Sweet Secret Revenge

Most people aren’t the type to allow themselves to engage into malicious hateful revenge (or at least most people wouldn’t admit to it); although I think most of us have endured some situations where it may have felt warranted. Most of us are much more acquainted with a lesser form of revenge that  psychologists have called “Passive-Aggressive” behavior.

 

This kind of behavior is typical in office work where decorum prohibits you from openly discussing issues which would easily be resolved if you could openly speak about them, also online forums and social media are breeding grounds for this softened version of revenge.

But there is no end to the possibilities where we might encounter passive-aggressive behavior! You might find it in the home, at church, in the market, or in even in rest-room stalls 😉  There are some really nasty spirited people out there who have some aggression issues that need to be dealt with, just look at this!

HOTDOG ICE?!?! This is proof there is evil among us!

Don’t say, “I will get even for this wrong.”
    Wait for the Lord to handle the matter.  Proverbs 20:22 NLT

Even if someone has legitimately hurt or offended you, and they honestly meant to do so, revenge and vengeance isn’t an activity with which a citizen of the Kingdom of God engages. The behavior of someone who has been transformed by the love of Jesus is to allow God to deal with punishment of others; it it not the activity of the chosen to punish other people. Discipline, correct, or rebuke, but not punish (the former three all are activities which should be done in love according to scripture).

In reality, when we try to understand other people we find most people aren’t bent on hurting or offending others, instead we discover that we simply don’t understand what their personal struggles are and how those struggles are affecting them.

A lack of understanding another person’s viewpoint can easily bring us to the point of frustration and aggravation and if left unchecked can quickly transform into revenge (in all its nasty forms).

The very least we can do is the RIGHT THING – love people and love God enough to trust

that even if their motives were malicious, God will handle them; all we are supposed to do is love God and love people in the process.

 

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Are You Ready?

If I told you that I scheduled my first home invasion through Jim Bob’s Home Invasion…you would tell me that I’ve lost my mind! Literally no one schedules their own home invasion! The truth is that no one knows when it’s going to happen! Jesus addresses this in Luke 12:39-40

³⁹ “Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would not permit his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰ You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.”

The point is that we are to be ready because just like a home invasion, you don’t know when He is coming!

 

There’s no need to panic – as far as I can tell there are really three critical things every believer needs to be doing… (without oversimplification)

Ultimately we are given three directives; love God, love people and draw people to Jesus. Certainly there are other disciplines which grow our relationship with God like daily Bible reading, worship, and prayer but when you boil it all down if you love really God you’re going to do those things anyway. If you love people, you’re going to have to address the sinful attitudes and habits in your life to better love them, and if you love people you are going to be drawing them into a relationship with Jesus.

So, if you are doing the above three things… more than likely you’re ready! If you’re not, now’s the time! Since we don’t know when Jesus will return, there’s no time to waste – begin today by loving God, loving people, and drawing them into a loving relationship with God.

How do we love God? Think of how you express love to people – spend time with Him (prayer, reading, and worship), spend time with His people (go to church), learn to hear His voice, invest into His church (give tithes and offerings)

How do we love people? This is basic. Put other people before you, serve and don’t command or demand, spend time and build relationships, ask questions, meet needs as you’re able, don’t think yourself better than them, and most of all pray for them.

How do we draw people to Jesus? Pretty much doing the above makes you the most attractive thing in the world to thirsty souls. You attract more flies with honey than vinegar, so love God and love people. The bottom line is somewhere in your relationship, you will need to tell them about how Jesus has changed your life. You don’t have to have a doctoral degree to manage this – just tell them what happened in YOUR life. Tell them how it happened, what you prayed, and how you have lived since. Boom. Done.

There are probably a hundred different approaches like the “Roman’s Road”,  the “ABC’s”, etc. but if you are honestly listening to God He will give you what needs to be said.

Get out there – love God, love people, and draw them to Christ! Be ready for Him!

Pastor Kevin

Love More Than Your Friends

If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.                                                                                          Matthew 5:47 NLT

Love should be this incredible easy thing, something you just experience and give so freely, a feeling that flows uncontrollably from others and from us with absolutely zero effort.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

Unfortunately that is not the case, people can be decidedly unlovely, making it difficult to choose to love them when love hasn’t been shown. But that seems to be the problem doesn’t it? We tend to treat love like there’s a prerequisite of love shown in order to show love, or at least like it needs to be reciprocated in order for us to continue to show love.

Christians aren’t supposed to allow circumstances to dictate whether or not we show love to other people because while were still sinners we were shown the most intense love imaginable (actually beyond our imagination). It is an act most ungrateful to behave unlovely towards other people, regardless of their actions.

When we refrain or withhold love from people we have effectively stopped loving them. We make light of this when we excuse our actions based on other people, when there is no excuse for us.

“Even pagans do that” isn’t meant to be a slight against pagans as we know them today, rather an observation, made by Jesus, of people who had not been transformed by God’s love who had shown love to their friends.  The point isn’t about pagans, it’s a reference to how we (who’ve experienced the power of God) should behave differently than those who haven’t.

Jesus’ question is, of course, timely for us, “how are you different”? I invite you and I to ask ourselves that very important question today.

How are you different? 

In what ways are you showing love to unlovely? In what ways are you expressing the power of Christ in you?