I haven't attended regular church services in a very long time. So I am not at all religious in that sense. Growing up, I did, and I had nuns and priests for my teachers every year until I graduated from high school. I believe there's a god, but not that the Bible is literally true. I don't believe god is of a particular race or sex or gender. I can't think of any good reason for why a person would think that matters. I pray pretty much every day, mostly for strength, courage, and understanding. I don't think god finds me parking places or jobs, but what do I know? There have been more than a couple of very odd coincidences in my life. I am not going to rule anything out.
What has stuck with me, what has meant the most to me, regardless of anything else that may or may not be true, is the lessons Jesus taught people about caring for each other, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and treating the one who is different as one of our one. Just as we would want someone to treat us if we were hungry or naked or strangers in a strange land. I regret how very frightful and strange the land I grew up in has become in my lifetime. It's only disheartening on a very good day. On a bad day it's hard to imagine the situation we find ourselves in ending in anything less horrible than a torrent of blood such as we haven't seen since the Civil War.
What has stuck with me is a simple lesson I have thought about a lot over the years. It's something I have tried to live by because I can't really see a better way. Of course, I have often failed spectacularly to live by it. Spectacularly. Like the Hindenberg.
Anyway, what has me thinking of this lately is a photo I keep seeing on the internet. It shows a guy with a bunch of really badly done tattoos, the sort you used to be able to get if you drank enough Night Train Express or Mad Dog 20/20 down on the corner or under the boardwalk. One of these tattoos says "Deus Vult," usually translated as "God Wills It" or "It Is God's Will." It has been the rallying cry and the ruin of many a poor boy for a very long time. Obviously, Christians are not the only ones who have expressed so presumptuous a sentiment. Competition has been lively.
The lesson that these words make me think of comes from the Gospel of Matthew 22: 37-40, which for simplicity I'll quote from the NIV version. Someone asks Jesus what the greatest commandment is.
37. Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38. This is the first and greatest commandment. 39. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
This is what I think of when I think of how to know "God's Will." I can only imagine that if I am doing these two things, I cannot be far off. I also figure that, if God has anything more specific in mind for me, I will find it in my path in a way I can't ignore. Like the Samaritan. Like those who have entertained angels unawares.
Amen!
ReplyDeleteand Amen!
ReplyDeleteAgreed
ReplyDeleteOne of God’s most beautiful gifts to us is called: Free Will!
ReplyDeleteDeus Vult was originated around 1096 in the first Crusades… Don’t do this please!
You need to learn how to separate the Holy Catholic Church, Dogmas, Doctrines and Pilars of Faith (Divine) from the Human…
You need to study Religion, Theology, Philosophy, Science, Anthropology, History, Linguistics, etc… Only then you would understand to separate what’s Divine from Human.
Also understand what free will means and how ignorant is to blame God because of our situations or decisions…
What else do you want? For him to send his only son to die for us so we can have eternal life???
How can be possible that a child is diagnosed with cancer and a murderer gets to walk free on the streets?
How is it possible that a pedo gets to do aberrations and die from old age and a mother of three dies young, leaving those little ones behind???
What kind of God is this?
What kind of God leads Abraham through the desert for 40 years just to not let him live in the promised land? Or Jonas who let him stay inside the big fish for days until he repented? Or the one that let Herod massacre those kids?
God never “LET” anything because he gave us free will! Not only with our actions but our fate!
And this is when the hard part comes!
This is the most difficult part: Regardless of anything good or bad, we should always praise and thank God Almighty!
We tend to humanize God because it is in our nature and that’s when we start getting it all wrong…. You wrote about the Then Commandments… The first we all know but the second you mentioned was added by Jesus (who is also God) The Holy Trinity!
Now, that part right there it’s To LOVE your neighbor… The word neighbor is wrong… It’s not the one who lives next door and the word love was also translated in a shallow meaning because love in Greek has like 4 types of meaning… is more than that… it means to love someone even though they hurt you the most! In this case the neighbor would be your spouse, your sister, mom, son, friend, pastor, yourself… To feel love towards that person when they did you wrong it is DIVINE! Not forgiveness, don’t get confused again, to forgive someone has nothing to do with what we are talking about here… To love someone close to you even though they hurt you? That my friends is Divine and you are in grace!
Jesus on the Cross is a perfect example of that type of love!