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May 10, 2006 Devotional for This
Week
Verse
of the Week: What is it
about our culture? We will just be walking along, as Christians, doing our
thing and suddenly we are smack in the center of controversy and conflict. Of
course, it is not like our faith is just a private thing. Christ sent us to
make disciples of all nations and preach everywhere the good news of Christ. So, we
are probably at fault…or rather, God is at fault…for leading us, His people,
smack into the center of controversy and conflict. In fact,
Christ apparently expected this. When He
taught us the Beatitudes, He saves, for the very last, three ideas that may
seem totally unrelated. However, we should not let ourselves miss their
powerful connections to each other. First, he
says, blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Seems innocuous enough, right! Every one should like peacemakers. We need
peace on earth. There is war and violence and anger everywhere. Yeah,
peacemakers is a good thing. However,
if you have never been a peacemaker, then you are unaware that by encouraging
us to be peacemakers, Christ has just sent us into the center of the battle. In fact,
the reason this is beatitude number seven and not number one is because we
should likely not even attempt to be peacemakers until we have mastered the
first six beatitudes. People are hurt when trying to help bring peace.
Enemies are made when trying to make peace. Judgments have to be made and
right and wrong exposed. As a result, the sons of God are under attack. Which is
why the next beatitude, number eight, is necessary. (Blessed are you when you
are persecuted for righteousness sake, for yours is the Are you
following this? Which
brings us to the last beatitude. This is the one that deals with being
persecuted for Jesus’ sake and receiving the reward of the great prophets of
old. Remember,
this is inevitable for the Christian. Why? Because,
Christ sends us to preach peace with God. He sends us to be
peacemakers between people and their God. As a result, we will end up at the
center of people’s conflicts with God. (Which we know are a result of sin and
unrighteousness. Which is only reconciled by Christ’s death on the cross.) It is
inevitable that those who are unwilling to deal honestly with righteousness,
will end up being annoyed at our efforts to help bring peace. As a result,
they will, at times, persecute us. So, I
guess we should be unsurprised at cultural suicide bombs like The Da Vinci
Code. Many
people are deeply angered that God would point to their sin as the cause of
the problems on the planet. They want peace, but not according to
righteousness. As a result, they creatively produce any and all alternatives
to Christ, regardless of truth and quality historical research. Irritating.
Yet, our
attitude should simply be like Christ taught. We should rejoice to be
peacemakers; willing to work through the God/man/sin conflicts of our
neighbor’s lives. We should be happy when the persecutions come as we magnify
righteousness and Christ. Why? Because,
we know that God rewards richly those whose honor is tied up with His. He rewards
those who care about peace between God and man. He stands with all who stand
with Him. Because
despite those who reject, many will come to peace with God. And that is a
good thing. Something about which to rejoice. So, let
us rejoice at The Da Vinci Code and similar |
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