Wednesday, April 14, 2010

The Unchanging Ethics and Morality of Jesus

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash" (Matthew 7:24-27).

These moral and ethical behaviors are so explicit that we must consider them unequivocal in nature. They were not just behaviors to be observed by the people of the 1st century. Jesus reminds every generation and century of how one must live in the Kingdom of God. In addition to loving God, we must love one another. This is the part of the commandment that we seem to have a great deal of trouble with: "love one another". Yet Jesus laid out a roadmap for us to follow, the highlights of which are:

Love your enemies and do good to those who persecute you
Pray for forgiveness and forgive others
No one can serve two masters.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
Jesus is the gravitational pull that brings everything together and gives them significance, reality, and meaning. Without Him, all things lose their value. Without Him, all things are but detached pieces floating around in space. It is not possible to emphasize a spiritual truth, value, virtue, or gift, yet miss Jesus, who is the embodiment and incarnation of all spiritual truth, values, virtues, and gifts. Seek Jesus, embrace Jesus, know Jesus, and you have touched Him who is Life. Moreover, in Him resides all Truth, Values, Virtues and Gifts in living color. Beauty has its meaning in the beauty of Jesus, in whom is found all that makes us lovely and loveable.
It is crucial to remember that our security can only be found in trusting Jesus with all that we are and have, being certain that He will never fail us. However, the Scriptures assure us that the Lord never gives up even when we fail in our commitment to follow Him, He continually reaches out to re-invite us to follow him, and to find real peace in the journey.

Peace to you,

Sue

"Be still and know that I am God"(Psalm 46:10)






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