Galatians 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. NKJV
“Your Yes to God demands your No to all injustice, to all evil, to all lies, to all oppression and violation of the weak and the poor, to all godlessness and mocking of the holy.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer (German Lutheran pastor, theologian, participant in the German resistance movement against Nazism)
The Apostle Paul told us that we would know God’s children by the fruit that is evident in their lives. We will know true believers by the love they have for His creation and the peace that they seek for all of us. Our fight is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities of darkness. Our power is in Holy Spirit to accomplish what man cannot. Carla
Matthew 10:25-26
25 It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household! 26 Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. NKJV
Though we nowhere read that Jesus was actually called Beelzebub, He was charged with being in league with Satan under that hateful name (12:24, 26), and more than once was charged with being possessed by “an unclean spirit” or “demon” (Mark 3:30; John 7:20; 8:48). The NKJV Study Bible
Despite the hardships they will face, Jesus commands the disciples not to fear; rather, they should be bold witnesses to Jesus’ message and faithfully carry out their tasks.
Nothing is hidden that will not be revealed in connection with Matthew 10:27, may refer to Jesus’ message of the arrival of the kingdom of heaven (4:17). It also might refer to the persecutors’ hidden sins that will be revealed at the judgment. Faithlife Study Bible
Luke 12:2–9
For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops…NKJV
Mark 3:22
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”
Mark 4:22
For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light.
Luke 8:17
For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light.
On a few of my walks in Ireland, I would pass by congregates of sheep, with lots of new lambs. And I did my best to try to chat. Wondering if they would understand my accent.
“So. Is it okay to confess that some days I can’t focus,” I wonder aloud. “That, some days making sense of the world doesn’t work, and I just want to take a nap?”
“Not easy to admit, eh?” Their look tells me.
“No, it’s not.”
I’ve always wished I had control over the world, or at least some superpower, with a stunning costume of course. But I do not. (Have the control, or the costume.)
Gandalf’s reminder is apropos and worth heeding. We don't choose the times we live in, but it's often the case that the times choose us, to live out our faith, our resistance, and our healing. It is seldom, if ever, fun. Or easy.
Here’s the deal: When we believe that we are “at the mercy of”, we pretend we don’t have a choice, or are along for the ride. Which means that we no longer have the energy to give to (or care about, or invest in) those things that really matter.
We, literally, lose our bearings.
Living as if reality is determined only by circumstance, and we forget that…
We have agency.
We have the capacity to make choices about what matters.
We get to say how the story ends.
We live in a world where it is tempting to buy into an image (or role or model or persona), that carries with it certain values—to be powerful, to be impenetrable, to be bulletproof—but once given the opportunity to say “yes” or “no” to that image, we recognize that’s not who we are. And with blessing, there’s an experience in our life—a road to Damascus moment—where we can ask, “Is this who I am, and what I choose to honor?”
Where we see—and know—that as long as success is measured only by keeping score, or by being in control, it’s easy to lose track of most everything that makes us human and therefore, glad to be alive…
…small gestures of kindness.
…acts of grace--inclusion or community to someone left out, or someone on the fringes.
…extending a hand of healing (empathy, acceptance, sanctuary) to someone who hurts.
…finding and embracing your voice; knowing that silence in order to not ruffle feathers takes a toll we do not need. (“Sending love to everyone who is trying to rediscover their voice after life made them believe that silence was safer.” Thank you, Michell C. Clark)
…saying “No” to acts of narrow-mindedness and inequality and meanness.
…resting in moments of gratitude and reveling in the gifts of the senses and being present.
…sharing laughter, a smile, camaraderie and restoration; and dancing for joy.
Today; savor, doubt, embrace, question, wrestle, give, risk, love, fall down, get up, accept your incomplete and fractured self, know that anything worth doing is worth doing badly, speak the truth from your whole heart, and whenever you can, lavish excessive compassion and mercy and healing and hope and second chances and grace and restoration and kindness on anyone who crosses your path. Who knows, we may love one another into existence.
I'm sure God won't mind.
And let us carry this prayer into our week.
“Lead me from death to life, from falsehood to truth;
lead me from despair to hope, from fear to trust;
lead me from hate to love, from war to peace.
Let peace fill our heart, our world, our universe.”
(Universal Prayer for Peace, first publicly used July 1981, by Mother Teresa in St. James Anglican Church, London) Sabbath Moments
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