A journey in creativity and faith

Tag: commandment

A confession and a prayer for healing

Jesus does not criticize the outcast, the sinners or gentiles. No, he criticizes the religious people, the Jews who want to rule, who desire power, who point fingers at other people and say about themselves that they are so holy and good and righteous. They are judgmental and boast about themselves. Are the Pharisees and the scribes a historical phenomenon, or do they exist today?

Many Christians know the Bible well and they easily recognize other people’s sin. I do believe there exist judgmental self-righteous religious Pharisees among the Christians today. I’ve met a few. In fact, there is sitting a Pharisee right beside me. She is not happy to admit that sometimes she accidentally points fingers at other people, sometimes she easily sees other people’s mistakes, and sometimes she grieves the lack of inclusion and love among Christians. Who is she?

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When “Love” Feels Like a Four-Letter Word

For my series on God’s love, I’m today honored to host a guest post by Christy Pearce.  God loves EVERYONE, also the ones we may consider to be our enemies. In Matthew 5:43-44 Jesus teaches us about love. Christy shares an experience she has had with hate. 

 

Her name was Lisa.

I HATED that girl…with a passion. But she hated me first.

Even though I was only seven years old, I will never forget how much she ruined my fun when she showed up. I detested the sound of her voice.

But there was this one time we both temporarily lost our minds, and we decided to try to be friends. It lasted a couple of days, but we couldn’t hold the hatred back. It ended with her spewing ugly words my way, and me smacking her across the face. (And running away…)

There was NO way I was going to show her love; it wasn’t a thought in my mind. She was just too mean. Lisa was my enemy.
If you have ever been suffocated by the emotion of hate, then you know “loving enemies” is easier said than done. Love goes against all that is naturally in us, and we are incapable of doing it.

And that is exactly what Christ came to prove. That we CAN’T fulfill the law. At least not without His presence in our lives.

What is Impossible with Men is Possible with God 

Photo Credit: Reinhard Komanapalli, creation swap,

Anger, Lust, Adultery, Divorce, Lying, Retaliation…these are the things we humans have a natural bent toward—unless you are God come in human flesh.

Christ didn’t come down here to condemn us, because He didn’t have to.

Instead, He did what was completely impossible for us to do. He came to fulfill all of the law’s demands. He lived out the rules of God perfectly with all His mind, heart and strength.

If we don’t know that it really is impossible for us to obey God, we are missing out on the magnitude of what Christ was accomplishing on our behalf.

Even if we manage to put on a great performance outwardly, our hearts are always corrupted in some way. We need something moreMore than outward conformity to law, more than what we can conjure up within ourselves. We need the One who fulfilled the law to fill our hearts.

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