JESUS SPEAKING

                “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.  Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled.  Blessed are you who weep now for you shall laugh.  Blessed are you when men hate you […] for the Son of Man’s sake […] for indeed your reward is great in heaven […] But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.  Woe to you who are full, for you shall hunger.  Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.  Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets” (Luke 6: 20-26.)

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

                The Jewish people were very familiar with blessings.  Many would bring their children up to the Rabbi’s to be blessed.  A blessing was a prophetic pronouncement of some future good in a person’s life.  The opposite of the blessing, was the cursing.  A cursing was a prophetic pronouncement of some future calamity in a person’s life.  Jesus combined the blessings and cursings.  Those who had wealth and material possessions in excess were being called to give them away to gain eternal life.  Those who were constantly feeding themselves were being told that in the coming life, they would go hungry.  Those who were living lives filled with the pleasures of the world, would enter eternal sorrow.  Those who, in this life, were well liked and of good reputation would be rejected by God eternally.  Jesus lived a life of self denial; a life in which the needs of others were more important than his own, to the point of death.  To follow Christ in to eternal life, self denial and self-sacrifice in the present life are required.  The sacrifices are wealth, power, property, selfish fun (often sinful pleasures), and a good reputation (a desire to be well liked by everyone.)  People hated this message, and today it is still hated.  But people’s hatred for the message will never change the message.  Enduring pain, and denying your own wants and desires in this life is a requirement for entrance in to heaven.  Jesus said, “Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”

                We need only look at credit cards to understand this scripture.  Denying pleasure is pain, and many use credit cards to avoid denying what they want.  When someone goes out shopping or out to have fun and they can’t afford it, many will pay with a credit card to avoid denying themselves of some pleasure.  Food, possessions, recreation, lust; pleasure can take various forms, but usually costs money.  But paying for things with money you don’t have doesn’t make the pain go away, it simply postpones it.  Eventually the credit card company is going to want their money, and the pain you avoided will have to be endured.

                Many people have spent an entire lifetime avoiding pain and indulging in pleasure; but the pain hasn’t been avoided, only postponed.  Eventually they are going to have ‘pay the check.’  Chasing after wealth, material possessions, careers, food, and even a good reputation will lead to an eternity of pain.  Saving up money for the future, and making recreation and personal time a focus of your life will only lead to destruction.  Vacations in Hawaii, hours of television time, golf, weekend partying, lying, lusting, unholy relationships, and other forms of pleasure will end in a curse.  Self-denial is the way to eternal blessings.  Volunteer work, giving excess money away to the needy, spending time listening to others, giving up T.V. time to evangelize, visiting widows, orphans, the elderly, working with someone caught in addiction, caring for the sick, loving others, giving people rides, to name a few.  Where can you refuse your own desires to better serve others?  What do you have in excess?  Is it time, money, knowledge; what can you give away?  When you deny yourself, and make others more important, you are serving The Living God in this life, and in turn, you will serve him in His eternal Kingdom.

                “Lord Heavenly Father, we come before You and we ask and pray that You will help us to endure pain and to give away what we have in excess; to deny our own wants and pleasures to fulfill Your purposes in the lives of others.  Father, help us to deny ourselves and to take up the cross and to follow You.  Reveal to us where we can be more self-less; where we can be more giving; and where we can be more like You.  We love You Father, we praise You, and we thank You, and we ask and pray all of these things in Jesus Christ’s name.  Amen.”  God bless all of you.

JESUS SPEAKING

                “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15: 12-13.)

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

                God’s commandment to His disciples was to love one another in the exact manner that He had loved them.  Of all of the different kinds of love, God identified the greatest love to be self-sacrifice; the very love that Jesus Christ portrayed upon the cross.  True love could only come through the denial of the self.  He was commanding his followers to crucify themselves daily, by denying their own wants and needs to provide for the wants and needs of others.  All those who were, and are disciples of the Lord, should manifest selflessness as the proof that the Love of Christ is in them.

                Everyone wants to be heard.  Children naturally have a difficult time listening instead of talking. As they grow old, they learn to be listeners.  Yet even as adults, the majority of people still enjoy being the topic of discussion.  Some people are so self-centered it’s difficult to speak with them because conversation is not a two-way-street; it’s a long dark alley with no exits.  However, disciples learn to make others the focus of conversation.  They ask more questions (with more sincerity), and become active listeners.  Their own wants, needs, and desires become secondary; they in essence die, and in turn, they can nurture and love others.  Anyone who is more concerned with their own wants, needs and desires, cannot love others as Christ has commanded them, and in turn, they cannot be his disciples.  In order to live and love as Christ we must die.  Paul wrote, “To live as Christ, to die is gain.”  To die is the way to life. 

                In conversation today, are you a listener, or a talker?  Are you a giver, or a taker?  Are you dying, or are you living?  The less concerned you are with yourself, the more you can manifest the love of Christ.  There are many areas where you can die.  You can give up the time you spend in recreation to serve others (not necessarily all your time.)  You can pray for others instead of yourself.  You can listen to others instead of talking.  You can spend your extra money on others.  You can love where you used to hate, and give where you used to take.  You can show God’s love, the greatest love, to a world who needs it desperately.

                “Lord Heavenly Father, we come before You and we ask that You would help us to die; to lay down our lives for our friends and strangers.  Give us a strong desire to esteem others above ourselves, and to show the Love of Your Son to all those who need it.  Reveal opportunities in our lives where we can improve, and become more selfless; more like You.  We love You Father, we praise You, and we thank You, and we ask and pray all of these things in Jesus Christ’s name.  Amen.”  God bless all of you.

JESUS SPEAKING

                “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is properly taught will be like his teacher” (Luke 6: 40.)

INSPIRED THOUGHTS

                God is called ‘the most high,’ because elevation has always been how human beings distinguish between the valuable and the invaluable.  People honor things by lifting them up.  In ancient times, when a king stepped down on level ground with a group of his subjects, those subjects would lower themselves beneath him; many would bow, others would kneel.  If the king was a child, then his subjects would sprawl out face first on the ground to make sure the king stood above them.  The teacher and student relationship is quite similar (as Jesus said, “A disciple is not above his teacher”) The disciple, or student, must realize his or her lack of knowledge (they lower themselves); the teacher then becomes the superior source of necessary information (they are lifted up.)  In exchange for their humility and ability to learn, the disciples were promised that they would become like Jesus.  Anyone who lacked this type of humility could not be a follower of Jesus then, and cannot be his follower today.  A person who believes they have a better way, or who desires to learn from sources other than the Lord, cannot be properly taught.

                A long time ago, I was caught in a dilemma…I remember calling up a friend for advice on a situation that had made me absolutely furious.  In the middle of the conversation she said, “What would Jesus do?”  I tried to shrug it off, and replied something like, “Well, he’s Jesus, I can’t be like him.”  The question cut deep in to me; the answer to how to react to the situation wasn’t debatable; rather, it had a face, and a name, and that name was Jesus Christ.  I was not called to behave in my own way, but to behave just like him.  After all, a disciple is someone who is a student and follower of their teacher.  My teacher and master was, and is Jesus Christ.  If I desired to be properly taught (a disciple), I knew I needed to be completely submitted to him.

                You as well are called to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.  How does that process begin for you?  First, you must humble yourself and lift him up.  Jesus Christ must become the moral authority in your life.  Get rid of any competing teachers, and make his words the foundation upon which your life and your actions are built.  Daily gospel reading is essential.  Commit some of your time daily to the study of his words.  The gospels of Mathew, Mark, Luke, John, and the book of Revelation contain his spoken words, and descriptions of his behavior; only by knowing your teacher can you be properly taught; only by humbling yourself before the living God can you become his disciple.

                “Lord Heavenly Father, we come before You now and ask to become Your disciples.  We lift up Your Son and we ask that He become our teacher.  Jesus, speak to us, and to our hearts, and mold us and shape us in to Your image.  Remind us of all of the words that You have spoken, and fill us with Your Holy Spirit, that we may minister to all those You place in our way.  We love You Father, we praise You, and we thank You, and we ask and pray all of these things in Jesus Christ’s name.  Amen.”  God bless all of you.