Jesus, Still Unpopular

I get it, I GET IT! 

Think with me as I sort some of my thoughts. Jesus said things like, pray for your enemies, forgive to be forgiven, the first will be last and the last first. Be meek, be humble, be kind. Take care of widows and orphans, honour your mother and father; don't lie, steal, fornicate, gossip, commit adultery, divorce, murder ... don't be a hypocrite!

Well I will figuratively be damned (not really, I know I am not damned because I am keenly aware that Jesus died for my sins and since I have a repentant heart, I am saved by God's grace). Talk about cutting to the ego and emotional quick! We are kind of rotten, aren't we, dear reader? It is a tad embarrassing to ruminate on the past with some regret, for doing precisely what Jesus indicates is sinful. 

While walking the earth and within earshot of the people of the day, Jesus said some truly appalling things that grated on the ears and nerves of those that were doing exactly what He preached against. These commanding demands of excellent behaviour and treatment of others were so revolting to the listeners, they plotted to kill Him the first chance they got. He knew what they were thinking, and called them vipers, asking, what have I done to merit your murderous thoughts and attitudes toward me? (I am paraphrasing, but go to scripture, dear reader, I am a mere messenger, not the Word incarnate!).

It is only the guilty, that do not want to change, that don't like to hear what Jesus has to say. His words echo through all time, in fact, wisdom is timeless, so I can speak in present tense regarding what He has to say to us this very day. Thankfully, right and wrong, good and evil, light and darkness are measurable, and the standards are God's: they are definitive, meaning we can be motivated to reason away our own errs in judgement, self and other deceptions, and out right lies, but truth be told, when we hold up who we are, to Who He is, we crumple into a heap of melted wax under the heat of scrutiny. 

So I get it, as I said above. Jesus is unpopular, even amongst His supposed fan club! I have to chuckle at the thought of people proclaiming Him as King, when they have gone the way of the earthly king that has them wanting to commit (with not too much encouragement I might add) the spiritually disobedient sins that Jesus precisely spoke against. Lies: liars, fornicators, the avarice ridden, and the emotional cowards of our day, declare their alliances with their behaviours, and they aren't fooling God: we simply cannot fool God ...

I have been reading a plethora of books these days, about human nature and how inclined we are to cultivate pseudo truth that suits our purposes. In other words, we are motivated to make what we want to be truth, acceptable to ourselves and others, including to God, with a little mental acrobatics, twisting facts to accommodate indulgences. We have all done this, so take that finger out of my eyeball!

I have been reformed, and then been dragged backward, and then reformed ... dirtied, rinsed clean, and repeat. We all have, dear one, each time we recognize that we have believed a lie, ours or someone else's, each time we have taken action out of spite, distress, anger our anguish, and each time we failed to take the time, to assess what Truth really is, we have been sullied.

If Jesus really is, the Way, the Truth, and the Life; if Jesus really did speak the words He is quoted as saying, than we had better take a good look at ourselves and ask the questions of where we fall short of being who we can be in the sight of God and within His hearing and reach.

Unfortunately and fortunately, He knows and sees all. The sooner we accept this, the sooner, hopefully, we decide that honouring Him is more valuable than anything telling lies will get us. We are but specs in time, and to the earth we will return, but the soul, dear one, ought to have a chance of soaring on the wings of eagles ...

Stepping out of the fray of fraud and fakery that the world has to offer is a choice. It reduces the likelihood of perpetuating the lies being told, since the risk of participation is also reduced. The temptation to engage will always be there, but history has been very clear ... liars love to make up stuff and bored humans can't wait to read about it. Jesus' suggestions to be kind, loving, and mischief free, may very well be a little too much purity and boredom for the average man, woman, and child. 

I guess I am ready to be bored ... or alternatively, have peace in the midst of the storm of deception that swirls all around us. I will take the Truth God offers, over Luciferian lies, any and every day of the week, from Sunday to Saturday and back again. 

How about you?