Reading the Bible from start to finish through the year is such a blessing. Have you had the same (or similar) experience? If not, just let your mind wander through the stories of the Old Testament and then the New. As you read through the Old Testament, you see over and over and over that God blesses Israel when they live the truth of God’s commandments and maintain their love for Him. Then when they slip into sin, they experience negative consequences. Then God begs them to turn back to Him. Over and over and over. But does God have a goal through all of this? If He does, what is it? By the time you read through all of that and get to the book of Revelation, it is completely clear that throughout history God, our loving Creator and Father, has always and only had one goal. He wants us to love Him, obey His commandments, and live our lives as the true sons (and daughters) of God that we are. He wants to talk to us, His children, and demonstrate His love for us. Only one goal, and yet so many intermediate dispensations and plans to get us to that point.

This morning, while considering God’s goal, I was thinking about the phrase, “Keep your eyes on the prize.” I always thought that phrase was attributed to Martin Luther King. However, when I looked it up, in fact, it was Pete Seger who used that phrase in a song by the same name. Earlier forms of it were found in lyrics to spiritual songs, especially Gospel Plow which says “Hold on. Keep your hand on the plow.” Regardless of origin, it really relates to us as Christians. We need to keep our eyes on the ultimate goal. What IS our ultimate goal? What is the thing that I/we prize the most? My reputation? My image of myself as a ‘righteous person’, my career, my comfortable life? Or has loving and living in harmony with my God and my Father become my most precious and coveted prize? It’s something that I should examine in my life. One way to know is to search my heart and mind. What takes up the greatest amount of space and time in my heart and mind? Is it God? My family? My career? Hmmm. Good questions.

Let’s keep our eyes on the most precious prize, not just of a lifetime, but of all eternity. God our Father.

Here is Pete Seeger’s short but sweet song, in those days dedicated to a very important social issue. We can understand that in those days (and sadly even sometimes nowadays), our brothers and sisters were not being treated as the beautiful children of God that they are. For all of us, we can also think of it in terms of our greatest eternal prize.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdJh0F_vYs8&list=RDAdJh0F_vYs8&start_radio=1

On a recent day, the morning Bible reading was the book of Obadiah.  It’s the shortest book in the Old Testament and it seems that it is not often read.  In it, the descendants of Esau, the Edomites, are severely judged.  I wondered about that as I listened to someone read it.  The punishment seemed quite severe and after all, Esau was Isaac’s oldest son and it seems that he was Isaac’s favorite.  So, what gives?  How would Isaac feel about his descendants being judged so severely?

Thinking about Esau’s life, there are two things that stand out.  Jacob conned Esau out of his birthright over a pot of lentil soup when Esau was hungry.  Then, he stole Esau’s blessing with his mother’s help when he pretended to be Esau.  I will never completely understand how Isaac could have thought Jacob was Esau.  How could goat skins really feel like someone’s hands?  Anyway, it happened, and Esau lost both the birthright and the blessing.  How do you think he felt?  

If we were to translate that story into modern times, it’s a tale that we hear over and over again.  The inheritance.  The will.  The anger between siblings over favoritism, either real or imagined.  Siblings or parent/child relationships broken forever.  

Did Esau keep that root of bitterness in his heart forever?  Did he pass it down to his children?  It certainly seems that he did.  Numbers 20:14 – 21 tells the story of how the Israelites begged Edom to let them pass through their land as they fled from Egypt.  They even promised not to touch anything that belonged to Edom.  They would drink their own water, and just go straight through.  Edom refused and forced them to go on a longer route to avoid passing through Edom.  So, we can see that even generations after Esau passed away, somehow he had kept that hatred in his heart.  Perhaps he told his children, and then they told theirs, etc.  Hatred can infect.  Perhaps the future generations didn’t even remember the reason for it.  They just had been told that the Israelites were evil people, and they carried on that belief.

So, what kind of bitterness, grudges, or hatred do we maintain in our hearts?  I think we all know of a family that was broken over inheritances or some perceived injustice.  I know such a family.  The daughter doesn’t speak to her own mother or brother even though the mother is in her late eighties.  The apparent injustice happened long ago. 

The next generation in that family is trying to mend all of those broken fences.  It’s like walking a tightrope between all of the injured parties.  In the end, hanging on to these grudges doesn’t hurt anyone but ourselves.  Let’s make sure that it doesn’t last another second.  Let’s make sure we don’t fill our children with our anger over a situation.  Let it go. Let’s forgive.

Jesus told his disciples, not just to forgive seven times, but seventy times seven. Then, imagine this scenario. A man being killed in a most excruciatingly painful and demeaning way, looks down at those who are killing him, then looks at his God father and says, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” That man is our hero, Jesus, our Savior. He left this earth without a single grudge, not against those who killed him or even the one who betrayed him. He looked lovingly at the one who denied him three times and also forgave his worldly friends and disciples who abandoned him in his most vulnerable of moments. He forgave them all. As he did, so can we.

FORGIVE

70 X 7 = 490

I’ve been thinking about adversaries lately.  A friend has been having issues with it, and it reminds me of a year long trial of faith that happened in my own life several years ago.

Adversaries go back as far as Adam.  He and Eve had an adversary whose sole intention was to get them to disobey God.  He was quite the sneaky adversary, and they fell for the ruse.  Since then, adversaries are legend.  Joseph’s own brothers sold him into slavery.  When they finally met again years later, Joseph was in a position of power in Egypt.  He could have done anything he wanted to them.  He tested them, and ultimately forgave them, understanding that it was God who allowed the whole situation in order to save the lives of his entire extended family.  Jesus faced his spirit adversary in the desert and came out on top by sticking to the Scriptures and understanding them better than his rival (satan also knows the Scriptures, but obviously does not understand them.).

One of my favorite stories about adversaries outside of the Bible is in Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.  The main character, Jean Valjean,  had a lifelong adversary, Javert.  Valjean had stolen a loaf of bread and was sent to prison.  He attempted to escape, was recaptured and sentenced to a longer period of time.  He eventually managed to escape and Javert (the ever self righteous) continually pursued Valjean throughout his whole life with the goal of puttting him back in prison.  In the end (I hope I’m not ruining the story for you!), the tables are turned and Jean Valjean gets into a position of authority over Javert and even has the authorized opportunity to kill him.  However, instead of killing Javert, in a heart rending scene Jean forgives him, shows mercy to him and lets him go free.

We all wrestle with our adversary throughout our lives.  Sometimes it comes to us in a situation.  Sometimes it’s an actual person.  It can be a long term adversary or many adversaries over the years.  Why does God allow it?  Like Valjean, it’s a road we must travel to see ourselves and overcome.  It’s a road unique to us and our situation in this life.  When we see it for what it is, and learn to find the purpose for which God allowed it, we can find God on a much higher plane and become more like him.  For Valjean, in the end, he is able to say (in the musical), “to love another person is to see the face of God.”  When Jesus overcame his adversary the devil in the wilderness, the Holy Spirit entered into him with all the power he needed to complete his mission.  Ultimately, he met his human adversaries in person through Judas, the Romans, the Sanhedrin, and others who did not understand his message.  He had the power to escape it all if he wanted to.  He had already previously escaped miraculously a few times.  He had even raised Lazarus from the dead, but he willingly gave into the will of his Father and let them kill him.  While they were killing him, he said, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” 

Could we say that of our adversaries?  When we meet someone who opposes us, will we resort to hatred and revenge?  Could we find such love as Jesus had, even in whatever difficulty we experience, and have that same attitude in our heart?  Would we, like Jesus, be able to maintain our faith in the Scriptures, loving and praying for the very person who is contrary to us in whatever way?

I don’t think that we can answer those questions now.  The only thing we can do is day by day, forgive those who trespass against us in our daily lives.  Even if the forgiveness is not 100% real in the beginning, practice until it is.  How do we get to Carnegie Hall?  Practice!  It’s nothing less to get to heaven.

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:44-48)

If you wish, enjoy the epilogue of Les Miserables at the link below.  It’s about eight minutes long.