Matthew 5:33 33"Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.' 34But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God's throne; 35or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. 36And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. 37Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Half of my Bible study this morning was a meditation on this verse. I talk BIG. I always mean what I say, but sometimes I'm all talk and no consistant action. I want the year I hope that I am blessed by God to devote to this life long problem I have had with weight--I want this year to be about me saying "Yes." to God and "No!" to sin....wherever I see the need to say "Yes,Lord." and "NO!"to sin. That's all I'm going to say about that, because any more than that could be coming from the evil one! :)
38"You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'[g] 39But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
Do not resist an evil person.....I remember only a few times in my life when I have come across someone who I thought was truly evil. One time there was a visitor in our home when Chris was a baby. He came to stay with us until he could find a job, and I came around the corner one day to see about Chris, who was crying, and found this evil person with his hand raised to strike my baby! He was about a foot taller than I was and a big muscular guy. I think I literally grew a foot and a half, and I know my whole countenance said "ATTACK!" not merely "resist" I told him that he'd better NEVER raise his hand to my child again, and he LAUGHED at me! Don and I told him to leave our home and never come back. I don't think that is what that verse is talking about. I think it's saying that we have something to offer the evil people in the world.....and we should use our material goods to willingness to serve to take the power out of the hands of evil people. If I willingly give up something to someone who demands it from me, then not only am I being meek, but I am saying that even the evil person is worthy of being loved. What I took away from this study today, though, was that I shouldn't judge with whom I will and will not share my faith. I have a tendency to shy away from certain kinds of people....I really am afraid of really assertive, people who appear derisive about Christians, especially if I sense a bad temper brewing underneath a facade of confidence. I know I'm being cryptic, but God and I know what I'm working on. Jesus doesn't want us to shrink away from evil, he doesn't want us to be afraid, and if we obey Jesus and don't resist evil people when they need our help, or demand it, then we can show them that God loves them. Love is more powerful than evil, because God is love.
What does this have to do with my weight? Fear has been a big part of my life. And I've always thought about myself as needing to be big to protect myself from evil people who might come along. But it's a paradox, because my weight prevents me from running away as fast as I might if I wasn't heavy. From a very young age, I went through scenarios in which I might be threatened with harm by someone intimidating and scarey and tried to come up with strategies to avoid being hurt or killed--and to protect my brother. I grew up knowing the world was a scarey place, and it took me a long time to realize that just because you hear about harm coming to someone, doesn't mean that me or someone I love will become a victim. And also, I'm really not powerful enough or smart enough to anticipate coming into contact with evil and preventing myself or others from being hurt or killed. I have dealt with that knowledge by just trusting God to protect me, but then bad things happen to people who love God, too. So, it was kind of a relief to see what Jesus had to say....about not resisting evil people. I don't think he meant for us to allow harm to come to ourselves or others if we can prevent it, but we don't have to be live in fear. Anyway, that's what I got out of those verses.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment