Not of This World

As the lent season is over and Easter is approaching, I feel that it is a time on Earth in which God is closest to us, if we seek Him.  If we deny our flesh and diligently seek after God, He will reveal His inner most thoughts to you.  Each lent season, I learn a valuable lesson.  As I reflect on what God has revealed to me in this season, I can say that it was most contemplating to me.  As I mentioned in my last blog, people are going to hurt you…… it is the ways of the world.  Then I seek and asked myself, why this is so.  Why do we as people want to hurt one another, for the sake of selfish ambition, or humor, or jealousy.  I understand now what Jesus spoke about, when He said that He was not of this world.  He was pure, He was love, and He loved all…..even those who hated and wanted to kill Him.

We all hear the Bible verse that we are all born into sin.  Throughout my life I have come to reflect on the sinful nature of people.  No one is perfect and we all sin, and through Jesus we are forgiven.  Sometimes perhaps, we used this as a crutch.  We know that if we repent and asked for forgiveness, then it will be given onto us.  So we use it as an excuse to hurt one another, lie to one another, and try to keep one another down instead of building each other up. 

When you really think about it…What is it all for?  I think for me, for those who do not know God, and then perhaps I can see why they do not know better.  Why they have selfish ambition and step on others in order to get what they want.  Although their behavior is not right, it is still somewhat understandable because they have never been taught to be better.  They somehow think that this world is all about them and they lack purpose not knowing that in the end, we are all meant to love one another and work together for the greater good of the world.  For Christians, I have learned, that many have selfish ambition as well.  Many, tend to be worse toward one another because they somehow feel that because they are saved, God have given them authority to judge and act superior to others.  I think most of all; these types of people hurt my heart the most. 

I do not understand people, more so I do not understand many so called Christian.  I do not understand why they are jealous of one another, I do not understand why we hurt one another, I do not understand why we just cannot love.  At the end of the day God loves us all, Christian or not.  For those who are Christian or call themselves Christian, I do not understand how they do not get that we are love.  We are all in the body of Christ, connected to one another, and are intertwined.  Therefore, being in the body of Christ, when you love your brothers and sisters….it is like loving yourself.  When you seek to do them good and not harm, you are bettering yourself and contributing to the purpose of others by motivating them since we are all in one body.

Many people say that they are Christians and that they love their neighbor….but do you act like it? Do you show it?  The best illustration of this that I can think of, would be with each and every person that you encounter, if you knew that there was a chance that you would never see that person again, what would your interaction with them be like?  Would you feel bad for the way that you treated them and have regret?  If so, then perhaps you need to begin treating people differently.  Tomorrow is not promised to anyone, and you want to be known for bringing joy into their lives not pain and hurt. For being good and not evil.

The thing is that it is not going to be easy.  I have made a practice of being this way.  It will not matter if you love your enemies, pray for those who want to see your fail, or have hurt you……you will still feel hurt, you will still feel pain, and no matter you niceness, they may continue to hurt you over and over again.  But, it is our duty as children of God to continue to be good, and not fall prey to the ways of the world.   This is what God calls turning the other cheek.  If they smack one cheek and even beat it bloody, smile….turn the other so that they can beat the other cheek too.  This is because it is not the person that we do it, it is because we are in Christ and he requires us to do it.  And as Christian, we know that hate is not furthering our purpose nor is it making the body of Christ better.

Not everyone likes me, many have hurt me….But I am convinced that no one can ever say that I was bad to them, or hated them, or tried to destroy them.  And even though they may still not like me now, I can rest assure that this is because of their own insecurities, and not my own or something that I have done.  As a Christian, your light should shine wherever you go.  Not because you run around all day proclaiming Christ, but because the light is in you and because the light shines through your smile, words, personality and even those who hate you cannot deny that you belong to the Most High God.   

I guess what I am trying to get at, is that the world would be so much better if we make a cognitive decision to stop hurting one another.  If we make a decision to try to uplift and be an example to each person that we meet, whether they be Christian or not.  You never know how you can lead someone to Christ just by the way you behave at work or in public.  I am convinced that if we all put forth an effort, to really genuinely love one another (and not just quote the Bible verse and say that we are doing it) the world would be a better place.  We would feel better about ourselves and in the end we can stand before God truly blameless.  Knowing that whatever negative situations that were in our lives or what people have done to us, was of no fault of our own, but a result of those who are in the world.

This lent season, I have learned that I want to be like Christ, and I am learning to not be of this world, and with this mentality many sacrifices must be made.  As I step back and observe the actions of people, it confuses me, because although we were all created by God, came from Adam and Eve, and are all relatives…..we still hurt one another.  And when you really think about it….what is it all for?  With every action that you do, remember that God not only knows but He will question you in the end.  Do you want him to ask?  Why did you abuse my child such and such? Or why you did this or that to your fellow man.  What would your response be?  There could be no response to justify hating someone, hurting someone, being mean or evil to someone.  At those pearly gates you want God to say, “Well done good and faithful servant.”  Meaning that although you are not perfect, you still get an A for effort because you really did try.  You do not want to hear Him say :”Turn away from me you evil doer, for I never knew you.”  These are the people, who claim to be in the body of Christ, and even said that Jesus was their savior….but they fell short in knowing Christ and what he stood for.  So I say to you, that it is not too late to change, and repent and truly understand how God wants you to be….not of this world.  And although we are born in this world and we have to be a part of it, we can set out selves apart like Jesus did and be a light that shines in the darkness.