A Narrow Road of Caring

 A narrow road is a road that could be easy to wander off of. Have you ever tried to walk down a long narrow hallway with your eyes shut. The way our eyes adjust our path constantly is a really important piece of how we get from point A to point B. Whenever we start to wander in the slightest we can see the variance almost subconsciously and adjustments are made. 

In Matthew 7:13 Jesus is speaking and this whole thing is during the sermon on the mount and he says. Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 

This statement follows right on the golden rule about treating others as you would have them treat you. This golden run has a pre-clause and  post-clause. The pre-clause is a therefore and I'll talk about that in a second. I'll do it third but in a second. The second clause which is a post-clause is a statement that says that this is the Law and the prophets. In other word, this is what God was teaching us to do. It does not break the law and does not go contrary to God's purposes. That would be enough. 

The pre-clause is a therefore and tells us why we do that. Why does it make perfect sense to treat others the way we want to be treated? It is because we can see that God will give us what is good when we ask Him. This we can see because we, being evil, know how to give good gifts to our own children. 

The road then, which makes perfect sense and fulfills the law and the profits (thanks to Jesus) is to treat others as we would have them treat us AND with that to be VERY intentional and to put in significant effort to get it done. Because you belong to God, your situation is in His hand and because that is so you can walk a narrow road. There is an alternative that is proposed by many who do not trust God and frankly, if I did not trust God I would need to take matters in my own hands (which I would likely screw up quite often). You can work very diligently to treat others as you would like to be treated. You can be loving and kind. Even you can work very hard at it because you are safe. Safe in God's care is a good place to be. #reachingnewheightsinjesus

Redefining Love

Redefining Love: So the short summary is this: When Jesus spoke of love in the sermon on the mount it seemed like He was talking about love redefined. It seemed this way because some folks had spent some time redefining love since God had set the standard in the first place. They had added "and hate you enemies" to the "Love your neighbor as yourself" that God had given them. They had made love not for everyone and not a thing to be done by everyone. In some cases, they had made it just a word to describe a feeling. These are the same shortcomings of the world's understanding of love today. So, it appears to be redefining love when Christians describe it as For everyone (enemies included,) by everyone (as a command and a choice to follow that command,) and equaling acts of compassion not just feelings. To be a Christian, a follower of the Living Christ is to love others this way (including enemies.) This is hard to swallow because the world has taught that there is another kind of love which there isn't. They have redefined love in a sense and then when we get back to the basics of what it means, it's just hard for them to swallow. Don't buy it. Don't give in to the false belief that there is another kind of love or that love is for some and not for others. That definition will die once and for all when there are no more mysteries and those who follow along with it will go that way too. Love like Jesus.