Nelson Mendela on Fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

A Channel of Blessing

This is going to be very brief, and somewhat surface.

Part of the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12, or the heart of the Old Testament was God's promise to make Abraham's descendants a great nation, and that all the peoples of the earth would be blessed through him. In return, Abraham's descendants would have to serve and worship the LORD, the God of Israel, and Him alone, thus setting them apart from the pagan tribes and indigenous peoples around Abraham's convoy. These 'others' practiced other forms of ancestral worship and mysticism, giving up their children as child sacrifices and performing other rituals and rites of worship in servitude of a pantheon of naturalistic and ancestral pagan deities. Through Abraham and his children, the whole world would receive blessing, simply because of their faith and of their covenant with God. That was the agreement.

Today, we who are under the new covenant of Christ's blood are not that different. Through us, the spiritual children of Abraham, the 'father of faith', we still can receive and channel His blessing - not through some kind of vague mystic ephemerality, but by being real, day-to-day forms of encouragement and spiritual support for those around us. St. Francis of Assisi, who pledged his life and his order to the servitude and ministry to the poor, wrote this prayer:

"Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, your pardon Lord;
Where there is doubt, let there be faith;
Where there is despair let there be hope;
Where there is darkness let there be light;
And where there is sadness, let there be joy.
O, Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
And it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life."

~ Prayer of St. Francis

Today, you and I can still channel that same spirit of blessing to the world around us. "I will make you a great nation, and all the peoples of the earth will be blessed through you." Let us continue to bless this world around us, not because we can, but because the God of all grace empowers us to. A kind word, a gentle touch, a warm hug, a true smile, a patient heart, and a forgiving spirit are all blessings that money cannot buy. On the other hand, material blessings too, can be part of the Abrahamic blessing. Do you have another tunic? Give to him who has none. And so, "let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven".

Will you pray that the Lord make you "an instrument of His peace"?

Selection from the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:38-42)

In the early chapters of Matthew, Jesus goes to a mountainside to teach the crowds which had gathered to hear HIm. After pronouncing the revolutionary Beautitudes, or "beautiful attitudes", Jesus then proceeds to invert the priorities and modes of thinking of the day, presenting the astonished people with a new moral code to live by, and for His disciples to emulate.

In Matthew 5: 38, Jesus quotes the teaching of the Pentateuch and its straightforward model of justice which accepted an "eye for an eye" (Exodus 21:24, Lev 24:20, Deut 19:21). According to this system of moral justice, the victim was entitled to inflict equal pain or loss to his oppressor or enemy. Retaliation, and swiftly so, was key and emphasised under this Law.

Jesus makes it clear though when He says, "But," indicating a contrasting thought or departure from the preceding statement. "But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes on the right cheek, turn to him the other also...If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles." (Matthew 5: 40-41) It's interesting to note that Jesus uses the same opening phrase "But I tell you" the same way He does throughout the Sermon on the Mount (e.g. Matt 518, 22, 26, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44, 6:2b, 5b) and uses that phrase to distinguish His teaching and His prophetic voice from other rabbinical teachings and prophecies. The rabbinical law system was designed to accumulate interpretative teachings and readings of the Scripture, and it became difficult to completely understand the contrived and complicated intellectualism of the rabbinical scholars. When Jesus says, "I tell you the truth", He underscores His personal message and the weight of His name on the teaching. In other words, Jesus delights personally if you heed His personal teachings, which call for submission to God even in circumstances of violence, suffering or oppression, and even surrendering one's rights.



The IBLP (Institute of Basic Life Principles) run by Dr. Bill Gothard stresses this principle of basic living, 'surrendering our rights' and releasing them into God's hands. (http://iblp.org/iblp/) In Matthew 5:40-41, Jesus uses the analogy of Roman law's oppressive force upon the Jews to illustrate this very point. According to Roman law under Caesar, any Roman soldier had the power to take hold of a Jew and force him to carry his heavy standard-issue backpack and supplies, up to a distance of a mile before he was free to go about his business - this was customary Roman law. Jesus taught that if one of His disciples were to be faced with this kind of injustice and oppression, they were to be cheerful, and even offer to 'go the second mile.' That's where we get the phrase from today, typicalising cheerful service and going beyond the 'call of duty' - another phrase we trace to Christ's teachings. Similarly, when one was slapped - a sign of grave physical insult and disrespect, Christ's followers were to hold in their rage, and even offer the other side for chastisement and humiliation.

What kind of people did Christ expect to follow Him - long-suffering, patient, supernaturally-gifted and tolerant believers who find it easy to get along with others? No, Christ's followers were like me and you - intolerant, impatient, selfish, proud, busy, cosmpolitan, quick-tempered, sensitive and petty men and women. Peter, in particular was known for his rage and quick-tempered, retaliatory ways, going so far as to slice off a Roman soldier's ear when in a fit. Likewise, Paul, otherwise known as Saul was legendary for his enmity and hatred of heretic followers of the 'Way'. In that sense then, we are all to learn waht it means to adopt this revolutionary 'turning of cheek' and self-sacrifice. At the heart of Christ's teaching was humility and meekness, which entitled you to 'inherit the earth'. Be as meek as lambs.




Application:
Can you surrender your rights today? What things in your life do you have particular problems letting go of? Your pride, ego, position, money, or power? Do you think God is calling you to revolutionarily let go of the precious things? If you put the King on His throne in your heart, will He have full ownership of all your property, resources and time? Your face, reputation and profile are not your own, neither is your time. Christ bought it all with His blood - it belongs to Him, leased out to you and me.

Works in Progress

I was encouraged by something someone said to me today. She told me not to give up hope in Him, and instead to keep praying in all circumstances, never giving up. Jesus is the author and perfector of our faith, she said, quoting Scripture to me.

Hebrews 12:1-2 reads, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."

Jesus, the "author and perfecter of our faith". The Greek word for "author" is archegos, or chief, leader, author, captain, prince; derived from ago which means to lead; by implication, to bring, drive, (reflexively) go, or induce. The Greek for "perfecter" is teleoites or a completer, a consummator, a finisher; derived from teleioo which means to complete, accomplish, consummate. Jesus is the one who induces our faith, begins it, and gives it a beginning. Similarly, just as Philipians 1:6 says, "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it till the day of Jesus Christ." He will bring it to completion.

What does this mean? Does it suggest that my faith now is imperfect, and that I need to wait to make it completely good? Well, simply for an exhortative point of view, we're all works in progress and need grace to wash us over. Just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you can't sin, can't be depressed, can't feel down, can't feel out of it - we're not immune to all these things because our spirit still resides in this body, and the imperfections of the fallen world are going to be with us until we return to Him.

But it makes good sense that Hebrews encourages us to remember that He is the beginning and the end of it all, putting our temporary here and now in the perspective of then and there. We may not be perfect now, but we are perfect through Him who made no mistakes. We aren't immune, but we have an eternal hope in Him, because He paid it all for us. One day, we'll be completed.

In Prince of Egypt, Jethro sings, "a single thread in a tapestry can never see its purpose, in the pattern of the grand design". It's true, isn't it? One day, we will be finished, completed, pots of clay made beautiful by the Potter's loving hand.





So if you're down and out, like I was, let's look to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. We're works in progress, but we will be completed eventually, and it'll all be beautiful.

Beautiful, beautiful
Jesus is beautiful
Jesus makes beautiful
Things of my life

Carefully touching me,
Causing my eyes to see
That Jesus makes beautiful
Things of my life.