30/12/2021 - A BLESSING TO ENJOY

• 
• 
• 
• 

Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.     John 8.59

Religious people are dangerous and in no way resemble practitioners of the Word of God. Their talk is of peace, but in fact, they don’t know it. If they hear something that pleases them, they immediately join hands with that person; but if they notice that the doctrine of that person is different from the one they preach, they turn against him, showing so much anger that they are even capable of killing her. All they care about is spreading their ideas throughout the world, as if it were a competition.

The lack of love for God in some will cause them to act like the knaves, who have sold themselves to the devil to carry out his will. The apostle Paul spoke about them, saying: “Having a form of godliness, but denying its power and from such people turn away (2 Timothy 3.5). Living in fellowship with the religious will make you repent tremendously later on. It is in their interest to see their own church, sect or denomination grow and the others sink even lower.

On the other hand, Jesus used several times the power that we need to learn to use for our well being: to remain as if invisible to the eyes of the mobs driven by the hatred of the evil one. This is very serious! Although they speak in the Name of God, they can cause much harm to those who do not belong to their group. In a way, they resemble the “hooligan” soccer team fans, who have no shame in attacking those who cheer for another team.

This happened in Nazareth, where Jesus delivered the phenomenal sermon on His mission. The people decided to precipitate Him off the cliff as they heard Him speak of their lack of love, equity, and fear of God. The Master began by reading Isaiah 61, which speaks of the ministry the Father gave Him, and this pleased them; however, when He compared the lack of faith in the days of Elijah and Elisha, preventing the Most High from blessing them, they wanted to kill Him (Luke 4.29).

When Judas made the pact with the priests to deliver the Savior into the hands of the Roman army, Jesus let Himself be arrested by the soldiers, because He knew that this was God’s purpose in order to accomplish the redemption plan. If He wanted to, Christ could get rid of the wicked Jews, for He had more than enough power. But since He had already prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, surrendering Himself to the Father´s will (Mark 14.35,36), He didn’t care what they would do to Him. That was the price to be paid on our behalf!

When Peter saw this, he reacted by cutting off the right ear of Malchus, a servant of the high priest. Then the Lord rebuked him, telling him to put away his sword: So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath; shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given me? (John 18.11). The peace shown by Jesus at that moment, even though He was arrested, is the same peace He gave us to use in unusual situations (John 14.27). At that moment, He acted as the Master!

The right thing is to act only within the will of the Lord, which will be revealed to you as you read the Word and meditate on the Bible text that jumps out at you. We must not hurry, panic or fear. Whoever serves God must never let himself be disturbed. This way, you will not miss the heavenly Father´s guidance. In Jesus, we are more than conquerors (Romans 8.37)!

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares