Passion

A few weeks ago my wife and I along with friends attended the Great Passion Play in Eureka Springs.  It was a crisp cold evening as we sat there and watched the final scenes of the life of Jesus being played out before us.  As we watched my mind began wondering why it is called a passion play.  When I got back to the motel room I studied the subject.

I found out that in approximately 1175 the word passion was adopted from Old French to Old English to mean the, ‘sufferings of Christ on the Cross’.  By Middle English the word ‘passion’ described a strong barely controllable emotion.  The original meaning of ‘passion’, as the sufferings of Jesus, fell out of common usage in the 1600’s.

I studied the word passion in my Bible concordance.  In King James the word passion, meaning the sufferings of Jesus, is found in only one verse, Acts 1:3   “To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”

The most common meanings of the word ‘passion’ today is extreme compelling emotion, great anger or rage, enthusiasm or fondness, strong love or affection, and  lust.

Do you know anyone who has a passion for something?  We have just had an election in this country and I found that many people were very passionate about their candidate or political party.

I have met many Christians who are passionate about their beliefs; but do we as Christians have a passion for Jesus?  What is at the top of the list of our life’s priorities?  In Matthew 22:36-39 we read, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

We as Christians should keep the Ten Commandments, but if we are not passionate about Jesus and our neighbors it does us no good to keep them.  Our relationship with Jesus is all about priorities.

Matthew 23:23,24 record Jesus as saying, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

Jesus didn't say not to follow the fine points of the law; But He wants us to focus on the weightier matters.  In John 15:12 He said, “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you”. And to make sure that we understand he repeats in verse 17, “These things I command you, that you love one another”.

How do you think Jesus feels when we lose our passion for him and our love for each other, and replace it with a mechanical form of religion where instead of loving each other we fight with each other?  In Revelation 2:4 He said, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love”.  Does Jesus have something against you, have you lost your first love?  Are you passionate about Jesus?

When you have a passion, others know.  Passion is more than mere formality and habit.  It’s enthusiasm, its strong love and affection.  To have a passionate church full of love for one another we must each one personally become passionate about Jesus.

Do you have passion today; A passion for Jesus who died for you?  1 John 4:10-12 states, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us”.

Jesus endured passion: He suffered for you.  He is still passionate in his love for you.  Are you passionate about Jesus or are your passions in other areas?  Let’s decide today to be passionate about Jesus.

Bears

We recently purchased the movie, "Bears".  My grand daughters really enjoyed the movie, and so did I.  In the movie a grizzly bear mother named Sky gives birth to two cubs named Amber and Scout in her den on a mountain slope. When April comes the bears leave the den. When they reach the lush valley below, the cubs meet the other bears, some of which pose a threat to the cubs.

When summer comes, so does the yearly salmon run. Dozens of bears gather along salmon streams on the coast to get the best of the run before it ends. After the bear family fills themselves on the salmon, they head back to into the mountains as winter approaches to their den to sleep through the harsh cold winter.

The bear cubs are very cute and the scenery is spectacular.  When I learned that the movie was filmed in Katmai National Park in Alaska, I started reading about the park which spans over four million acres of remote, wild, and spectacular country in southern Alaska.  As I was reading I came across the story of Pemby.

Early last July, rangers in the park observed that a yearling bear cub appeared to have been abandoned by his mother.  They named the cub Pemby.  Without his mother, the cub’s chances of survival were slim, but the rangers could only watch as nature took its course.

Over the next few weeks, Pemby remained mostly out of sight, perched in a tree near the river where his mother had left him. But just a few weeks later, in late July, park officials saw something that intrigued them. A visitor had snapped a few photos of a mother bear with two cubs taken in another region of the park. Rangers recognized Pemby immediately, but were surprised to see that he was in the company of a different mother bear, known as Holly, along with her own young cub.

Mother bears accepting outside cubs into their family units is almost unheard of, so the rangers were justifiably dubious about what the images suggested.  In the first week of September, Pemby was seen yet again with Holly and her biological cub, and their manner seemed to show without a doubt that the mother bear had come to consider the orphan one of her own. Holly has been seen sharing food with the youngster, sleeping by his side and nuzzling him just as his real mother might have.

The rangers have since concluded that a rare case of adoption had indeed occurred, even if the reasons why are virtually impossible to explain.  The orphan Pemby is an orphan no longer. He has been born again. He is now Holly's cub.

The Bible tells us that we can be born again.  We find this truth in John 3:1-3;  There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus was as religious as anyone in Jerusalem, but he needed a complete conversion, a new birth.  Being born again is not what we do. Being born again is when we quit trying and begin trusting Jesus who died our death on Calvary's cross in order to give us, in our death's place, His life.

What jobs do you give newborns? Why don’t we give them jobs? We don’t ask them to work, we love them, feed them, take care of them. We will in time give the jobs to do, but only after we have watched them grow, as we have taught them.  That is what Jesus is talking about when he says that we must be born again.

Listen to this story found in Luke 18:15-17; Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

To become a part of God’s Kingdom you must be born again.  You must receive God’s kingdom as an infant.  Babies don’t have preconceived ideas.  They don’t think that they know it all and can run their own lives.

Our first birth gives us many treasures: a family name, a genetic inheritance, nationality, ethnicity. Birth determines or influences every aspect of our lives—whether we are tall or short, smart or not so smart, rich or poor, musical or can't carry a tune, color blind or sensitive to colors.

When we are born again, none of this changes. We have the same family of origin, the same finances. We can still sing . . . or not. We still take pride in our ethnic or national heritage. These elements of our identity that flow from our birth are treasures. Being born again does not erase them. Being born again puts them in their proper place. All of these identities become subordinate to our supreme identity as children of God.

Because we have been born again we recognize all of the rest of God's children as our brothers and sisters.  They are part of our family. We are part of their family. We see them as the dearly-loved children of God.  We will not do anything to disparage our brothers and sisters.

Similarly, when we have theological disputes, those who have been born again see the people with “differing” views as dearly loved children of God. The status my opponents enjoy as children of God imposes on me the obligation to show them respect. To listen carefully to their arguments.

Being born again imposes obligations. We have joined a new family and this new family has a distinctive culture.  1 Peter 3:8 tells us, "Live in harmony with one another.  Be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble".

One of the fascinating aspects of the bear cub story is the interaction of the cubs. According to rangers, the aggressive behavior of old male bears begins very early. Male cubs fight. They don't share. But in Holly's household they do. Holly's natural-born cub and Pemby have been observed sharing fish together. It appears that the generosity of Mama Bear has created a new kind of bear culture.

In the same way, Jesus has modeled and taught a new way of being human. As born again Christians, people adopted into the family of God, we are called to mimic God in forming a new kind of human community, a community where people show to one another the same grace we have received from God.

Stranded

Recently I received a phone call shortly after I arrived at work.  A caller from Minnesota was asking if I could help a young woman who had been stranded in Mena.  She had traveled from Lafayette, Louisiana to Minnesota by bus to attend a wedding.  On her return trip the bus she was riding on stopped in Mena in the early morning hours.  The young woman along with several other women got off the bus to use the restroom.  She was last in line, and as soon as she finished and walked outside she saw that the bus was pulling away. She chased the bus waving her arms frantically but the bus drove off. 

She didn't know what to do.  She was stranded at a gas station in a strange town.  Her first call was to Greyhound Bus customer service. They were not helpful at all.  It was no concern of theirs that the bus had left her.  Since she was not on the bus that her ticket was written for, the ticket was no longer valid.  If she wanted to continue her journey by bus she would have to go to a Greyhound terminal and purchase a new ticket.  The nearest terminal was nearly 100 miles away and there was not another bus until the next day.  The customer service rep suggested that she take a taxi.  There is not a taxi available in the small rural town of Mena. 

When I arrived at the gas station I found the young woman very upset.  Being stranded here in Mena isn't what she had planned on. We talked about her options in between phone calls from friends and family trying to find a solution.  After some time we finally worked out a plan to get her home.  Her family started driving north from Lafayette and my parents drove her to Texarkana where her family met up with her.  She was no longer stranded.

I could empathize with the stranded young woman.  On a trip that we took back in 2008 we ended up stranded three times.  We were on our way to Belize.  We had boarded our plane at DFW when the announcement was made that we had to wait in line for our plane to be de-iced.  After three hours on the plane it was announced that due to snow all flights were grounded.  We were stranded in the airport along with thousands of other passengers.  Because all flights were canceled there were so many people spending the night that there was no way to get a motel room.   

We spent a very uncomfortable night in the airport, and it was the next afternoon before we were able to fly to Belize.  When we got to airport in Belize our small plane wasn't able to fly to San Pedro because of a thunderstorm.  We were once again stranded.  On our way home we were once again stranded, this time in Miami, due to flights cancelled due to weather.  

As uncomfortable as it was to spend the night at DFW airport, it was nothing compared to the experience of Mehran Karimi Nasseri.  He was expelled from Iran in the 70's for protesting against the Shah.  He was awarded refugee status by Belgium.  He claimed that his mother was British and in 1988 made a trip to London.  While he was in Paris he was mugged and his papers were stolen.  He went ahead and boarded his flight for London, but when he arrived British officials sent him back to Paris because he had no papers.

Because he had no papers, he was not allowed to leave the airport; He was stranded. He lived there for the next 18 years.  Belgium at first refused to issue new papers saying he had to come back to Belgium to get them, but he couldn't leave the airport without papers. After many years Belgium officials made arrangements for him to be able to return, but he refused.  Apparently the world outside of the airport terminal was too frightening.  

There is a difference in the way Mr. Nasseri and the young woman that I helped dealt with being stranded.  The highest priority of the young woman was to get home.  She didn't want to be stranded in Mena, Arkansas.  I'm sure that Mr. Nasseri felt the same way at first, but after years of living in the airport terminal he no longer felt stranded.  He felt like the terminal was his home.

Jesus told us in John 15:19, "If you belonged to the world, it would love you as it loves its own.  But I chose you from this world, and you do not belong to it; that is why the world hates you".  

We as Christians have been stranded here on this earth, but we don't belong to it.  It is not our home.  Jesus tells us about our home in John 14:2,3 "In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also".

We are stranded; we are strangers.  This world is not our home.

I am a poor, wayfaring stranger

Traveling through this world alone

And there's no sickness, toil or danger

In that bright land to which I go

And I'm going there to see my mother

And I'm going there no more to roam

And I'm only going over Jordan

And I'm only going over home

A Picture of God

 
While we are traveling in the car, my wife and I like to listen to audiobooks.  We recently listened to Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery.  We enjoyed the book so much that I looked for other audiobooks by L. M. Montgomery. I found and purchased the book, The Story Girl, and we are currently listening to it.

The Story Girl was published in 1911 and tells of the adventures of a group of young cousins and their friends who live on Prince Edward Island.  The book is narrated by Beverley, who with his brother Felix, has come to live with his Aunt and Uncle on their farm while their father travels for business.  The Story Girl is their cousin Sara Stanley, whose many stories fill the book.

One story in the book really caught my attention.  On their way home from school, Felix has some interesting news.  "Jerry Cowan told me at recess this afternoon that he had seen a picture of God–that he has it at home in an old, red-covered history of the world, and has looked at it often."

This bit of news caused a lot of discussion from the little group.  They all wanted to know what God looked like.  The next day they asked Jerry to bring the book to school so they could see the picture.  He told them that he couldn't bring the book to school, but if they wanted to buy the picture outright he would tear it out of the book and sell it to them for fifty cents.

They wanted the picture so much that they pooled their resources and came up with the fifty cents.   Jerry met up with the group after school and brought the page from the book wrapped in newspaper. They paid him the money, but did not open the packet until he had gone.

This is the way L. M. Montgomery described the scene.  "Cecily," said Felicity in a hushed tone. "You are the best of us all. You open the parcel."

"Oh, I'm no gooder than the rest of you," breathed Cecily, "but I'll open it if you like."

With trembling fingers Cecily opened the parcel. We stood around, hardly breathing. She unfolded it and held it up. We saw it.

Suddenly Sara began to cry. "Oh, oh, oh, does God look like that? " she wailed.

Felix and I spoke not. Disappointment and something worse, sealed our speech. Did God look like that–like that stern, angrily frowning old man with the tossing hair and beard of the wood-cut Cecily held?

"I suppose He must, since that is His picture," said Dan miserably.

"He looks awful cross," said Peter simply.

"Oh, I wish we'd never, never seen it," cried Cecily.

We all wished that–too late. Our curiosity had led us into some Holy of Holies, not to be profaned by human eyes, and this was our punishment.

When they showed the picture to the Story Girl, she said, "Surely you don't believe God looks like that. He doesn't–He couldn't. He is wonderful and beautiful. I'm surprised at you. That is nothing but the picture of a cross old man."

Hope sprang up in our hearts, although we were not wholly convinced.

"I don't know," said Dan dubiously. "It says under the picture 'God in the Garden of Eden.' It's printed."

"Well, I suppose that's what the man who drew it thought God was like," answered the Story Girl carelessly. "But he couldn't have known any more than you do. He had never seen Him."

"It's all very well for you to say so," said Felicity, "but you don't know either. I wish I could believe that isn't like God–but I don't know what to believe."

Just like these children, far too many of us don’t know what to believe. There are so many pictures of God that we see every day. God’s own professed followers often paint horrific pictures of God; Pictures of hatred toward other races and religions, pictures of intolerance. Pictures of an unjust God who burns and tortures people for an eternity.

The children decided to ask their minister about this disturbing picture.  Felix was sent to ask him while the rest of them remained in the background but within hearing.

"Well, Felix, what is it?" asked Mr. Marwood kindly.

"Please, sir, does God really look like this?" asked Felix, holding out the picture. "We hope He doesn't–but we want to know the truth, and that is why I'm bothering you. Please excuse us and tell me."

The minister looked at the picture. A stern expression came into his gentle blue eyes and he got as near to frowning as it was possible for him to get.

"Where did you get that thing?" he asked.

Thing! We began to breathe easier.

"We bought it from Jerry Cowan. He found it in a red-covered history of the world. It says it's God's picture," said Felix.

"It is nothing of the sort," said Mr. Marwood indignantly. "There is no such thing as a picture of God, Felix. No human being knows what he looks like–no human being can know. We should not even try to think what He looks like. But, Felix, you may be sure that God is infinitely more beautiful and loving and tender and kind than anything we can imagine of Him. Never believe anything else, my boy.

I believe that Mr. Marwood got it right.  God is infinitely more beautiful and loving and tender and kind than anything we can imagine of Him.

We need to be very careful of the picture of God that we paint.  For some people, the only picture of God that they can see is the one that we paint.  Psalms 86:15 says, “But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth”.  Is that the God in your picture?

Plato's Soul

Does Greek philosophy affect your thinking?  That’s probably not a question you have thought about.  What do you know about Greek philosophy?  Whether you know it or not, you probably view the world through the eyes of Greek philosophy.

If you are part of what we now call the western world, your brain is Greek.  The ancient Greeks gave us western civilization. The Romans spread Greek philosophy to world.

When we refer to Greek philosophy we are usually talking about the thoughts, teachings and writing of three important Greek philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.  They helped to lay the foundations of Western philosophy and science.

Socrates always emphasized the importance of the mind over the relative unimportance of the human body. His teaching inspired Plato’s philosophy of dividing reality into two separate realms, the world of the senses and the world of ideas.

Plato came to the belief that the material world as it seems to us is not the real world, but only an "image" or "copy" of the real world. He called this thinking the theory of forms.  The forms, according to Plato are abstract representations of things, and properties we feel and see around us.  In other words, Plato recognized two worlds: the apparent world, which constantly changes, and an unchanging and unseen world of perfect forms.

Plato noticed that the world was full of imperfections.  You have probably noticed the same thing.  Plato’s question was, how do I know it’s not perfect.  How do I recognize the imperfections?  How do I know what perfection looks like?

Plato said we can sense imperfection because somewhere out there is perfection.    Each imperfect thing in our world has a perfect counterpart in spiritual world.  He taught that our imperfect world is an imperfect image of the spiritual world.

He applied this thought to our physical bodies.  We realize that our physical body is imperfect but to know that there must be a perfect version out there somewhere.  To Plato, that perfect version is the human soul; The spiritual part of you that leaves when you die and goes to a perfect spiritual plane.  This teaching of Plato, had been adopted by mainstream Christianity.  Plato’s concept of an immortal soul creates a problem when we look in Genesis.

Genesis 1:26,27  Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.   Genesis 1:31, "Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day".

There are a couple of points that I want us to understand from this passage.  Number 1 is that we are not an imperfect copy of our immortal soul; we are a copy of God himself.  We are created in his image.  Number 2, Creation wasn't an imperfect copy; God said that it was very good.  According to Genesis, Plato got it wrong.  He was on the right track with some of his ideas.  There does have to be perfection somewhere for us to know that we are seeing imperfection, but according to Genesis, Adam and Eve were not created with immortal souls.  They didn't need them.  They were created in the perfect image of God.

We were never meant to live as bodyless spirits.  Creation was of perfect physical beings.  Adam and Eve lived in a real perfect physical world, a world without death.  There was no reason for a spirit or soul to ever leave the body.  The only hint you can find in Genesis of a possible disembodied spirit is in Genesis 2:7.  The King James version reads, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

I want you to notice something.  Man became a living soul. The soul was not a disembodied spirit.  It was not something that leaves the body.  Man didn't receive a soul, he became a soul.  Modern translations read, man became a living creature, or living being.

How did Greek philosophy become so entrenched in Christian doctrine and thinking?  One of the ways was through the writings of Justin Martyr who lived in the second century.  He wrote extensively to defend Christianity.  He was raised in a pagan home and he was weaned on Greek philosophy.

In his Address To The Greeks  Justin wrote, Plato seems to me to have learnt from the prophets not only the doctrine of the judgment, but also of the resurrection, which the Greeks refuse to believe. For his saying that the soul is judged along with the body, proves that he believed the doctrine of the resurrection.  But Plato, having accepted what they teach concerning the resurrection of the body, teaches that the soul is judged in company with the body.

He also wrote, "while we affirm that the souls of the wicked, being endowed with sensation even after death, are punished, and that those of the good being delivered from punishment spend a blessed existence, we shall seem to say the same things as the poets and philosophers". Do you see how Greek philosophy crept into Christian thinking?

Greek philosophy plants hope in immortality of the soul but Christianity depends on physical resurrection.  We believe in a real physical Jesus coming back for real physical people.  According to the Bible you are a real person,  a living creature.  In the earth made new it will still be true.  Plato was doing the best he could with the information he had, but you have more information, so don’t use Plato to guide your thinking.

In 1 Corinthians 15: 51-53 we read, “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality”. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

I’m eagerly waiting for the day when this corruptible body puts on incorruption, and this mortal body puts on immortality.  I’m eagerly waiting for the day when I will begin spending eternity in a real physical place with a real physical body.  I hope that you are longing for that day too.

Unforgivable

Did you know that the Bible talks about a sin that God can never forgive?  Throughout the centuries since the New Testament was written, millions of people have lived in fear that they may have committed it. Is it really true? Is there something that God is unable to forgive?

The Bible says in Matthew 12:31 – “the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven unto men”.  So, it turns out there really is a sin that can't be forgiven, and it's blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

That raises a really important question, just what is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?  In order to understand what the sin against the Holy Spirit is, it's important that we understand exactly what the role of the Holy Spirit is.  In John 16:8, referring to the Holy Spirit, the Bible says, “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”  The Holy Spirit works as a kind of "conscience" for the whole world.

What happens when you decide not to follow the voice of the Holy Spirit? What happens when you feel the pang of guilt and you know the right thing to do, but you deliberately choose against it?   Many theologians teach that this is when people actually step into the territory of the unforgivable sin.  They refer to it as grieving the Holy Spirit.

I will agree that it is a serious issue when we tune out the Holy Spirit, but is it unforgivable?  I have to say NO!  As a matter of fact it is not grieving the Holy Spirit; at least that is not what is being talked about in Ephesians, the only place that it is mentioned.  Ephesians  4:30-32 says,  “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.  And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you”.

According to the Bible it is bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking and malice that grieves the Holy Spirit along with a lack of kindness and forgiveness; although I am quite sure that He is also saddened when we tune him out.

How can I be sure that grieving the Holy Spirit is not the unpardonable sin?   Matthew 12:31 reads, “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men”.

This is a strange verse.  There are two facts separated by a “but”.  Fact number one is, “every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men”.  Fact number two is,  “the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men”.

Notice that EVERY SIN will be forgiven.  1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Now, you might have noticed that there were no exclusions in that verse. It says that if we confess our sins, Jesus will both forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, and there are no "ifs", “ands”, "buts", or "maybes" attached to that promise.

Is there a sin that God cannot forgive? The answer is yes, and the sin that God can't forgive is the sin you don't repent of.  If there is no sin that God won’t forgive if we confess it, then what was Jesus talking about there in Matthew 12?

We need to look at the whole chapter to see why he made such a statement.   There are several incidents that happened before Jesus made the statement that blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.  Incident number one; the disciples pick and eat grain on the Sabbath and the Pharisees disapprove.  Incident number two; Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath and the Pharisees disapprove.  Incident number three; Jesus heals a blind deaf man and the Pharisees say it was through Satan’s power.

Do you see a pattern?  There is a dialogue between Jesus and the Pharisees.  All of these incidents bring Jesus to speak the following words to the Pharisees.  “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men”.  They weren't a sermon that he was giving to everyone, but they were a conversation he was having with the Pharisees.

Why was Jesus talking to the Pharisees about something that was unforgivable?  Earlier we decided that there is a sin that God cannot forgive, and it is the sin you don't repent of.  Why would the Pharisees not repent of a sin?  They were extremely picky about keeping the law.  The reason that they would not repent is because they couldn't see that they were doing anything wrong.

The unforgivable sin is the one that isn't confessed, but there are two very different reasons for not confessing.  The first reason is because you have so tuned out the Holy Spirit that you can’t see sin. The second reason is because you are so sure you are doing right that you don’t see your sin.

There is no sin that you can commit that is unforgivable if you confess.  Remember 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

In Revelation 3;20, 21 Jesus makes this promise.  “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

Jesus never stops knocking.  No matter what you have done in your life, He is standing at the door and knocking.  Will you open the door?

How Much Are You Worth?

In Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’”  What He meant is that a person’s love ought to reach in three directions—upward to God, outward to others, and inward to self.

Most Christians agree that loving God and others is important, but is it important to love yourself?  Self love or self esteem isn't considered a Christian attribute.  It’s often associated with pride and self-centeredness—and there are plenty of both in our world. However, that’s not what Jesus meant. He was saying we should recognize and appreciate our worth. God created us in His image so we could have a relationship with Him. Jesus died for us so we could be forgiven and reconciled to the Father.

Since God values us so highly, shouldn't we love ourselves? I’m not talking about a boastful attitude, but a quiet peace that comes from knowing we’re deeply loved by our heavenly Father.

A healthy self-love is essential. If it is missing or in some way incomplete, we can’t really love God or others as we should. A sense of unworthiness leaves us empty and prevents us from looking up to God in devotion and reaching out to others with affection.  God does not want us to have low self-esteem.

The Bible actually has many passages that tell us what God has to say about our worth and our value in His eyes. Genesis 1:27 says that “God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

You were made in the image of God.

Psalm 139:13-14 says “You made my whole being; you formed me in my mother’s body. I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way”.

You were made by God in an amazing and wonderful way.

Ephesians 1:4 says that “God chose us before the world was made so that we would be his holy people—people without blame before him.

God chose you even before the world was made.

In Romans 5:8, the Bible tells us that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”

Jesus died for you not because you were good enough, but because he loved you.

If we focus on how much God loves us and the price He paid to redeem us, we’ll come to see ourselves as God sees us, and that will help us understand just how much we’re really worth as children of God.

Our self-worth is too often based on what other people tell us about ourselves. Jesus is the true authority on our self-worth.  Since He gave His own life up for us by dying on a cross, that should tell us just how valuable we really are.

When we fully accept God’s love for us, we’ll have a healthy appreciation for ourselves, an ever-growing passion for Him, and the ability to care for others.

How much are you and I truly worth? And what value should we place upon each other?  Often we'll look at the work someone is doing, and if they're doing a poor job, making mistakes, then we view that person as of little value.  But is this the correct way of seeing value in someone?

Think about it, if we truly saw the value of people as God does, would we still treat each other the way we do?  Mathew 25:45 tells us, ‘I tell you the truth, anything you refused to do for even the least of my people here, you refused to do for me.’

The key to seeing and understanding the value of you and me and all other people in the world, is to see our value in light of what Jesus did to save us!

Are there people in our sphere of influence who are failing to thrive because we are not showing them the love that they need?

There’s no question that Christians should want to be loved and to love others. But it’s not enough to tell others that you love them – you must SHOW you love others! Love is not an abstract idea. Love must be manifested. True love is not just something you feel – it’s something you demonstrate!

We all need to grow in this area because everybody needs to know they are loved. You especially need to know how to show love if you are a follower of Jesus because He said, "All people will know that you are my followers if you love each other." John 13:35

In 1 John 3:17-18 the Bible says, “What if a person has enough money to live on and sees his brother in need of food and clothing? If he does not help him, how can the love of God be in him? My children, let us not love with words or in talk only. Let us love by what we do and in truth".

We show our love through our actions.  God has asked us to love others to help them thrive.  There are so many people in this world who are failing to thrive.  Are there those that we know who are failing to thrive because we are not loving them – by what we do?

Let’s remember how much we are of value in God's eyes! All of us! And remember to be kind and loving to all the people in this world because of what Jesus has done for us, and the great worth He has placed on each of his children.