I awoke this morning to a few of my favorite sounds: thunder and rain! "What an excellent morning" I thought! Today is doughnuts and dads day at Ellie's school, I'm meeting a colleague for coffee after that, I will help to mentor a young Christian leader this afternoon/evening, and then a Stars game tonight! The stars (though most likely not for the Dallas Stars, but hey, you never know!) are aligned! This is going to be a great day, I thought! No worries!!!!
And then, I began my morning reading from the Bible, and wouldn't you know it:
The Sermon on the Mount.
Ouch! Just when I think I'm doing good I read The Sermon and realize I am not! (I might be doing a bit better, however, but sanctification is, for me, a slow process.) As I am reading this year from the Peterson translation the text jumps out in different ways than it has before.
The part of The Sermon that got me in the heart this morning comes from the command "Do not murder."
I am very blessed in my life that I really only have one person who is truly a thorn in my side. We all have one of those, right? You've got that one special person in your life who seems to rejoice in injuring you.
I will not go into the details of this situation as that would be entirely inappropriate in a public forum. Also, I will not go into details because I am working hard to treat this person with love, dignity, and respect. My continual prayer is that I will treat this person the way I want to be treated, and that I would treat this person in the way in which I think Jesus wants me to treat them.
This is difficult for me.
I was especially convicted in this process this morning while reading The Sermon.
Peterson's translation of the passage I'm talking about looks like this:
"You're familiar with the command to the ancients, 'Do not murder.' (My heart sinks here, because I know what's coming.) I'm telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother 'idiot!' and you just might find yourself in court. Thoughtlessly yell 'stupid!' at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. (Here's the worst part.) The simple fact of the matter is that words kill."
I have said those two words about this person out loud before. I have never said it to the individual because I am honestly trying to treat them in a Christlike way, but in my heart I often think these words, and then some! But Jesus is clearly telling me that I am, in my heart, MURDERING this person.
Wow.
Here I am, a pastor, supposedly leading people in serving the world like Jesus did and I am murdering a fellow Christian in my heart. Not good.
So the struggle continues. I must pray for this person and for myself, so that my heart is softened, but my courage to stand up for what is right with them is strengthened. Then, I need to fortitude to do these things!
Love is truly a tough but active thing. Loving your neighbor as yourself is not easy. My prayer for all of this morning comes from The Sermon as well:
"Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?" May all of us, in the face of the adversity we will encounter today and in the rest of the days of our lives, never loose our saltiness, so that, through us, our sisters and brothers may taste and experience the God-flavors of this earth, and in so doing, be reconciled with God and one another. Amen.
May your day be a blessing to others! Let us be extra sea-salt style, Kosher salty today!
No comments:
Post a Comment