Thou shalt not hate
“Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.” (Matt. 5:21-26).
These statements all go together. They all speak to undue anger and bitterness. When the soul has lost its connection with the God of gracious love, bitterness inevitably fills the void. We were meant to hold sweet communion with the Spirit of God, our Comforter. Our original design was for fellowship with the Divine One. God made man noble and upright, not only in stature but in intellect and morality and love. We were to be plugged into God, a piece of the puzzle being made for us and for us only.
Satan’s one effort is to disconnect us from our source of grace and love. In that one move, he has instantly disoriented our bearings, degraded our strength, and made us perfectly vulnerable to his insinuations and influence. Our only hope is being reconnected to our Creator and Friend. As it is written, “The turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” (Prov. 1:32-33).
In the first text, Christ addresses the common perception that outward action was all that counted for real morality. Yet our real problem begins in the heart—our intents and desires and thoughts. In so doing, He distinguishes true morality from Pharisaical morality, which really is immorality. Thus, according to real spirituality, to hate and be angry without love is to murder; to seek to demean and destroy emotionally by criticizing, backbiting, and name-calling is all worthy of damnation.
It is, therefore, imperative to make things right and stay right with your brother or sister, not simply outwardly with a paste-on grin, but truly reconciled, truly loving. And if our salt has lost its savor and is causing strife, we need to get rid of it and go to Christ for some new salt, that is, more of His grace and love, that by beholding Him we may become changed into the same image. “Salt is good…. Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.” (Mk. 9:50).
We have no reason to think that the Christian must be an irritant to everyone he meets. This is clearly non-Biblical. “Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him.” The grace of Christ in the heart will make us pleasant with those with whom we come in contact, looking and praying that they express a need for deeper things, that we may have an opportunity to share with them the comforting goodness of God, and also to exchange grace and kindness with those who hate us and make themselves our enemy.
Quite possibly, in Roman days it didn’t take much to spark retaliation or persecution. In our country and in much of our world, tolerance gives us much more freedom and gracious treatment than existed 2,000 years ago, and even 200 years ago. But all of that may come to an end soon. As the wall of separation of church and state continues to be worn away (in the name of religious liberty) religious intolerance and every other kind of intolerance will once again surface and be nurtured along by religious bigots and extremists, by Protestant and Catholic alike. Then we will know the exact conditions that Jesus spoke of in the above verses, when your “adversary deliver[s] thee to the judge, and the judge deliver[s] thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.”
“If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” (Rom. 12:18). “He must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.” (1Tim. 3:7). Just as also the youthful Jesus “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” (Lk. 2:52).
The Lord gave a beautiful example of this later in His ministry. Priestly enemies tried to use Peter to trap his Master. But so as not to stir up unnecessary discord and prejudice among the priests and Levites toward Himself by openly disregarding their accusation, Jesus told Peter, “Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for Me and thee.” (Matt. 17:27). It was a polite gesture to His adversaries and a gentle correction to His befooled and humbled, yet beloved disciple.
We can, with certainty, say that God so loves the whole world.
These statements all go together. They all speak to undue anger and bitterness. When the soul has lost its connection with the God of gracious love, bitterness inevitably fills the void. We were meant to hold sweet communion with the Spirit of God, our Comforter. Our original design was for fellowship with the Divine One. God made man noble and upright, not only in stature but in intellect and morality and love. We were to be plugged into God, a piece of the puzzle being made for us and for us only.
Satan’s one effort is to disconnect us from our source of grace and love. In that one move, he has instantly disoriented our bearings, degraded our strength, and made us perfectly vulnerable to his insinuations and influence. Our only hope is being reconnected to our Creator and Friend. As it is written, “The turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. But whoso hearkeneth unto Me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.” (Prov. 1:32-33).
In the first text, Christ addresses the common perception that outward action was all that counted for real morality. Yet our real problem begins in the heart—our intents and desires and thoughts. In so doing, He distinguishes true morality from Pharisaical morality, which really is immorality. Thus, according to real spirituality, to hate and be angry without love is to murder; to seek to demean and destroy emotionally by criticizing, backbiting, and name-calling is all worthy of damnation.
It is, therefore, imperative to make things right and stay right with your brother or sister, not simply outwardly with a paste-on grin, but truly reconciled, truly loving. And if our salt has lost its savor and is causing strife, we need to get rid of it and go to Christ for some new salt, that is, more of His grace and love, that by beholding Him we may become changed into the same image. “Salt is good…. Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.” (Mk. 9:50).
We have no reason to think that the Christian must be an irritant to everyone he meets. This is clearly non-Biblical. “Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him.” The grace of Christ in the heart will make us pleasant with those with whom we come in contact, looking and praying that they express a need for deeper things, that we may have an opportunity to share with them the comforting goodness of God, and also to exchange grace and kindness with those who hate us and make themselves our enemy.
Quite possibly, in Roman days it didn’t take much to spark retaliation or persecution. In our country and in much of our world, tolerance gives us much more freedom and gracious treatment than existed 2,000 years ago, and even 200 years ago. But all of that may come to an end soon. As the wall of separation of church and state continues to be worn away (in the name of religious liberty) religious intolerance and every other kind of intolerance will once again surface and be nurtured along by religious bigots and extremists, by Protestant and Catholic alike. Then we will know the exact conditions that Jesus spoke of in the above verses, when your “adversary deliver[s] thee to the judge, and the judge deliver[s] thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.”
“If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.” (Rom. 12:18). “He must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.” (1Tim. 3:7). Just as also the youthful Jesus “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” (Lk. 2:52).
The Lord gave a beautiful example of this later in His ministry. Priestly enemies tried to use Peter to trap his Master. But so as not to stir up unnecessary discord and prejudice among the priests and Levites toward Himself by openly disregarding their accusation, Jesus told Peter, “Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money: that take, and give unto them for Me and thee.” (Matt. 17:27). It was a polite gesture to His adversaries and a gentle correction to His befooled and humbled, yet beloved disciple.
We can, with certainty, say that God so loves the whole world.
posted by David | 6:38 PM
1 Comments:
hallo david. your've got a long story.
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