Rather than waiting for Monday, and ' Mondays With Mark ' ( which, along with more consistency with all of this blog's pages, will be much more active with the coming year ),
we decided to share mark's insight now.
It's Christmas night and I reflect on the day. Barbara is asleep as she needs to be at work by 6 AM, and I just finished watching " CHRISTMAS EVE " while I awaited my toothache to subside.
The movie is very much about 'doing the right thing', even if you don't see how it makes a difference. You find out that a series of people, each doing the right thing, fit into God's plan
unbeknownst to them ( but as we know, divinely planned by God ). Doing the right thing wasn't easy and came at a cost to each, but the result was miraculous for those who benefited from their individual acts of ' doing the RIGHT THING ', or ' doing the' GOD THING '.
What was the 'right thing', and how do you recognize it, then act on it? It's very simple, yet incredibly hard at the same time! Do as Christ lived and told us, love God and love one another
as you would like to be loved yourself !!! .
The second part, the love another like you want to be loved requires ' EMPATHY '. Empathy?
What is empathy?, ... How do you come by empathy? ... I'm glad you asked!
EMPATHY, 9 it's a 17 point word in 'Scrabble'. www.I.word.com defines it as the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner: also: the capacity for this.
( PLEASE READ THIS DEFINITION THROUGH A FEW TIMES BEFORE YOU CONTINUE TO READ THIS POST, ... I'LL WAIT,...IN FACT, i'LL READ IT OVER WITH YOU ! )
As a self identified Christ believer/follower I claim that 'EMPATHY', is a 100 point word in 'Scrabble'. !!! It's what Christmas is TRULY about, it's what our lives as proclaimed believers should be about !
WORD PICTURE : think of ' empathy ' as a sort of God Given radar. Picture it, make the beeping sound in you mind, watch the line sweep it's way across the scope. Before we became believers, and as new believers, our ' empathy ' may have been offline or had a limited range, ... anywhere between inches or a few yards!. As we mature in our faith, that's religious speak for having a relationship with Christ, which is religious talk for getting to know, understand, and have empathy for God. Which is religious talk for coming to grips with ' why God loves me ! NO MATTER WHAT!
As that relationship deepens, God increases our ' empathy ' range, to 'feet, yards,miles, ...tens of thousands of them. There is no limit! " It's range is as far as our Love for God Is. ".
Our God's ' empathy ' radar range is as UNLIMITED !, as is His ' ,LOVE, FOR EACH OF US !
" AMEN !,....you 'go' Mark ! ",,,,, ( edited by bill ,... as I also
assumed secretarial duties for this posting! )
So, what's up with with this ' Radar ' thing? ... How do we use it ? Radar is used to identify things in your vicinity or path that you likely would not notice on your own.
"I'm a Captain of a ship, ...there's dense fog! ... and my radar shows a boat dead ahead!,....Collision Course!
CRAAASH ! , we collided, ' grab the life jackets! , launch the life boats, we're SINKING!
What went wrong ? " I saw the boat on the radar,....... I had empathy for the person!
LIGHTBULB !!!
............ " I NEVER CHANGED COURSE ! " , ... wow!
Before I go on,...it's confession time. God made known to me someone on my empathy radar. The right thing to do was to invite this person over to spend Christmas with my family and I. But, i didn't do this. I failed at loving another as I would like to be loved. Instead of knowing I did the right thing,
, ( the GOD/CHRIST thing ) I feel guilt and failure. Fortunately, I have a Savior to wipe clean the slate, and God gives all of us the opportunity to turn to Him whilst strengthening faith and healing our hearts when we knowledge our mistakes, and seek His help, which is His Will, to correct our paths.
How do we learn to react correctly when someone/something comes into view on our empathy radar? We turn to Holy Scripture , With examining 'how' Jesus lived. For Christ is fulfillment of Scripture! Think of our Scriptures as an ' instruction manual ' directly from our God. our Creator, our Father ! ' It's a pretty fair bet that living as possibly close (in our human frailty) To the letter of God's given desires for us, ..the better poised we are to gain the peace of God. We will have the eternal, perfect, holy relationship with God by living leading a life in the footsteps of Jesus.
Simple, Right ! ........... except, human nature is to lean toward the lies of satan ( sorry, I refuse to capitalize the name! ). But as the famous line of a Clint Eastwood movie, ... "we don need no stinkin' instructinz! " We all make the same mistakes as Eve and Adam, believing in the lies of satan, and that we don't need God and God doesn't have our interests at heart.
" Hog - Wash "
......... ( it's bill editing and getting hid dander up. )
This choice has/had consequences. The consequence is loss of spirit ! , we no longer are as we were. We can't be in God Because God is Spirit, and we've lost track of ours. But God so loved His creation and so desires an eternal relationship with His creation, he sent His only begotten Son, Jesus to show us " The Way ", and erase our sins so that we may be resurrected , and that our souls will be united with that of our Savior as well as the Father.
Christ lived as a man, was tempted, felt anguish and pain, endured persecution, torture, and death to atone for OUR sins, so at resurrection we can become the complete Holy Spirits who will enjoy eternal relationship with a Holy Spirit God !
The one thing Christ cannot and will not do for us is to force us into this relationship with Him.
God gave us free-will, and this is most inviolate. We need to freely accept this 'gift' of a new Holy life from God. We accept this gift when we believe wholeheartedly that Jesus is the Son of God.
He is the Christ. That He is our righteousness in eternity through the Divine Exchange at the mount where he freely and out of Love, ....paid for the sins of humanity !
Full circle, when we accept this gift of life it comes with some responsibilities, .. ........................ the "Great Commission" to spread the " GOOD NEWS " of the Gospel to every corner of the world.
Why ?,... need you ask?,..... so ALL of God's creation, ... ALL of humanity have the opportunity to freely accept God's gift of a new spirit life through believing in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Having empathy and choosing to act rightly isn't to make this present life better , ... ( but, it does )
nor does it indicate you've earned something, it's to lead humanity to Christ so they might choose a relationship with Christ and accept His gift of eternity.
What Would Jesus Do ? , ... Each time you inadvertently or by mishap hurt someone, you make it more likely they reject or push away this free and wondrous blessing from Father God.
That's it tonight,...it's 2:23 AM EST
If you want scripture citations, have conversation, care to make a comment, or get in touch ,.....
PLEASE COMMENT !
NOTE : All negative comments may be directed specifically of Brother Mark.
All positive comments may be directed to Pastor Bill.
( it's Good to be the Editor of a fellowship
of good humored Christians ! haha! )
God Bless ! and we wish you all a safe happy, and Christ Filled
New Year !
.....in Loving Christian Fellowship, Step With Christ Ministries.
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