Catch Me Up Archives

³⁴Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. ³⁵For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. ³⁶And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. ³⁷Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ~ Matthew 10:34-39

These words are hard to grasp. In fact, I’d venture to say this is one of the hardest teachings Jesus has given us. It’s not just denying our own flesh but choosing Him above all others, including those we love most. See, a common theme we have in the Church today is Christians standing firm on the Word, until a loved one decides to live in sin. So, instead of loving the person, not the sin, they embrace the sin and begin to justify it, even by twisting and cherry-picking Scripture. Their love for that person overrides their love for God. When we choose others over God, we end up causing ourselves to never truly love anyone.

God is love. Without loving the LORD above all, we fail to truly love anyone. That love we feel we have for our loved are living in Sin that causes us to affirm their sin, isn’t true love. True love doesn’t rejoice in unrighteousness, but in Truth. Christ is Truth. Teaching what the Spirit of Truth authored through the Scribes of the Scriptures is Truth. Someone’s feelings, emotions, thoughts, or desires aren’t Truth. And affirming these things isn’t love. It is hate in disguise.

Hatred will disguise itself as love and lead many to Hell. It will convince you that to do anything other than to accept and affirm is hatred. False love. Loving others more than the LORD God leads to a reprobate mind. The LORD demands we love Him above all, not because He wants to divide the family, but because He understands that He alone is perfect and is love itself. So, when you love Him first and put Him first, you will learn how to truly love others, just as God loves the World.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Love God First.

Like and Share This:

^23 “Am I a God who is only close at hand?” says the Lord. “No, I am far away at the same time. ²⁴Can anyone hide from me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?” says the Lord. ~ Jeremiah 23:23-24

Ancient Israel and the modern-day world and Church are complete opposites. What do I mean? In today’s world, we are constantly preaching that the LORD is near. That He isn’t far away. That He is close to us. Ancient Israel, the LORD had to remind them of the opposite. Why? Because God interacts with us today differently than He did back then. In the days of Ancient Israel, God would come down in the cloud when the High Priest entered the Holy of Holies. If they were unclean, fire would come out from the Ark of the Covenant and consume them. The LORD was physical when He spoke to and responded to Ancient Israel’s actions.

Today, God works less blatant. He works in us. He doesn’t physically come down in a cloud or fire. He changes us from the inside to the outside. Ancient Israel felt that if God was in one place, then He could not be in another, all at the same time. So, they felt they could sin in secret, and the LORD wouldn’t know. That He was in the Temple or even the synagogues, but not their private dwelling. Not their secret places. So, the LORD had to remind them that He wasn’t just near, but far off.

We today, need the opposite reminder. We need the reminder that the LORD isn’t just far off but close. That He dwells in us and through us. That He walks with us and talks with us. That He is close by. He may interact with us differently today, but who He is has not changed. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is a God who is near and a God who is close by. He is a God who fills the Heavens and the earth. He is the Almighty.

Therefore, don’t be like Ancient Israel by forgetting one quality of the LORD for another. He is far, but He is close. He is unseen, but He is seen in all that is around us. He does not change.

Peace. Love. Go Forth and Remember Whom You Serve.

Like and Share This: