daily java

Daily Java:

I want you to show mercy, not offer sacrifices. (Matthew 9:12)

It is easy to see a God who is mad at us. We do act stupidly an awful lot. You don’t have to be in jail to know that. All you have to do is look around and see what all is happening. We figure that we do so many dumb things that God is angry most of the time and mildly annoyed the rest.

But the only problem with that is God is not made like that.

When God made us, he made us to be with him. In Genesis 1, he made people to be like him so that he could have someone to talk to. In fact the Bible says that in the Garden God walked with his people, enjoying conversation and just being together.

But then, of course, people sinned and couldn’t be with God. God is holy and in our sin we are not. There had to be a way to get back together.

There was where Jesus came in. He made us perfect by his sacrifice so that we could talk to God again.

But people confuse how the talking should be. Do we just stand around and do whatever we want? Or do we have certain things that we have to do, certain sacrifices and rituals?

Those who believe in the rituals and sacrifices will do anything to give them. Those rituals and sacrifices become the most important thing in the world. If they are not done, in their minds at least, God will be angry.

Jesus said – and this was his message his whole life – that God was more interested in what was inside of you than what was outside of you. He cares more for what is in your heart than what is outside. In other words, the sacrifices mean nothing if your heart is not in it.

It would be like giving a present to someone for their birthday still in the sack with the tag attached. That shows them that you had to buy a present so here it is and shut up now about it.

When we offer sacrifices – singing, giving, doing good things – and we do it simply because we have to and God might be mad otherwise (we would really rather do something else), the sacrifice is useless. Just because you do something doesn’t mean anything. It has to be from the heart or it is nothing.

That also means that sometimes you make mistakes by doing things wrong. If you belong to Jesus, he will forgive you as long as you are trying.

And God wants us to use that same attitude to others. They mess up when they are doing things to us. But God wants us to forgive them like he forgives us.

He wants the mercy because that is how he is made. The stuff without the heart behind it is as worthless to him as it would be to us.

God loves you and wants you to love others, hard as it may be. That is the real sacrifice.

daily java

Daily Java:

Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall;
      don’t be happy when they stumble.
For the Lord will be displeased with you
      and will turn his anger away from them. (Proverbs 24:17-20)

Schadenfreude is a term which means a pleasure over the misfortunes of others. It is like seeing a man who drives a Lotus sports car and gloats over it with a flat by the side of the road. While we may have it on occasion, it is not good.

There was a man who worked with my father back when I was a child. He bought a brand new Oldsmobile and bragged on it incessantly. Both he and his family and my dad and our family were going on a trip to the same basic place.

The man told my father how easy it was going to be to drive his new Oldsmobile, it would be so comfortable and how much better it would be than my father’s old DeSoto. This was back in the mid 50’s.

As we drove to wherever it was we were going, we came across him on the side of the road broken down. My father stopped and helped him fix whatever was wrong and they went on their way. My father had mercy, not schadenfreude.

There is an attitude that should be in the heart of the Christ-follower. That attitude is mercy.

It is also one of the things we lack in today’s world. Politics, business, everything is infected with a go for the jugular kind of action. As long as it doesn’t hurt me, it is alright.

The problem is that it does hurt you when you act in an unmerciful way.

Gloating never becomes a person, no matter how well-deserved it may be. Being happy when bad things happen is never good, even when they happen to bad people.

For one thing, it lessens you. It diminishes you in both your own eyes and in the eyes of God. It will not please him for you to be that way.

I don’t believe the passage is literal in God turning from what he is doing and whacking you around. Yet, it will make you less that what you should be.

It is hard to imagine Jesus doing this, being happy when a Pharisee tripped on his robe, or someone who was hurting him got hurt himself.

That is hard to imagine because it was not in Jesus’ character to be that way. He was kind. Even when he was angry. Which he was on various occasions, he still did not slander or wish evil on people.

He did warn of the judgment of God, he did tell those to whom he was speaking that God was not pleased with them and would destroy him. But he did it in a way that told them he would rather it be some other way.

His grace accepts anyone, he accepts anyone. Therefore, we accept anyone. And we do not gloat over the misfortune of others, no matter how bad they may be.

That is because that, even though erring, they are children of God, too. God loves them as much as he does you.

on the other hand

Daily Java: You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven  (Matthew 5:43-45).

In Christianity, there is always an “other hand.” No matter how cut and dried things were, Jesus would always come up with an alternative to the legalistic way of thought that seemed to be the default way.

It is easy as Christians to go with the commands. We do that for several reasons. But mainly we do it because it is easy. Jesus said this, so therefore. When we go with the commands, we don’t have to think about the individual.

But even Jesus recognized that there were times when commands didn’t fit. He saw the individual, not the commands. He knew that it is easy to get lost in the structure.

People are beginning to see that the zero tolerance mindset that America wants to adopt does not work. There are always extenuating circumstances. You see this when you raise your children. You cannot have a hard and fast rule because there is always something that comes up that presents an exception.

The same with life. There are always exceptions to laws. I drove 100 mph on the freeway to get my wife to the hospital when she was in labor with my daughter even though the speed limit was 55mph. There were extenuating circumstances. The same with schools having a zero tolerance rule that says there is to be no fighting. But a child attacks another child and the second child defends himself and is expelled for three days. There definitely should be an exception here. The same over and over.

Not only that, but people make mistakes. Jesus saw that clearly. That was why he came.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” His comment said, in essence, there is an other hand that people in government and religion cannot seem to see.

In John 3:17, the Bible says, For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Jesus didn’t come to enact new laws, but to bring us to God. He cannot bring people to God if he condemns them all. He chose love over law.

For instance, he said in Mark 2:26, The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Those around him were saying (and rightly) that God made the Sabbath for rest so we couldn’t do anything on the Sabbath. He was healing on the Sabbath so they were mad. (People find the weirdest things to get mad at and when they want to get mad, they will find something no matter how good you are.)

Jesus said that God made his commands for us, not us for his commands. When the woman who was caught in the act of adultery was brought to him (John 7-8), his thought was not to carry out the law and execute her. His comment to those around him was that if they were perfect they could start the stoning.

Yes, she was guilty, but on the other hand, so are you. It did not excuse the sin, it loved the sinner. Adultery was wrong, but his mercy brought the sinner to God.

It is our fear to make sure sin is addressed that makes us harsh. It is our love for God and others that makes us remember that the people who are sinning are also loved by God. Jesus knew this.

In the Sermon on the Mount, he says adultery is bad, but on the other hand, so is thinking about it. Murder is bad, but on the other hand, so is thinking about it. And he kept saying this.

He says that if there is a point in which he had a choice between law and mercy, he would take mercy.

Stern righteousness with zero tolerance never works. And it certainly does not display the mind of Christ.

Life is not black and white. There is always an other hand.