i'm not sure
disclaimer: I got married one year ago today. I'm a happy camper and love my wife!
So I'm reading through the beatitudes and feel myself challenged as usual by them. What I love about Jesus is his grit, he knows what the character of love is and how to do that-and he words it so well that it is very easy to pay lip service to the teachings in the beatitudes. It is an entirely different story to realize, contextualize, and actualize the teachings of Jesus however, and where we are today makes for a challenge...the comfort is that Jesus never said it would be easy to do anything he said, but he did say that his burden is easy and his yoke is light, which I come to understand that the narrow path less traveled is not 'easy' but is so much more fulfilling and better in its entirety.
What I have come to focus upon is Luke 6:24-25, which says: "But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry." This is justice and mercy directly from the mouth of Jesus. You can be rich, but know full well that you are finding your comfort in full on earth, where comfort shouldn't matter. How comfortable am I right now where I'm at...in suburbia, living under the national poverty level, and being a full time student as well as holding a full time job-what does that make me? I will testify that I am blessed beyond measure, and as my pastor has said, "it does not make a difference if gas goes over four dollars per gallon, you are still blessed!" The word for comfort in this passage is paraklesis, which is used here to designate the comofrt in heaven to be denied the selfish, rich Christians who preferred to have their physical comofort on earth at the detriment of Christ's work. Here's my interpretation at contextualizing this...Christians in America are struglling in an economy that has seen better days and think that we/they owe themselves to work as much, make as much, to attain a level of comfort and provision for self, family, etc. "We Deserve What We Have Because This Is America" What an easy mindset to put our heads around...too bad it's not Jesus's...in my opinion of course (in which I humbly submit myself to the word and am not trying to put my own thoughts into Jesus's teachings...I'm just trying to interpret). I want to be faithful to Christ as a witness and as someone who gives generously and loves fiercly. To live that out means loving and giving to those in more need than myself first before being fully brainwashed in a 'me first' mentality of thinking that 'I deserve' anything at all. All of my talents and gifts are of God and therefore all of my resources and financial assets are from God, of who I am not. The point I am trying to make is that I/We need to assess how Jesus viewed justice and mercy and figure out how that can apply to our life and our own context. Some thoughts for you...peace.
So I'm reading through the beatitudes and feel myself challenged as usual by them. What I love about Jesus is his grit, he knows what the character of love is and how to do that-and he words it so well that it is very easy to pay lip service to the teachings in the beatitudes. It is an entirely different story to realize, contextualize, and actualize the teachings of Jesus however, and where we are today makes for a challenge...the comfort is that Jesus never said it would be easy to do anything he said, but he did say that his burden is easy and his yoke is light, which I come to understand that the narrow path less traveled is not 'easy' but is so much more fulfilling and better in its entirety.
What I have come to focus upon is Luke 6:24-25, which says: "But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full. Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry." This is justice and mercy directly from the mouth of Jesus. You can be rich, but know full well that you are finding your comfort in full on earth, where comfort shouldn't matter. How comfortable am I right now where I'm at...in suburbia, living under the national poverty level, and being a full time student as well as holding a full time job-what does that make me? I will testify that I am blessed beyond measure, and as my pastor has said, "it does not make a difference if gas goes over four dollars per gallon, you are still blessed!" The word for comfort in this passage is paraklesis, which is used here to designate the comofrt in heaven to be denied the selfish, rich Christians who preferred to have their physical comofort on earth at the detriment of Christ's work. Here's my interpretation at contextualizing this...Christians in America are struglling in an economy that has seen better days and think that we/they owe themselves to work as much, make as much, to attain a level of comfort and provision for self, family, etc. "We Deserve What We Have Because This Is America" What an easy mindset to put our heads around...too bad it's not Jesus's...in my opinion of course (in which I humbly submit myself to the word and am not trying to put my own thoughts into Jesus's teachings...I'm just trying to interpret). I want to be faithful to Christ as a witness and as someone who gives generously and loves fiercly. To live that out means loving and giving to those in more need than myself first before being fully brainwashed in a 'me first' mentality of thinking that 'I deserve' anything at all. All of my talents and gifts are of God and therefore all of my resources and financial assets are from God, of who I am not. The point I am trying to make is that I/We need to assess how Jesus viewed justice and mercy and figure out how that can apply to our life and our own context. Some thoughts for you...peace.
posted by Levi at
7:52 AM
3 Comments:
Levi, This is a necessary conversation to start and I am glad you have turned your attention to the beatitudes. I think I find the same difficulties in trying to bring application from what Christ said to where I live. Bro, I don't know how to do this and I guess I just write to lend support that interpreting anything that Jesus says through an over-consumed cultural lens is very difficult. Maybe a bit of advice I would have for us is that we can't beat ourselves up or others too much... the principle of love is lost when we spend our time being too hard on ourselves or each other. I pray for us patience.
this is great stuff and it is definitely where my head has been at lately!
i'm really glad you have gone here because i think it's a really important conversation to have. as destroy has said, we are overly saturated with our culture. it blurs Christ quite well, so we need to do some serious wiping of our lenses.
keep it coming bro!!
-dave-
Levi,
Thanks for sharing man. My wife and I have found it difficult living in this area (Johnson County). Despite the fact that I'm a student and we're living paycheck to paycheck it can be a daunting challenge to live counter-culturally, in terms of finances, in this place. How do we live lives in this context that witness to a counter-cultural gospel?
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home