I do not suffer fools easily. People are constantly getting on my nerves. [It seems almost as if they are driven to drive my patience to its limit ...possibly. All of God's children are hated by the world since God's Son is hated first. (See John 15:18-19). But this is besides the point.] Regardless, as a Christian I am not to be sinful in my anger toward them. What I should be is loving. I have a brother who never liked me. Regardless of how he has treated me I have forgiven him and forgotten everything he has done to me. However, to this day he still feels uncomfortable around me. He finds me irritating and continues to avoid me when the family gets together.^* Yet I still love him. He is my brother and nothing he does will make me stop loving him. This is the love I should show all of my fellow man.

This is the love we should have for all of man. However, I do not feel this way. I show my pride about the amount of intelligence God has granted me. People who are a drain on my energy I avoid as much as possible. I cannot give them every drop of energy I have. I do not love them the way I love my brother. May God teach me His ways, in Jesus' name, amen.

Recently I was up against another situation where my patience was being tested. I was about to explode when I remembered Christ on the cross. We are to carry our cross daily. I remembered how Christ had no desire for this world and His only desire was to glorify God, our Father. Then the true meaning of what it is to be a Christian struck me like a ton of bricks. We are to be the world's "whipping boys". A plethora of Bible verses/events came rushing into my head (I was remembering many of the verses that apply to this understanding). With that I knew I had to add this to my website.

Everything is meaningless. (Ecc. 1:1)

The flesh counts for nothing. (John 6:63)

The only thing that counts is obeying God's commands. (1 Corinthians 7:19)

God's command was to love. (Matthew 22:36-40)
[I find this idea amazing: the entire set of old testament commands come down to 10 commandments; those 10 are simplified to 2; and those 2 have 1 word in common - love. Is God therefore saying that all those who do not love (Him first and their brothers second) belong to the world? ...as God has allowed me to understand Hos word, yes.]

The example of Christ:
a) at His trial, (Matthew 27:11-26, Mark 14:53-65, Mark 15:1-15, Luke 22:66-71, and Luke23:1-25)
b) beaten in prison, (Matthew 27:27-31, Mark 15:16-20, and Luke 22:63-65)
c) on the cross. (Matthew 27:32-54, Mark 15:21-39, and Luke 23:26-49) ⁺

We are to bare our cross daily through our life and not seek a life in this world.
Luke 9:21-26

21. Jesus strictly warned them not to tell this to anyone.
22. And he said, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life."
23. Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
24. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.
25. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?
26. If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

We are to forgive all who sin against us. (Matthew 6:14)

And so it goes on and on. We are not to seek any thing (money, objects, glory) in this world. We are to be lambs of God.

^*true - see Matthew 22:14
⁺Mark 15:34 - see Psalm 22:1

Sabbath, July 30 ^th @ 4:58 PM EST USA

Pain now; glory later.

Romans 8:18

18. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

I wondered about this very issue. Should I be so upset at always being frustrated by my circumstances: people, places, and things? Or should my hope for the blessing of Salvation carry me through such constant pains? The above verse (Romans 8:18) is the answer. Romans 8:22

22. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
23. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
24. For in this hope we were saved. ...

And so one sees immediately that we should be in some form of suffering - suffering is the normal mode for God's elect. Isn't Christ the "suffering Messiah?" Yes, indeed.

Monday, August 1^st@ 8:32 AM EST USA
Matthew 16:21-28

21. From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
22. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"
23. Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
24. Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
25. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
26. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
27. For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.
28. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

So you can see that in this passage alone the Lord Himself clearly states that all Christians should have the things of God on their minds. We are not to seek the riches (which lead to decay, sin, and death) of this world. Rather we are to keep in mind, and even think in accordance with, the riches of God which lead to rebirth, obedience, and life.

Even Job knew that pain and suffering was our lot and acknowledged it as God's will:

Job 2:6-10

6. The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life."
7. So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
8. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.
9. His wife said to him, "Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!"
10. He replied, "You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

Sabbath, August 6^th 2005 @ 9:45 AM EST USA
And so we see from this 3 lessons:

1. God is Sovereign (v. 6)
2. Satan does harm (v. 7)
3. Man feels pain (v. 8) and must still praise God (v. 10)

Verse 10 is the point for this specific page. Man is in a battle against the temptations of Satan. Satan attempts to get all of man to disbelieve God and His Word (Jesus Christ) and to disobey His commands. As such we should expect a life of pain and suffering - much as our Lord went through. Indeed we are to carry our cross daily.

Sabbath, Sept. 10^th 2005, 11:25 AM
Praise God! I asked God a few times this morning and He indeed allowed me to add a passage to this site. It is 1 John 4. It is a very good definition about how we are supposed to be towards all of mankind.

1 John 4

1. Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
2. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
3. but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
4. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
5. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.
6. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood. God's Love and Ours
7. Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
8. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
10. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
11. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
12. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
14. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
15. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.
16. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
17. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.
18. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19. We love because he first loved us.
20. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
21. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Sabbath, 2/4/06, 8:57 AM EST USA
What is a true Christian?

weakness.

Sabbath, 2/4/06, 8:59 AM EST USA
I changed the answer at the top of this page because I realized, by God's grace, that there is a better way to say it. "weakness." Be weak in all you do, and glorify God alone. The Bible says that God desires mercy. Indeed, how can I be merciful if I carry my anger and my "strength" about with me at all times? I cannot. (something happened this past Friday) So I realized that I must be weak and stop seeking to be a success in the world. Afterall, how can God be my strength if I push Him away and insist that I get my just rights? Did Christ? Of course not. He was weak. Didn't He say: "... don't you know that I could ask my Father to have a legion of angels to deliver me?" The meaning is clear. Be weak in everything you do. I hope to glorify God by not seeking the world any more... if He is willing, in Jesus' name, amen.

Sabbath, 08/22/09, 2:58 PM EST USA
I just realized what we are - in essence - down to the smallest detail ... we are God's "pawns". (This sounds negative, but let me explain first.) Indeed we must obey Him without question. After all, we are the ones who know that He alone is Holy; He alone is Perfect; He alone deserves our obedience; He alone is to be obeyed.

• So when we are afflicted we say "Yes, LORD."
• So when we are blessed we say "Praise God!"
• So when we are obedient we say "Thank You, LORD God Almighty!"
• So when we pray we say "Your Will, not ours."

It's so "simple"! ('simple' is in quotes b/c as His Son told us, "With God all things are possible; with man, nothing is possible.") But it is "simple" in that all we have to do is nothing - indeed we cannot do anything on our own!