Home » Sabbath: The Stranger in Your Gates    

Comments

Sabbath: The Stranger in Your Gates — 10 Comments

  1. The biggest problem we face in preaching the Gospel in the modern secular world is not what we believe, but the dissonance (or the perceived dissonance) between what we teach and how we behave.

    A couple of quotes from Mahatma Gandhi to think about this week:

    I like your Christ, but not your Christianity.

    "I believe in the teachings of Christ, but you on the other side of the world do not, I read the Bible faithfully and see little in Christendom that those who profess faith pretend to see."

    "The Christians above all others are seeking after wealth. Their aim is to be rich at the expense of their neighbors. They come among aliens to exploit them for their own good and cheat them to do so. Their prosperity is far more essential to them than the life, liberty, and happiness of others."

    What do my neighbours/workmates/acquaintances say about my Christianity?

    (63)
    • Maurice - I was not aware of Mahatma Gandhi's familiarity with Christ. His statements are evidence of the Holy Spirit revealing his Truth to all who seek after God's Truth - the kingdom of God - with all their heart! It is eye-opening to learn about the conclusions this esteemed person has come to regarding 'Christianity'.
      I agree, Christian's need to become much more cognizant of their conduct's impact on others, and hopefully make a greater effort to establish the true record of what it means to be a 'Christian' - a 'believer and follower of Christ's Faith'.

      (7)
  2. Due to its inherent nature, true 'love' - self-sacrificing, other-focussed beneficence - cannot exist in isolation. It exists to perpetually give to others for their benefit (a living fountain: John 4:14). And it does not discriminate - it does not exist to benefit only some and not others. In terms of love's orientation being a commitment (covenant) to only benefit others, it is a 'one-size-fits-all'.

    To reduce the risk of the above principle being misunderstood and misapplied, I also need to hilight that how that benefiting is applied to each person differs - and is therefore 'custom-made'. In some instances, giving a person that which they need/desire is genuinely beneficial for them (this is what verses like Luke 6:30 are referring to). In other instances, not giving someone what they desire is the more genuinely beneficial for them in instances where what they desire contributes to their (self-)destruction.

    (23)
    • Phil, I would also add that what benefits one person may not benefit another. We do not all have the same needs. One may need emotional support, while another needs child care so they can work to pay bills. We must be careful not to only give what we would want for ourselves. I have seen the Golden Rule rewritten to say "do unto others as they would have done to themselves" to reflect this, although as you stated, what they think they need may not always be best. We should always be aware of the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Even just a kind word may change a person's day for the better, and they may go on to be kind to someone else in a ripple effect.

      (14)
  3. Let us, without delay or reserve, come and cleave to our reconciled God in Jesus Christ, that we may love, serve, and obey him acceptably, and be daily changed into his image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord. Consider the greatness and glory of God; and his goodness and grace; these persuade us to our duty. Blessed Spirit! Oh for thy purifying, persevering, and renewing influences, that being called out of the state of strangers, such as our fathers were, we may be found among the number of the children of God, and that our lot may be among the saints.

    (20)
    • Pastor Sianipar - Thank you for your heartfelt prayer on behalf of all of us! May God greatly bless your ministry!

      (5)
  4. "Cleve to our reconciled God in Jesus Christ. Pasror Joseph,I would hope you ment to say: Let us without delay cleve to God in Jesus who reconciled us to Himself. We need to be reconciled to God. The way you worded it sounds like God needs reconciliation. He does not, He needs us to be reconciled to Him. He needs our reconciliation. To put it in layman's terms, I believe what Paul is saying is: Become friends with God, He is already friends with you.
    2Corinthians 5:18-20. Good advice. Be ye reconciled to God, who has a longing for you to be reconciled to Himself. He is holding out His hand to you, take it.

    (6)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>