those words hang in the air, they both convict us of the division of our times, and they call us to come out of spiritual blindness; to be united by being untied from our selfishness – and be better.

For You Today

Just like the choice Adam and Eve had to receive and trust God’s way, over what looked like it was a good deal, we also have the choice to be obedient disciples or renegade.  It’s like having an alphabet at your disposal with the letters u-n-i-t-e-d. 

Those letters can spell

UNITED

or

UNTIED;

It all depends on where you put the “I”.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com