Bought Out of Love

Years ago when my family and I lived in Riverstone, there was an old derelict house on the corner of Garfield and Hamilton that had been condemned and fenced off.  I had no idea how old it was, but I would have liked to have explore inside and step back in time.  Exploring the house would not have taken very long, for it could be no more than one or two rooms with a dunny out back.  It could have been built before electricity and plumbing was available!  I expected the "fibro" siding to contain asbestos, and that would be expensive to safely handle and dispose of.

As the land in Riverstone grew exponentially more valuable in recent years, clearly the uninhabitable house had become a liability when it was taken away.  I was surprised when I drove by and the house was gone, and all that remained was a bare spot of dirt.  In one day the house had been demolished and the materials carried away.  It was a bit disappointing to lose a bit of history and charm when that house went.

Now imagine (if the house still stood) a wealthy fellow loved the old place, contacted the owner and made in a significant offer on the house with the intention to restore it to its former glory.  It would not be restored to be a museum or holiday house, but he wanted it to be his primary residence--just because he loved it.  Wouldn't this be a curious decision when the guy eager to buy and restore the house could easily afford to design his own modern, custom mansion and live in luxury?  Why would he prefer to live in a cramped house with a dunny in Riverstone when he could live in an exclusive Sydney suburb with harbour views?

The rich man buying a derelict house to live in it is like what God has done by saving people at the cost of the precious blood of Jesus.  He saw us in our condemned condition and instead of razing us from the earth He has chosen to redeem no-good sinners and make Christians His dwelling place as His temple.  Developers often have more interest in the land than the structures that sit upon it, yet God's greatness and glory is seen in saving sinners and adopting them as  His beloved children.  When we see a born-again Christian, we ought to marvel over the richness of God's love and grace that prompted Him to seek and save the lost.  God's interested in more than saving us, for He desires to sanctify us through a relationship with Jesus.  How great is our God!

The Golden Rule (With Love)

During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught what is commonly called the "Golden Rule" to His disciples in Matthew 7:11-12:  "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! ¹² Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."  God is good and the generous source of all good things.  Jesus pointed out since sinners are able to give good gifts to their children, our heavenly Father is infinitely more inclined and able to give good things to those who make their requests known to Him.

Because God gives good gifts to those who ask Him, Jesus said whatever we want others to do to us, we ought to do also to them.  The opposite of this can be true.  If there is something we do not appreciate to us, we avoid doing the same to them--even if it seems they deserve such treatment.  When I was musing upon the Golden Rule yesterday, I realised it cannot stand alone without great risk of making myself the flawed standard of morality I adhere to.  The Golden Rule in isolation can lead me to justify being unloving, devoid of sympathy or compassion, and resisting the Holy Spirit who always guides us to walk in love.  The Law and Prophets are summed up well by the Golden Rule, but Jesus fulfilled the Law and gave His disciples a new law to obey:  we ought to love one another as Jesus loves us (John 13:34).

In a conversation with my wife yesterday, I recalled laughing when my GP told me I had torn my ACL playing baseball.  She was a bit caught off guard and asked me what was so funny.  I thought it was funny that all I had done was rounded first base and fell over like a sniper took out my knee, a rather pathetic way to hurt oneself that required surgery, rehabilitation, financial cost, and missing over a year of sport.  When being fitted for glasses recently a new optometrist looked at my file and in great seriousness questioned if a specialist had fully explained the potential impact of an eye condition I have been diagnosed with.  I quipped, "Yep, untreatable and incurable."  "Yes," she said slowly, trying to make sense of my casual response.  The point I am trying to make is, if the Golden Rule was the only standard I employed to guide my conduct towards people's conditions or problems, it would lack compassion, gentleness and tact.  Love leads me to be sensitive to others when I am naturally harsh with myself.

The Golden Rule is a good rule that helps guide our conduct towards others, yet it cannot be followed rightly without God's love.  Paul wrote in Romans 12:9-15:  "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honour giving preference to one another; ¹¹ not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; ¹² rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; ¹³ distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality. ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep."  Jesus taught His disciples the Golden Rule, also commanded them to love one another, and demonstrated His love for sinners by dying on the cross.  God has provided the whole Bible and the indwelling Holy Spirit to guide us to walk in love to one another:  to bless and not curse, to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.

Glory of Grace

"It is not good to eat much honey; so to seek one's own glory is not glory."

Proverbs 25:27

Honey is very sweet, and it is a sweetener we can feel sick of eating.  Previously in the chapter it said in Proverbs 25:16:  "Have you found honey? Eat only as much as you need, lest you be filled with it and vomit."  Some people do not process fructose well, and that may be a reason for nausea or vomiting from eating too much honey.  The days of Solomon were long before pasteurisation was a thing, and eating raw honey can also potentially expose eaters to natural toxins bees pick up from poisonous plants or flowers they visit.  I read of rare cases of people being allergic to honey due to the pollen source used by bees.  The point is, we can have too much of a good thing.

With this is mind, Solomon used synonymous parallelism to connect seeking the praise of people.  We likely all appreciate being recognised or complimented for a job well done or to be singled out for a promotion because of hard work, but like eating too much honey it is not good to seek one's own glory.  When we hunger for the approval of people and seek validation through them, it does not benefit us in the end.  Seeking compliments and affirmation of ourselves puts self in the centre and uses people to get a sugar-rush of approval that will quickly fade and leave us craving more.

Jesus told a parable to guests at a feast after observing how they chose the best places for themselves in Luke 14:8-11:  "When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; ⁹ and he who invited you and him come and say to you, 'Give place to this man,' and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.' Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. ¹¹ For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."  What Jesus said illustrated Solomon's proverb well, for those who sought the best places were not exalted.  Seeking their own glory was not glory, for in many cases those who sought the best places were made to move and sit in the lowest place when a more honourable guest arrived.

Those who were invited to the feast and took the lowest place could be singled out by the host as a friend and made to "go up higher."  The one who was humbled to be an invited guest and took the low place would have glory in the presence of others at the table.  Taking the best place for yourself does not result in exaltation or praise but leads to shame.  Imagine boarding an aeroplane and deciding you would sit in first class when you booked economy!  Only embarrassment would result as you were made to move to your original seat.  Think of the difference of booking economy and having the pilot--an old friend from school--single you out and say, "Friend, I have a better seat for you.  Come with me."  See how much better and greater glory we have by God's grace than when we seek to take it for ourselves?  It is as Jesus said:  he would exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

Following His Steps

As I was driving the other day, I saw a family walking on the foopath parallel to my car.  I was stopped at a red light, and dad was leading the way.  What I noticed right away was the boy who followed behind his dad, imitating in an exaggerated fashion dad's normal gait with swaying shoulders and swinging arms.  The way he was walking did not look like his dad to me, but he clearly was doing his best to copy him.  His extra long strides, carefully timed to his father's steps, made his head bob up and down as he tried to keep pace with his shorter legs.

It is natural for young children who look up to their parents to imitate them, to want to be like them.  This also ought to be true for those who are made children of God by faith in Jesus Christ.  John 1:11-13 says of Jesus, "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. ¹² But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: ¹³ who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."  Because God is our Father who is eternal and does not change, we are perpetually His children who ought to trust and obey Him.  Unlike children who grow older and become increasingly independent of their parent's oversight, children of God grow spiritually by becoming more dependent and reliant upon Him for everything.  In our season of adult life when we have learned to do many things ourselves, it is a continual challenge to submit to Him.

As followers of Jesus, Christians are called to walk in His ways as Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:31-5-2:  "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. ³² And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. ¹ Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. ² And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma."  The Bible teaches us by Christ's example how we ought to live, loving God our Father and others as Jesus loves us.  Our resemblance to Jesus isn't by copying His terms of phrase, growing a beard or walking from city to city in Israel:  our imitation of Christ comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit within who teaches us of Jesus and empowers us to be His witnesses in real time.

Peter charged servants to walk in the steps of Jesus even in submitting to harsh masters in 1 Peter 2:18-23:  "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. ¹⁹ For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. ²⁰ For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. ²¹ For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: ²² “Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”; ²³ who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously..."  We cannot imitate Jesus or walk in His steps without Jesus helping us.  Let us be numbered among those who follow Christ's example of love like the little boy who happily followed his dad.  It was no chore to walk in his father's steps but his great delight.