\u2018What is the biggest challenge we face today?\u2019<\/b>\u00a0It\u2019s an age-old question, but it is being asked again with increasing frequency. And responses include: \u2018terrorism\u2019, \u2018the economy\u2019, \u2018security\u2019, \u2018climate change\u2019. It is one thing to identify the challenges but another to provide a solution.<\/span><\/p>\n Furthermore, from a biblical perspective, solutions will be different for governments and for the individual.\u00a0Romans 13:1-7 and 1 Peter 2:13-17 tell us that a primary responsibility of government is the well-being, safety and good order of society.<\/b>\u00a0It\u2019s one reason we must pray for our leaders and upcoming elections (1 Timothy 2:1-6). But for the most part, the New Testament focuses on our deepest need and God\u2019s new society – achieved through the declaration of the good news of his love and forgiveness.<\/span><\/p>\n When Jesus was asked the question, \u2018What is the greatest commandment?\u2019 he responded,\u00a0\u201d\u2019You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength\u2019. The second is this: \u2018You shall love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019\u00a0<\/i><\/b>There is no other commandment greater than these\u201d\u00a0<\/i>(Mark 12:29ff).<\/span><\/p>\n These words go to the heart of the law of love\u00a0\u2013 love for God and love for neighbor. The starting point is love for God; we are to love him\u00a0with\u00a0<\/i>all<\/i><\/b>\u00a0our heart, with\u00a0<\/i>all<\/i><\/b>\u00a0our soul<\/i>, and so on.\u00a0It is this\u00a0vertical axis of relationship \u2013\u00a0love for God<\/i>\u00a0\u2013 that our secular material world is missing<\/b>. So it is encouraging that most people still agree that we are more than the sum of our physical parts.<\/span><\/p>\n Significantly,\u00a0Jesus speaks to these two axes or dimensions of relationship \u2013 love for God and love for neighbor \u2013 in his Sermon on the Plain<\/b>\u00a0(Luke 6:20-40). Here he speaks of \u2018love for God\u2019 in terms of\u00a0blessings<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0woes<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n \u2018Blessed are you poor\u2019<\/i>,<\/b>\u00a0he begins (Luke 6:20). While some insist that these words refer only to the literal \u2018poor\u2019,\u00a0the context of Luke\u2019s Gospel indicates\u00a0the poor<\/i>\u00a0has a similar meaning to what we find in Matthew 5:3 where Jesus says,\u00a0\u2018Blessed are the poor in spirit<\/i>\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n He is not blessing poverty\u00a0per se<\/i>, for poverty can easily be a curse. Rather,\u00a0his words are a reference to the spiritually poor, those who understand their impoverishment before God.<\/b>\u00a0He is speaking about anyone who knows, as Jeremiah puts it, that\u00a0the<\/i>\u00a0(human<\/i>)\u00a0heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick\u00a0<\/i>(Jeremiah 17:9). Trapped in the prison of our ego, we have no heart or love for God.<\/span><\/p>\n Indeed in Luke\u00a0the imagery of\u00a0the poor<\/i>\u00a0crosses the social boundaries of class, education, religious association, race, and nation<\/b>. It is a metaphor for those who lack honor or glory before God.<\/span><\/p>\n While Simon Peter and Levi are not described as rich, they were not materially poor. Peter ran a fishing business with his brother and others; Levi was able to host a large dinner party.\u00a0But both men understood they had a need only Jesus could address<\/b>. Peter recognized that a deep gulf existed between himself and Jesus; Levi understood his own alienation. Both obeyed Jesus\u2019 command to leave their businesses and follow him.<\/span><\/p>\n When we understand our need and turn to God, Jesus says,\u00a0\u201cBlessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God\u201d<\/i>\u00a0(Luke 6:20).\u00a0The experience of God\u2019s kingdom begins now \u2013\u00a0\u2018yours is \u2026\u2019<\/i>, he says<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n In contrasting\u00a0blessings<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0woes<\/i>, Jesus turns on its head our way of looking at life<\/b>.\u00a0Society begrudgingly admires wealth, but Jesus says it is the\u00a0poor<\/i>, the\u00a0hungry<\/i>\u00a0and those who\u00a0weep<\/i>\u00a0who\u00a0are<\/b>\u00a0blessed<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0will be<\/i><\/b>\u00a0blessed<\/i>. By contrast, he says\u00a0woe\u00a0<\/i>to the\u00a0rich<\/i>, the\u00a0well-fed<\/i>\u00a0and those who\u00a0laugh<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n While the Bible does not condemn riches, food or laughter in themselves, Jesus points out elsewhere (Luke 18:24) that ‘it is hard for the rich to enter the kingdom of God\u2019. The rich, like the well-fed and those whose only aim in life is pleasure (laughter<\/i>), fail to see there is more to life. Their successes and joys will be in this life only.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The final\u00a0blessing<\/i>\u00a0is the climax to the\u00a0blessings<\/i><\/b>. God\u2019s people will experience opposition in various ways \u2013 exclusion, suffering, persecution \u2013 because of their association with Jesus (6:22).\u00a0\u201cRejoice in that day<\/i>.\u00a0Leap for joy, for behold your reward is great in heaven,\u201d<\/i>\u00a0Jesus says (6:23).Yet, how often are we silenced through political correctness?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n More than ever we need to pray that God will speak into our minds and hearts through his Word\u00a0so that we might know the joy of his\u00a0blessing<\/i>\u00a0and, as opportunities arise, we might introduce him and his love and forgiveness into our conversations with others.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a9 John G. Mason<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CHALLENGES WE FACE TODAY \u2018What is the biggest challenge we face today?\u2019\u00a0It\u2019s an age-old question, but it is being asked again with increasing frequency. And responses include: \u2018terrorism\u2019, \u2018the economy\u2019, \u2018security\u2019, \u2018climate change\u2019. It is one thing to identify the challenges but another to provide a solution. Furthermore, from a biblical perspective, solutions will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1364,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-on-wednesday"],"yoast_head":"\nBLESSED<\/h2>\n
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS<\/h2>\n
\n