Smallest Seed

Image from 123RF. Let's not see it with the eyes of the Pharisees and law teachers. It reeks of toleration. They thought Christ mingled with sinners to assure them of God's love even if they continued enjoying sin. And that's how a lot of people see it today. But then, on the other hand, there are church people who shun the company of sinners altogether and would have nothing to do with them. So we have two extremes---those who teach that God tolerates sin and those who are repulsed by sinners. Oh, there's a third extreme---those who don't give a damn. Jesus didn't just fellowship with sinners. He sought to "call" them [Mark 2.17]. We already know this, but often we still miss the point. We see it as the Pharisees and religious leaders did---that Jesus simply enjoyed sinners and he was a bad example because we aren't supposed to be seen with them. I've seen churches put in active ministry or position people wallowing in sin beca...

Love and forgive your enemies. This is often either ignored or misinterpreted by many churches. Again, as in other articles I've written here on similar subjects, people often think to love and forgive your enemies means to let everything go along it's course, especially the wrong, and you meekly accept it all, hoping things would come out better in the end because "all things work together for good." And more and more church people today seem to avoid conflicts, confrontation, and "judging" to preserve what they think is "harmony" or "peace" that they have, especially in fellowship. They'd rather pretend nothing's wrong when something is wrong, and sometimes keep wrong things secret, talking about them in secret meetings and careful not to leak the thing in church--to give the church denomination an immaculate image.  That's not the glorious church, for sure. That's the clandestine synagogue of Satan. For in...

"As you have done, the same will be done to you." It's amazing just imagining that the same passage I am now reading in the book of Obadia, in this year 2011, was also the very same passage Jesus read about 2000 years ago. It warns about getting what you gave others.  Now, you link that with the truth that you cannot give what you don't have, and what do you get? This fascinating truth--you get what you deserve. Oh yeah, you always get what you deserve. What people give you is what you've given them--which most times you've forgotten all about. That's why the oft asked question: "What did I do to deserve this?" But Christ gave love to all and yet got the death penalty in return. How do we explain that? Well, even Jesus got what he deserved. You see, blessed are those who are persecuted for God's righteousness. And this is where the radicalism is. Often, when you have a pure heart after God, and you give that to others, you get what...