JUST A THOUGHT...

Episode Four
Original date created: 11-08-2007

Each day is another stepping stone in my discovery to what I hope to become, receive, to live in the future. My discovery is not for the sake of material gains, but to gain composure, and a meaning to my life, my surroundings, and G-D. As I have mentioned in Episode Two, the discussion of Pride/Humility, I am following the seven week study that is happening in The First Alliance Church, which is about the Seven Deadly Sins.
So, let us continue…

WRATH…
Displeasure, fury, hate, madness, rage, temper, and vengeance; once again, these are some of the other synonyms of wrath, but in all honesty, I think wrath is the most powerful on its own. Wrath is a strong, stern, or fierce desire. A forceful desire for punishment or vengeance; it is the wanting of retribution for sin. This hatred comes from a manifestation of anger, which is a strong response, either physiological, psychological, or even both, to a perceived threat to oneself or others who are important from your past, present, or future. The threat may be real, discussed, or even imagined.
When you start feeling some ‘steam’ coming out of your ears or you are turning extremely red with certain thoughts running through your head such as contemplating the many ways to kill, hurt, or injure a person. The mind is a very creative tool and it has the ability to calculate and measure the possible situations that supposedly can happen. Unfortunately, without diligence, and self-discipline, the mind becomes weak, susceptible to many weaknesses. Imagining self-gain/worth by ‘exterminating another either psychologically or physically is truly weak for evil has its limit, whereas goodness has no bounds to what it can achieve.

“Be Angry, and yet, DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity.” – Ephesians 4:26-27 (NAS).

The L-RD understands our daily lives, what we do, and what others do to us. In the end, we still have human characteristics, and He understands our struggle in our journey in Him; that struggle of perfection according to His ways. Along the way in our journey, we will certainly stumble and hurt ourselves, or others will cross our path and do what they can to hurt us; or maybe we’re the ones who are crossing another’s path and hurting them? It’s easy for me to say this, but I do understand that at times there is someone that you hate, just want to ‘strangle the life out of’, but think about it… Life on this earth is short, and it is not worth your time and energy to cast judgment on those who you despise. Yes, with the death of the son of G-D, we were saved, and when we die we go to heaven, but hasn’t G-D given us a set of instructions? Why waste this time that we have on nonsensical things, why not just continue to fight for Jesus? Such a simple concept, yet it’s complicated. It’s only ever complicated when you think it’s complicated, but even then, it’s a complicated situation to deal with when you need to simplify things for others to understand, which then complicated the whole situation once again because you weren’t supposed to share certain pieces of information, which brings us back to thinking things shouldn’t be so complicated, but simplified, and yet we can never find things to be simplified; everything seems to be so complicating... Did any of that make sense? Let’s simplify it then… The solution is simple: live a transparent life. Be honest in everything you do, including with the things you did wrong, but realize what you should do next time in order to do what is right.

Now, the solution to wrath is simple. Just like the ‘7 Deadly Sins’, we also have the ‘7 Heavenly Virtues’; pretty much the complete opposite of each sin. So, the solution is very simple: Forgiveness.

Forgiveness is the mental, emotional and/or spiritual process of ceasing the feeling of resentment or anger against another person for a perceived offence, difference, mistake, or bringing to an end the wanting of retribution, punishment.

It says in Mark chapter 11:25, “But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins too.” (NLT)

So, who are we to judge? Do have the right to do so? Judgment comes from all angles, it’s not just what we think, it is also what we say either by ourselves, with other people, or to an individual. Everything from the complaining about what another person has done and what they deserve, praying to G-D or imaging what that person deserves, to simple comments like “You’re ugly”. I don’t mean to say that saying “You’re pretty” is wrong as well, but it says in Proverbs chapter 15:1, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” (NAS) So, why say things that hurt, why not just compliment them on something else? The person may be ‘ugly’ we’ll say, but aren’t we all made in G-D’s image? So, how can we say that the person is ugly? If anything, they’re just as beautiful, if not more than those models that we see in magazines, actors and actresses on the television, or that ‘hot-chick’ you run into on the train.

I understand that we question, “How do we forgive the one who has given us these cuts, scrapes, and bruises?”, but once again, Christ has called us all to forgive regardless. It is up to each of us as individuals to understand our own abilities to hurt another, and to not take that path, for it leads to wickedness. Wickedness is not strength at all, but true weakness, for not holding onto what is right and just.

Remember that un-forgiveness will only hold your heart captive which only leads to anger, sorrow, and a lot more’ it poisons you in your mind, your soul, your spirituality, and only hurts your heart further, which then only hurts people around you because you have changed so much. Imagine a camera followed you for the whole day. And the end of the day, if you watched it, what would you see? Remember, forgiving others for what they have done to you isn’t all you have to do, you should also ask for forgiveness from those that you have hurt. That’s right; step off that pedestal and ask for forgiveness from those you have hurt. And no, things are not so complicated, you just go and ask for forgiveness, no excuses added to it. Just follow it along these lines, “I know I did you wrong, and I am sorry. Will you forgive me?”

I know it won’t come out the same way, or if you want, just say that, but understand that some people may not forgive, and that if they do not forgive you, you should not hold it against them, because if you do, you’re only going back to square one and acting the same as before. So, watch your actions, but still, though there are situations that occur and you have forgiven or have been forgiven there are boundaries that must be set-up. Certain things/situations should not be allowed to occur again, for the pain only becomes worse and worse.

Stop holding onto your fears, and do not fight back the tears.
G-D will heal you.

JUST A THOUGHT ...

Episode Three
Original date created: 10-11-2007

I am unsure if I have the ability to convey a convincing message, a strong argument, or enough evidence for people to realize the crisis at hand. Either way, we should continue to pray, read our bibles, and have faith. So, in the second week of “The Seven Deadly Sins”, the topic covered was Envy.

The word Envy, other wise known as jealousy, covetousness, prejudice, or resentment is simply a green-eyed monster. Calling it a green-eyed monster doesn’t mean if you have green eyes, that you are an envious person; it means you are jealous, jealous of something, anything really. To give you an example, can you remember the last time you saw one of your colleagues, friends, or even family members get something, and you wanted to have the same thing as them, and in most cases more? This can be anything from seeing someone else getting a new luxury car, buying a new house, having the latest gadgets, and so on. Envy is a characteristic inside oneself that causes the person to want, to want what the other has so that they too have bragging rights… It wants the worst to happen to another person. Your colleague bought a new luxury car? ‘Who cares, he’s a terrible driver anyways; most likely to get in an accident soon’. Or maybe your little sister just bought a new computer, top of the line… ‘I’ll just upload a virus which causes her system to crash… Then mom and dad won’t trust Amy with the computer anymore.’ All of us have committed this sin. I know I have. I had to go out and buy the latest computer to show it off at school. In the end, I got nowhere (okay, maybe I know how to program and such, but my laptop became the center of attention among my peers). To covet isn’t only thinking about getting something better than the other person, but it can also lead to stealing, and even manipulating the situation that will cause the other person/people harm. We are potentially tempted everyday, we compare to other people, and we start to calculate what we have in comparison to other people that seem to have more than us. Envy is wishing that things are not what they are, but was much more; it is an internal sorrow; it makes you sick.

In Job chapter 5:2 it says, “Surely resentment destroys the fool, and jealousy kills the simple.” (NLT) And then in Proverbs chapter 14:30, “A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body; jealousy is like cancer in the bones.” (NLT) From these two verses it is only safe to conclude that being envious is only hurtful to oneself. Even in our daily lives, when has it ever been productive for us to continuously think and contemplate what another person has? Even without reading those pieces of scripture, it is obvious that spending time envying, and wanting to covet another person’s possessions is not an efficient use of your time.

It says in Proverbs chapter 3:31, “Don’t envy violent people or copy their ways.”(NAS) And then in Romans chapter 13:13, “Because we belong to the day, we must live decent lives for all to see. Don’t participate in the darkness of wild parties and drunkenness, or sexual promiscuity and immoral living, or quarreling and jealousy [envy]” (NLT). With that being said, how do we cure the green-eyed monster that can easily be created in all of us? Well, the antonym to envy is Kindness.

Kindness, affection, benevolence, charity, consideration, generosity, good intention, goodness, sympathy, tact, tolerance, and love: These are all just a handful of synonyms of the word kindness. They are all equally the opposite of the word envy, and with one word, you build into all the others. Kindness, or Love as I like to put it, is compassion, a true sincerity, goodness that shines no matter how dark it becomes in one’s life.

Titus chapter 3:3 says, “Once we too were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other.” Once we allow ourselves to accept one of these sins, we slowly become lured into doing more and more. It’s easy to say the solution, but at the end of the day it is up to each one of us as individuals to make the right decisions. Avoid the unrighteous and evil ways of others, lest you become tempted, and entangled in their habits.

Love is the antidote to envy; it is a life maker, life creator, and life provider. Envy only destroys these things. In James Fowler’s book ‘Faith Development in Early Childhood’ it says, “When the spine of identity is well established, it is possible to risk relating in depth to those who are different from the self.” (Page 135; paragraph 2)Now take a look at Romans chapter 6. Read the whole chapter… To give you a quick summary, it talks about the new believers in Christ, how they have died to sin, been baptized into Christ, stepped into a new life, are free from sin’s penalty, are now alive in G-D, and are living out a new story. So, let’s live this new story, and not turn back to the ways that we left behind. Let us accept Christ, renew ourselves, and continue with that path He wants us to live out.

We all had a story in which we came from before we met Christ. Yes, some of us have grown up only ‘knowing’ Him, but did we really know Him? Each day, as a believer, I get to know a bit more about G-D; it is a never-ending story, there is no limit to knowing about Him. Reach, each day, to know Him, and share the love that He has shown to you with everyone in your life.