In a world that is full of anger and frustration, it’s easy to allow our resentments to simmer. Nonetheless, Jesus reminds us that we are called to be peacemakers.
We are asked to love all neighbors, irrespective of their race, creed, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, age, height, weight, physical or mental ability, and marital status.
Until we have taken the sty from our own eye, we cannot say that we will make peace for others in our neighborhood or community.
So, consider for a moment: what triggers you?
What makes you angry when you read the news? Who do you feel threatened by? Which neighbors are you struggling to love?
What resentment or anger am I feeling today towards another that I have not forgiven and dealt with?
This is our starting point! Feeling angry or fearful does not feel spiritual. You may be tempted to ignore it. Perhaps you tell yourself “I shouldn’t feel this way” – but failing to deal with the truth of your emotions leads to living a lie. ]When we ignore what we are truly experiencing and fail to do the inner work, there will be no fruit.
When we feel anger – or a certain person or situation triggers us – we have an opportunity to do the inner work of forgiveness and letting go. The first step in healing is to acknowledge the truth of what we feel. Then, we can ask for forgiveness.
We are promised that all this will be taken from us and we will be renewed! But in order for healing to take place, we have to be willing to let it go.
If we say that we love God, and we fail to love our neighbor, we lie to ourselves!
Loving God is seeing everyone else around us through the eyes of God. Because when we love God with heart and soul and mind – our heart connects to another through God’s heart. When we love Gop with all our minds – our mind thinks about others as God does. When we love with all our soul – we see their soul as God does.
If you have time, sit down and journal these questions and answers for yourself.
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
A few months ago I threw some avocado seeds into my compost bin, and now I’ve discovered I have a beautiful avocado seedling growing in my compost. I’ve very happy about that – but all I did was throw it away! I was expecting to make compost, but now I am very pleased that I…
Readings: Matthew 18: 21-35 Romans 14:1-12 This morning in Romans we read: Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. … So then, each of us will be accountable to God. And in…
Readings: Romans 11: 1-2a; 29-31 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! … God has not rejected his people who he foreknew. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Just as you… have now received mercy… so they now, by the mercy shown to you, they too many…
This sermon is available on video on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/balboaunion/videos/1613268202050982/ Church Divas and Doers Jesus, who certainly was a Doer, not a Diva, had this simple rule for church-building: follow the Gospel: [easy-image-collage id=4561] The Wise and Foolish Builders “Cualquiera pues que me oye estas palabras, y las hace, le compararé á un hombre prudente,…
Readings: Romans 9: 1-15 Matthew 14:13-21 Psalm 145: 8-9, 14-21 Compassion: These verses from Matthew & Romans 9 contain a common theme: the compassion of Jesus for the crowd and the compassion of Paul for his Jewish countrymen. Paul is anguished that his Jewish countrymen cannot see the truth of Christ being the promised…
Readings: Romans 5: 1-8 Matthew 9:35 – 10:8 Psalm 100 Rejoicing in Sufferings I invite you to think for a moment about that Olympian champion, the one that sat on the sofa every day watching TV, checking their internet, and reading books. The one that slept in every morning, had a full cooked breakfast, eating…
How many times, on a Palm Sunday, have you sat in a Church pew and listened to the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem on the donkey’s colt or on the donkey or on the donkey with the colt walking next to her – to not say straddling the 2 donkeys? Every year, since I…
As you know, when I talked earlier this month, I spoke about Social Justice, in light of Isaiah 58 and the call to prayer and fasting that was pleasing to the Lord. In the current political climate, in the US as well as in Panama, where there is such a backlash against “immigrants” and “illegals”…
Happy New Years! Welcome to Day 1 of failed New Year’s Resolutions… a little cynicism for you… How many millions resolve to make a change in the new year and then fail in the first week? Most of us see the New Year as a perfect opportunity to start over or to change bad habits.…