Testing...Testing...One...Two

Sorry so long.

The new covenant Jesus ushered in is so much more than rules, it gets down to the heart of each matter. The new covenant that Jesus established became deeper than checking off surface rules and became a matter of the heart. Two laws are 'on the books'.

Luke 10:25-28 "An expert in the law stood up to test Jesus and asked, 'Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus replied, 'What is written in the Law? How do you read it?' The man answered, 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and Love your neighbor as yourself.' Jesus said, 'You have answered correctly.'"

Matthew has a little different wording that we need to take note of. Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Note: the words in blueish. All the Law...hang on these two commandments. All. Everything. Whole.

In my last post, I said I would test and see if all our situations could be filtered through these two commandments. Although I cannot list all circumstances here, you will get the point of how to be intentional in using these two commandments.

1) Situation: Road Rage- Going to church one Wednesday night, a truck going 20 pulled in front of                 me in a 50mph zone. The cars behind me had to jerk into the next lane to go around us as I slammed on my breaks. I gave two quick honks just to say, "Hey, I'm here," because I thought maybe he did not see me. He flipped me off.
Filter: The Word of God says to love your neighbor as yourself. Philippians 2:3 says to think of others as better than yourself.
Deliberate: "It is mine to avenge, says the Lord." I could honk more and return the gesture. I could give grace knowing I don't know his situation. He could have just lost his wife or his job or just run over his daughters favorite cat.
Action: I went to church crying and put him on the prayer list and I prayed for him.
My thoughts: There is not a law for a chariot running out in front of other chariots or people in the old testament Law (I read all 613), but the new, in-your-heart, covenant covers this situation.

2) Situation: Technology
Filter: Word of God says to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.
Deliberate: Does tech take away from my time with God making my heart divided? Do I look at it first thing in the morning and last thing before I go to bed instead of praying or reading the Bible? Do I watch tawdry shows? (tawdry means having cheep or ugly appearance; morally low or bad) 
Action: Decide you have a healthy balance of tech in your life with God being the main focus. Decide to limit yourself on time 'wasted' on tech. Decide you need to immediately stop consuming ungodly porn or commenting lewd comments on social media. Decide to stop watching questionable shows.
My thoughts: 'Questionable' and 'moral' can have a different definition for everyone. Some may say CSI is tawdry. I happen to like it and watch it folding clothes. I know a CSI and she said her job is exactly like the show except what they get done in one episode, it takes them months to complete.
   
3) Situation: Eating- Someone I know continually tells people they are wrong for eating pork because it is against the Torah.
Filter: Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, strength and mind AND love others as yourself.
Deliberate: There are several scriptures that say everything is clean so love Lord by transitioning into the new covenant and not being stuck in the old: Paul says in 1 Timothy 4:3, people who have abandoned the faith "forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth." Also, Peter's vision in Acts 10:10+ describes God holding a sheet of clean and unclean animals down to Peter and telling him to kill and eat. I know that is a lesson on how Gentiles are included in  the plan of Salvation. I also read in some commentaries that that does NOT mean all animals are clean to eat. However, why would God show Peter the clean and the unclean if He really did not want Peter to choose an unclean animal. God does not tempt. God does test, though.  What if Peter would have chosen a pig? Would God scold Peter? No. That would have spoiled the whole concept of Gentiles being include in Salvation. If Peter would have chosen a clean animal, the concept of unclean and unclean would not have been explained by the vision at all. God said in verse 15, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean." I don't understand how the commentary could say that this vision was only about the Gentiles coming into Salvation and say the example used did not really mean what the example depicted.
Action: This action is personal like I described in a previous post. If you feel it is betraying your conscience and your relationship with God, then don't eat pork or meat on Friday...or whatever (and a whole host of other issues: guns, worship, politics, organic, stay-at-home-mom, on and on). But, trying to make other do the same and put guilt-trip on them, is not good either. Romans 14 says, "Each of them should be full convinced in his own mind...Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord...whoever abstains does so to the Lord...nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean." 
Another action to consider is abstaining from eating pork or meat if you are in presence of someone who will be offended. Deny yourself while in their presence because you are thinking of their conscience first. Romans 14 says, "All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble... So whatever you think about these things keep between yourself and God." 

One more: 

4) Situation: Clicks- Being shunned never feels good. Do you deliberately avoid or keep away from people or situations?
Filter: Treat everyone as better than yourself.
Deliberate: Shunning in the Bible is a form of discipline, expelling, excommunicating and deciding someone is unworthy. Colossians 3:12 says, "Put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience...bare with one another, put on love that binds it all together in perfect harmony."
Action: Be aware of your surroundings and the people in it. My example: I went to a game and sat with a lady I didn't know well, but she was alone. Then a line of ladies arrived and said 'hi' to her-not me- and sat 6-7 rows away. After a while the lady excused herself to the concession stand. When she came back, she passed me and sat with the other ladies, leaving me alone. It would have been nice if she would have said, "I want to go talk to them, come sit up here with us."

Sorry this is long. I could go on and on with the examples and putting them into one or both of the new, heart, commandments Jesus wanted each of us to live by. If you have any other examples, I'd love to hear them.  











not so much don't touch, don't taste don't... VS