Tag: ethics

Acceptance of the Unchangeable Thinks

8  “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8  (NRSVACE) 

My brothers and sisters in Christ, I say to you… I hear your voices, your many pleas for things I cannot provide you. Instead, I offer these words of wisdom: In times when our lives spiral out of control or when people with power over us decide to do ungodly things or when rudeness through favoritism overcomes that special place in associates hearts; know your place and stifle your frustrations, choosing instead to do what is good.  For what will come from a confrontation when the other person or members of a group have already twisted your words or have bore falsely against you?  For I say to you if they have done it once what is stopping them from doing again? Instead, let the love of goodness overtake you and give your frustrations to God. Therefore, goodness in your hearts will be preserved in the eyes of our Saviour, our actions will then have confirmed the sacrifice of the cross.

A wise man once offered this prayer; “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” ~ Reinhold Niebuhr

Remember my brothers and sisters in Christ, that when walking with God you have serenity, love, peace, forgiveness, absolution, from God; therefore you are blessed and made holy. Let not temptation bring you down by allowing your mind to be filled with the many things you would like to change but have not the power to make happen. Let not your heart be deceived by the actions of a few who would lead you to ruin. Instead, make preparations for only those things you have the power to change, and when you take action let those choices be filled with goodness done for the sake of holiness only.  Fill your heart with courage to make the tough choices, to take action on them, to carry out fully the goodness of the needed change. Forget not to pray to our Lord in Heaven, asking Him alone for the path which you must follow and be confident that God will give you the wisdom to tell the difference between what you can and cannot change.

6 “For wisdom is a kindly spirit, but will not free blasphemers from the guilt of their words; because God is witness of their inmost feelings, and a true observer of their hearts, and a hearer of their tongues.” ~ Wisdom 1:6 (NRSVACE) 

Thus, my brothers and sisters in Christ, your obligations have also been given to you through the Holy Spirit which loves kindness and who is gentle to the people of God. Stay away from those who curse the Lord, those who have filled their hearts with hypocrisy,  walk away from the blasphemers for all these individuals will be judged accordingly. Rest assured the twisted words and actions will come calling upon them and for the holy – such as you – my brothers and sisters, for you surely do not want to see this judgment when it comes. Hence walk away and be confident in the power and uprightness of our God. Know there will always be those who profess to be Christian and thus dwell among you the faithful flock of God yet they are truly sent by Satan to do the work of evil; be aware of whom you speak to, befriend only those you can trust and have professed their faith in public. For God hears all, sees all, knows all, and will give you the rights to make only the changes which he wills to be changed that which fits within His overall plan for your life. Therefore, you have heard it said,

14 ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.’ ~ John 14:1 (NRSVACE)

Amen,

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Reflection 1: Spiritual Accountantcy

” 15 And he said unto them, ‘Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.‘” ~ Luke 16:15

Life is a journey of immense struggles pitted with many victories and defeats. It is a race to the finish line of judgement, once there many will have ran a good race but will have done it without moral conscience and will be damned to hell for all eternity. Many will have ran the same race but prevailed with great love, faith, and ethics, and will be allowed passage into the Kingdom of God. The difference between the two is incalculable if coming from the filter of modern life, celebrating our many luxuries and comforts afforded those with what is termed as the good life. But if viewed from the prism of our Lord and Savior then it becomes more personal, deeply ethical, riveted with countless moral guidelines that help to forge a sinner into a born again child of God. It is not an easy path, in fact it is filled with much sacrifice and with many painful defeats. For to choose to be a child of God is not for the faint of heart and in the end, within the very hour of our death, Jesus promises for the faithful that they shall never taste death.

“47 Verily, verily, I say to you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” ~John 6:47

For many of us it is hard to put into place a moral life while being surrounded with such temptations which we find at our fingertips on a daily basis. It is hard to not give in to the world of excess and comfort with so many voices telling us we don’t have too. The prevailing belief advertisers drown us with daily is, “Life doesn’t have to be so hard” and “Why wait when you can have it now!” We have become a society of capitalistic carnivores devouring everything while ignoring the implications it places upon our life and our immortal soul. We make recluse justifications to explain away why we can, when the Holy Bible has clearly stated we should not. A world that places more value on things, property, and money, over relationships, love, honor, ethics, and that of our christian savior, who is the savior of every man, women, and child on planet Earth as we know it, is an abomination in the sight of God. There are so many sins, so many fruitless attempts at winning Gods favor while pleasing the flesh. People can be so awesomely good, and in the same breath find ways to be just as evil and destructive. When we look hard at who we have become, the choices we have made, the justifications for actions which caused countless others to suffer, it is then that our deeds will be told, despite the lies of our mortal legacies. For you can preach good all the days of your life, but in private do evil, it is in your heart and therefore God see’s the truth of your life. He can discern the proper judgement from the web of misleading, randomness and noise of sin which has permenantly blacked your heart.

“33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”~ Luke 14:33

Jesus warned against collecting wealth and then not sharing it but rather hording it. He warned against ignoring your own sins while calling to the carpet others sins. He warned against hypocrisy for in the eyes of God it is nothing more than “lip service”. Jesus warns against denying the poor food, clothes, shelter, and mercy. He warns against not raising your child up in the ammunition of the Lord thy God. For he also warned against excess of all kinds, depravity of all kinds, blasphemy of all kinds, and evil works of all kinds. Yet we do them daily, we ignore Him daily, and in doing so we mock Him daily!

“32 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.” ~ Matthew 10:32-33

Be on guard for those who refuse to speak the truth of God, who refuse to hear you speak the truth of God, be warned they are filled with Satan. There are people who get upset when they are shown their immoral ways and are convicted by the light of God, and by His son’s moral teachings and inwardly repress God, reviling against all righteousness, for they are filled with the spirit of Satan. Stand firm and do not waver from the light of God for instead bask within its glorious rays for it shall purify thy soul. Profess daily the miracles of God in your own life, for each day is a true miracle as it was not promised to you before you went to sleep the night before. Be on guard of those who would manipulate your words, the words of others, and the words of God to suit their lying ways, for such is the arch tool of Satan himself. Walk away from profane, perverse, corrupt, immoral, and impure people as they will as soon suck you down with them than to see you happy and free in the light of God. For to disown God is a rejection of the miracle of ones own birth and life; for Satan does not hold the keys to these things; for only God can create life and can bring about death; for only God can destroy thy very soul. Be on guard of those who wish to systematically take from you all the things in your life which bring you happiness, for they have no conscience, no remorse, no ambivalence to using deceit to accomplish their goals. For these people are expert in their disguise and can make the most illogical thing sound logical, the most profane thing sound holy, and the most hurtful thing look to others as self-defense. For God has no tolerance for them and though in the moment they grasp victory, in reality they have only clutched defeat because what God meant for you and was stolen, he will give to you in abundance in Heaven, a reward they shall not reap for they chose a selfish and self serving path.  

“21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have I not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?  23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you: depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” ~ Matthew 7:21-23

It is truly important to not just know which side of the tracks you are on, but to also profess it, teach it, embrace it, and above all love God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul; to do all things for God with all your strenght and might. It is simply not enough to say you love God to close family and friends then in private do wicked, but rather love God enough to always do good in public and private, for there should only be one message of your life, because there is only one God. Be sure to never take credit for the things which you have accomplished in your life for each accomplishment was first a gift from God, to do so would be to say you willed it to be so and that is a lie. For remember Moses who took credit for the miracle of the rock which sprang water; for the rod was from God, the power was from God, and the very words which Moses spoke to bring forth the water was from God, for such a sin he was denied entry into the promised land. Remember also King David who committed adultery and who God took from him the first born son in payment of the life he had stole from Bathsheba’s first husband Uriah the Hittite. Rather be like Christ who complied with the will of God even until the point of his own death.

“1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1

Spiritual accountantcy is the means which we review our own place with God, it is the act of asking where are we in our relationship to God. “Have I done things which God disapproves of, am I saved?”, is the question we need to ask daily and then we need to repent daily. Be assured God loves you, wants you, cares for you, and will never leave you if you never disown Him.

Amen.

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May God bless you and keep you all the days of your life. Amen

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