A thought

“Blessed are you when they revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.  Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven; for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”  Matthew 5:11-12

I think one of the biggest mistakes made by the evangelical church (those who are rather aggressive in their attempts to reach out and convert others in the name of Christ) is the notion that we can somehow convince or otherwise manipulate others to believe and act as we think they should believe and act.  This concept then spills over into our daily lives, in our marriages and in other relationships.  Because we have a clear sense of what is right, we are convinced others must act as we do and think as we do (you know, “common sense” and all that). 

We forget, however, that this is not possible by our own works just as loving unconditionally is impossible apart from the Lord (John 15:1-11).  Sometimes marriages fail because our partners will not offer the same effort to the union.  Sometimes friendships fail because those we considered our “besties” are not willing to give as freely of themselves as we.  No matter how much we pray and humble ourselves and refuse to get drawn into senseless political arguments, others will simply never agree; we often cannot even “agree to disagree”. 

Human relationships fail every single day, and it is impossible to assign blame fairly just as it is unfair to always take blame personally.  Jesus calls us to first and foremost be faithful to Him.  He is not promising that the world or our friends or spouses will suddenly see the light; He is promising that the rewards for acting faithfully according to His terms will exceed anything we can imagine.

Let us remember that we are first called to do our best for Him.  This is the mark and measure of our own faith, when we act and live and love “for My sake”.  Let us find the courage and the strength to let the Lord take care of the others.

Blessings,

Michael