Tag: love

Christ’s Parable of the Weeds (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
Wheat Fields with Stacks, by Vincent Van Gogh, 1888

Here is another story Jesus told: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer who planted good seed in his field. But that night as the workers slept, his enemy came and planted weeds among the wheat, then slipped away. When the crop began to grow and produce grain, the weeds also grew.

“The farmer’s workers went to him and said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that good seed is full of weeds! Where did they come from?’

“‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer exclaimed.

“‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked.

“‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn….’”

Then, leaving the crowds outside, Jesus went into the house. His disciples said, “Please explain to us the story of the weeds in the field.”

Jesus replied, “The Son of Man is the farmer who plants the good seed. The field is the world, and the good seed represents the people of the Kingdom. The weeds are the people who belong to the evil one. The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels.

“Just as the weeds are sorted out and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the world. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will remove from his Kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. And the angels will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s Kingdom. Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand! (New Living Translation)

As you have likely noticed, not everyone in this world is supportive of you and what you’re doing.

The good work we do – no matter how competently and expertly done – will be undermined by others. There will be people with selfish and sinister agendas who put roadblocks in our way to frustrate our ongoing work. They don’t like what we are doing and what we’re trying to accomplish.

Unfortunately, that’s just the way it is. So then, one of the big questions for all of us is this: How do we live with others trying to subvert the good work we are doing for the Kingdom of Heaven?

One of the most popular responses is to strike the enemy on their cheek just as hard or harder in the way they slapped you. It is responding to evil in kind.

But if we will ponder for a moment, we shall realize that is makes no sense to repay evil with evil. Why? Because then the Kingdom of Hell has just snagged this one with doing evil in order to defend good work – which ends-up ruining the whole enterprise.

No, instead let’s heed the words of Christ to turn the other cheek and not retaliate; and live the words of the Apostle Paul who reminded us to overcome evil by doing good. (Matthew 5:38-42; Romans 12:14-21)

Yes, all judgment belongs to the Lord, and not us. In today’s Gospel lesson the reasoning Jesus provides for non-retaliation and non-violence is both reasonable and practical.

Field with Stacks of Wheat, by Vincent Van Gogh, 1890

Christ told his disciples that the enemy’s efforts at thwarting our good works are sinister enough to bring about a situation where evil is so close to the good that to eradicate the evil is to therefore also do away with the good.

If you have weeds in your field or your garden, you know that some of those nasty weeds cannot be pulled out of the ground without yanking-up the good plant along with it. Instead, you’ll have to wait until you can harvest the plant, and then you can safely get rid of the offending weed.

Let’s think, then, about our own situations right now in this world. For myself, it seems that every single day I am upset and angered over decisions made by those in political power, because they almost always involve oppressing and/or harming powerless people.

Yet, to immediately stop the offending persons and organizations would involve some wicked methods. Instead, if I want to maintain doing good, I will have my time to unseat them through the vote, or writing my Senators, or directly contacting the offices of the institutions, etc.

Some of our responses may seem tepid in comparison to the evil being perpetrated, yet we can be sure that there is a time coming in which the reality of divine judgment will handle the wicked once and for all. At the proper time, heaven’s angels will do their own good work of removing evil and eradicating it forever.

We need to put our efforts into doing the very best at living in harmony with one another, promoting peace, and being peacemakers – using our greatest and most effective tools of humility, gentleness, grace, and love. These are the proper fertilizers which will keep the plants of righteousness and justice growing and thriving, even though they are surrounded by a bunch of close weeds.

As maddening as it is to see those weeds grow up alongside the plants, nowhere in Holy Scripture are we called or encouraged to become judge, jury, and executioner to the wicked.

Furthermore, Christians are nowhere called to force onto others Jesus as King through a theocratic nation, using authoritarian means. We are called, rather, to put our faith where our fear is and exercise a faith that does good work through love. (Galatians 5:6)

Equipped by the Spirit, we urge oppressors, tyrants, and egotists to turn from their selfishness and amend their evil ways. And we are not called to force the Kingdom of Heaven on others by trying to ensconce a form of Christian nationalism. For Americans, many of our ancestors came to the New World in order to flee their home Christian nationalist countries who persecuted them and did evil to them.

“To identify any particular form of government with Christianity is a dangerous error, for it confounds the permanent with the transitory, the absolute with the contingent.” T.S. Eliot

It takes very little prodding for Christians with political power to move into glorifying violence and ignoring biblical injunctions to love enemies, seek peace, and grant grace.

God puts a high premium of looking after the poor and needy, and rescuing them from oppression and violence. The last thing we ought to be doing is becoming the violent oppressors ourselves!

Giving ourselves as ambassadors of reconciliation, speaking truth to power, and doing the work of peacemaking is a narrow and hard road to hoe. The easy way is typically the road of destruction. (Matthew 7:13-14)

As citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, we are to labor toward the things Jesus himself did: Challenge the arrogant religious types; offer mercy to the lowly and forgotten ones; warn of judgment; encourage faith; forgive generously; and speak words of truth in all places, including the halls of political power.

It is perfectly legitimate to disagree with others, but only if we ourselves are willing to defend their equally legitimate right to be disagreeable.

So, instead of always trying to snuff-out and vanquish our opponents with overt tools of evil, let us do the good work of winning their respect, living in peace with them, and affirming our shared humanity together.

We all have the right to be different; we don’t have the right to do evil and reprise evil with evil. The organizations, institutions, faith communities, corporations, and governments of this world are only as good as the people guarding that goodness through their good work, utilizing good means toward good ends.

Anyone with ears ought to listen and understand.

God of steadfast love and grace: Teach us your way and your truth. Root us in you alone, and help us to grow in grace and love, so that we may fulfill our role and our work in the reign of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Already Justified and Accepted (Romans 5:1-8)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Crucifixion, by Natalya Rusetska

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. (New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition)

Perhaps we have so many people filled with shame and regret today over their past poor decisions and the trajectory their lives, because there is such a profound lack of hope in the world.

Becoming confident in both the unseen realities and the stated promises of God can melt away both personal and corporate shame.

Long ago, the Apostle Paul reminded the Roman Church of their true standing before the God of all. Paul knew that if the people were secure in their identity, then resilience would arise; and if resilience rises, then a robust Christian character and identity will take root. Hope then becomes a central part of life.

Notice that the Apostle made it clear what is true of believers: They are justified, possessing the justification of God. In other words, the Christians have no reason to try and justify themselves to others (or to God) because they already have been justified by God.

There is great freedom in feeling no compunction whatsoever to prove oneself. Followers of Jesus Christ need not prove themselves, spending all sorts of social capital attempting to please others, out of some perceived need to demonstrate who they are.

If you want others to know who you are and what kind of God you serve, then know thyself, instead of constantly putting your finger to the wind in order to gauge which way the prevailing winds of society are blowing so that you can follow it.

In truth, all you need is the wind of the Spirit to carry you on into doing God’s will from a merciful, pure, and peaceful heart.

Since we are already justified, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Things are good between us and God. Not only do we have no need to prove ourselves to the world, but we especially have also absolutely no reason to try and prove ourselves to God.

The Lord already knows the score of everyone’s life. It is a silly venture to put on airs before the Sovereign of the universe, as if God must be convinced to love us and have our backs.

The grace of God is abundant and ever-present; grace is continually available. And there are no exceptions to this. One is never too far from God or too estranged from the good in order to receive the mercy of God.

God’s love has been already poured into our hearts. God is with us; divine love is intimately close to us. Rather than wondering or vacillating between whether God loves me or God loves me not, the objective spiritual reality of the moment is that you and I are surrounded by the God who rejoices over us.

The Lord your God is with you.
He is a hero who saves you.
He happily rejoices over you,
renews you with his love,
and celebrates over you with shouts of joy. (Zechariah 3:17, GW)

What’s more, God does not wait for anyone to get their lives straightened out before paying gracious attention to them. No, while we were still stuck in the darkness of our bad and misguided ways, Christ died for us. Jesus Christ died for the ungodly while they were still going on in their own selfish and oppressive way.

That, my friend, is the extent to which God’s love reaches. There is no pit too deep, no meanness too great, nor any unrighteous life too bad that God cannot reach the long divine arm of mercy and love into the muck, and snatch us out of a depressing existence.

And the world is not too filthy rotten that God is unable to cut through the filth. As far as the Lord is concerned, the earth is presently just a compost pile that will eventually become transformed from garbage to fertilizer for new life, in which love can grow, thrive, and flourish across this world.

Unhindered access to God has been granted to us.

Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16, NIV)

We now have the hope and the freedom to be active spiritual farmers who carefully and pastorally care for all creation by spreading the seeds of God’s love to the world.

Everything we have and all that we are, comes from the grace, mercy, and love of God. Therefore, we have no reason to boast in and of ourselves, but to boast extravagantly in what Christ has done for us. He has bought and brought  deliverance from all which hindered us from living a loving and hopeful life.

So then, the path to true self-acceptance comes from knowing that we are already accepted by God.

The very core of our identity is in the Creator, Savior, and Sustainer. Since we possess God’s love and acceptance, there is never a need for subjective feelings of trying to gin-up a sense of self-acceptance. You and I already have it. You are profoundly loved.

This, then, is the basis for peace and rest. Please understand that it is quite possible that later today or tomorrow or next week you will again feel unworthy of God’s love, unaccepted by God and others, and nervous to the point of peace becoming a bygone wish.

None of this, however, erases what is already real and true of you, or changes your identity in any way. You are still in the hollow of God’s hand; still the apple of God’s eye; and still in a place where there is no need to justify yourself. What there is, however, is abundant grace.

No matter how we are doing, feeling, or believing, there is always open access to God because of Jesus Christ.

The ground of our confidence allows us to view tribulations as opportunities for spiritual growth; and patient waiting as the privilege to hope in what is yet to come. I will yet see the glory of God face to face.

God in Christ has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. The Lord has granted us faith, and gifted us with a fresh new allegiance. Through recognition of our helpless state, and our distance from God (including a nasty tendency to ignore God) we discover that the love of God is with us. So, we may rely completely on the divine initiative of the love which never wavers.

In this state, guilt, shame, and regret is left in the dust – replaced by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

Loving God, open our ears to hear your Word, and draw us closer to You, so that the whole world may be one with you as you are one with us in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Penitent Soul Changes the World (Hosea 5:15-6:6)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Saint Dominic in Penitence, by Filippo Tarchiani, c.1607

I will return again to my place
    until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face.
    In their distress they will beg my favor:

“Come, let us return to the Lord,
    for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;
    he has struck down, and he will bind us up.
After two days he will revive us;
    on the third day he will raise us up,
    that we may live before him.
Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord;
    his appearing is as sure as the dawn;
he will come to us like the showers,
    like the spring rains that water the earth.”

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
    What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
    like the dew that goes away early.
Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
    I have killed them by the words of my mouth,
    and my judgment goes forth as the light.
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
    the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. (New Revised Standard Version Update Edition)

We are meant for righteousness, not wickedness. So, whenever we fail to do what is right, we will suffer pain. This is because wicked attitudes, words, and behavior go against how we were designed and created as humans.

There are times when we all transgress what is right by either doing outright wrong, or by failing to do what is good, right, and just when we have the opportunity to do so. Therefore, repentance is vital and necessary. That is, to practice something that seems to be lost in our contemporary language: penitence.

Penitence simply means to have regret over wrongdoing. When we are penitent, we seek to repent (turn from what is wrong and do what is right). God has no interest in those who offer the forms of repentance without any penitence. That’s why God told the ancient Israelites that love and knowledge are what’s important, more than sacrifices and offerings.

What’s more, penitence is necessary for spiritual maturation and growth. The penitent soul finds that one’s faults and wrongs can be transformed into assets – such is the power of God through one’s penitent repentance.

And even more, the individual who experiences penitence and repents of wrongdoing, is forgiven, leading the whole world to be forgiven along with them.

Just one penitent and repentant person will intercede and confess the sins of the world; and that can change everything. So, imagine when a community of forgiven persons are motivated to bring about humanity’s greatness and nobility through penitent prayer.

I want you to think this thought: Any sort of moral misdeed committed by an individual weakens the soul of the entire community, and indeed, all the world.

Every attitude and action has a consequence, whether good or bad. Penitence, repentance, and forgiveness are the mandatory practices to restoring and renewing a life-giving dynamic to everyone.

Thus, penitence brings healing to the world; the individual who repents is forgiven; and the whole world is forgiven with him.

The powers of evil want to keep us ignorant of such things – which is why knowledge of God is so very important. Ignorance inevitably leads to sin and to the construction of a false self, which then encrusts itself upon the soul.

Penitence and repentance remain as lights deep within a person, even if they are buried beneath all sorts of arrogance and bravado of the ego.

Change of our world and transformation of our lives will not come apart from a vigorous and popular education of God and God’s Word. With so much ignorance all around us, it is imperative that individuals and communities become familiar with how spiritual realities work.

Although it appears that sinister darkness is spreading across the world and into the depths of humanity, the hope and promise of light discerns that evil can and will be overcome.

Penitence is the key to the healing presence this world needs.

For those who have experienced the renewal and reformation of a forgiven life, the steadfast love of God’s grace is very much needed for those still stuck in the mud of wickedness.

In truth, the meanness of a person betrays how much anguish of soul they are actually experiencing. Their estrangement of God is such that they are in great spiritual pain.

So, every situation designed by God to evoke penitence and repentance within such a mean person leads not only to a struggle in the soul, but also to outward conflicts with others in the forms of bullying, arrogance, and hardness of heart.

Not only do we suffer because of another’s grotesque sin, so does God. The pain of the wicked person unfortunately works to bring others pain, including God.

The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. (Genesis 6:5-6, NLT)

Both humanity and God are in anguish when the dark powers take hold within an individual, and in the community.

We must have the grace to bear with others and hold our ground, giving the Spirit of God time to bring about penitence and repentance. For our part, continual learning of divine things and a commitment to steadfast love becomes the hands and feet of our prayers.

When one suffers, we all suffer, because there is an inextricable connection between all people.

Regret, remorse, and sorrow over wrongdoing are the prerequisites for goodness to become ensconced in the world. Penitence serves both the individual and the community, preventing any poisonous root of bitterness to grow up and corrupt many people.

See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. (Hebrews 12:15, NIV)

God and humanity are meant to be united. And the Lord will create whatever conditions are necessary for divisions to be healed, and for people to love one another and love God will all their hearts, souls, minds, and energy.

Almighty God, my heavenly Father: I have sinned against you, through my own fault, in thought, and word, and deed, and in what I have left undone. For the sake of your Son our Lord Jesus Christ, forgive me all my offenses; and grant that I may serve you in newness of life, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Life In the Spirit (Romans 8:6-11)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Art by Randi Ford

The attitude that comes from selfishness leads to death, but the attitude that comes from the Spirit leads to life and peace. So the attitude that comes from selfishness is hostile to God. It doesn’t submit to God’s Law, because it can’t. People who are self-centered aren’t able to please God.

But you aren’t self-centered. Instead you are in the Spirit, if in fact God’s Spirit lives in you. If anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, they don’t belong to him. If Christ is in you, the Spirit is your life because of God’s righteousness, but the body is dead because of sin. If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your human bodies also, through his Spirit that lives in you. (Common English Bible)

The chapters of Romans 5-8 are a core biblical text for the Christian life. They get down to the fundamental issue of a Christian’s identity and daily practice.

In the mind of the Apostle Paul, all persons are either in the Spirit of God, or not; selfish or unselfish; thinks of the common good of all, or only thinks of oneself and what is best for the individual me.

For Paul, the tell of one being a Christian is to orient one’s life completely around the person and work of Jesus Christ. If not, then one cannot claim to be a Christian, at all.

Regular Bible-readers will notice that I have used the Common English Version’s rendering of the Greek word σάρξ as “selfishness” instead of the literal and often translated English word “flesh.”

My choice highlights the reality that, although “flesh” may make some reference to the physical body, it has much more to do with a person’s holistic expression of sin by means of the mind, emotions, and soul. In other words, “flesh” can be appropriately translated as “selfishness” since it truly takes the whole person to accommodate sin’s desires.

The selfish nature of human individuals (and communities) can take many forms such as the passionate pursuit of material possessions, winning at all costs, unchecked power, and seeking influential positions.

What’s more, this fleshly selfishness is seen in communal ways through extreme promotion of capitalist ideology; hierarchical forms of power which dominate and oppress others; societal norms which keep people locked into class warfare; and exploitation of the earth’s resources for selfish purposes.

Those who are in these sorts of mindsets and social practices cannot please God, because they fundamentally contradict the overarching ethics of Holy Scripture.

We are not to dwell in the realm of selfishness but are to live in and according to the Spirit of Christ. All of this means that every believer has within them a great potential for both good and evil. Even though we have been freed from the realm of sin, the individual (and the community) must actively use this freedom from Christ for good purposes.

Simply avoiding the bad – although quite necessary – will not do. Only focusing on not getting into trouble may easily leave one complicit to evil by not helping when it was in our power to do so. The Lord Jesus avoided a simple skate through his earthly life. He instead sought:

“to preach good news to the poor,
    to proclaim release to the prisoners
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
    to liberate the oppressed,
    and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19, CEB)

These are actions rooted in Old Testament ethical practices. They are socially minded aspirations meant for the common good of all people, and not just some persons.

The Spirit invades our lives in order to unite us to Christ. In him the believer is made righteous, and given new life and hope. Christians now have a real possibility to live according to the words and the ways of Jesus.

We no longer need to “watch out for number one.” The love of God in Christ provides what is necessary to melt the old selfish desires.

We can now remove ourselves from unholy cycles of condemnation toward both others and self.

We can now speak in a manner which encourages and uplifts, rather than use our speech to verbally decapitate another with harsh divisive language.

We can now relate to others with genuine spiritual care, instead of personal disinterest.

And we can take great hope in the fact the work of God in this world is ongoing, because of transformation by divine grace. I need no longer to listen to all the condemning messages emanating from ignorant persons who are quick to make knee jerk judgments on things they know little about.

The Spirit of Christ and the Word of God are more powerful and have greater effectiveness than any other spirit or word that is expressed or spoken. The inner testimony within the individual knows this to be true. The Christian’s identity is firmly in Christ, not in selfishness.

Perhaps it is so hard to live unselfishly because self-surrender to God feels like dying. Often our longings betray the fact that we have forgotten who we are. When that happens, we tend to search for that identity in all the wrong places.

Let’s instead put our effort into the ultimate ethic of love as embodied in the Lord whom we serve – not in idyllic ideas of romance, but in accepting people for who they are, and not what we want them to be.

I’m talking about a love that is present to others and stays with them; sharing my life; putting up with another’s difficulties; seeing things through and plugging away at what I know is right.

Most of the time, living in the Spirit is just a matter of meeting what comes day by day, and persevering with patience through it in the best way I know how.

The love of God in Christ tends not to be the kind that people write stories about, but is simply doing things with a good attitude, a right spirit, and proper motives. If we relate deeply to life and experience both the joy and pain of living on this earth, then I believe we will find that our longings fade into the background.

That’s because I am now living in the realm of the Spirit of love. And when I’m in that zone, there’s no reason to seek anything else, because the Spirit is your life.

God of compassion and consolation, your breath alone brings life to weary souls. Pour out your Spirit upon us, so that we may face despair with the hope of resurrection and faith in Jesus Christ your Son, our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit are one God, now and forever. Amen.