Considering answers to those faith-questions we all ask…
Tag: CHARACTER
Jesus told his disciples, and by extension us, to stand firm to the end in an increasingly cold world. It isn't easy when you can't trust most of the people around you, when you can't trust your own leaders, when the world appears to be falling apart, and when there is very little or no genuine love or affection to keep you going.
The urge to blame has reached epidemic proportions in the Western world, and I'm probably infected as much as anyone. In a world where I think I'm a good person and right about everything someone else is always wrong - it isn't my fault.
My title may strike some as expressing an un-Christian sentiment. Surely, Christians should like everyone, shouldn't they? What does it mean to "like" a person anyway? I would say that in loving we don't have to like everything people do or say or think. We don't have to like that which is evil or that which offends the Spirit within us. We don't have to smile at something we're convinced is wrong or which we have no affinity for. We have the dignity and right to have our own views, tastes and preferences. If I say I don't like your music I'm not committing a sin. However, we are required and commanded to love.
People often use the words "knowledge" and "wisdom" without distinguishing between them. While the two are closely related, they don't have quite the same meaning. According to the Cambridge Dictionary wisdom is"... the ability to use your knowledge and experience to make good decisions and judgments". This is perhaps a definition of human wisdom at its best. You can have all the knowledge in the world but without wisdom you're prone to making mistakes.
Some of the most difficult words of Jesus for us to accept - believers or unbelievers - speak of blessing and gain through loss, weakness and failure. "Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it" (Matthew 10:39). "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3); "... many who are first will be last, and the last first" (Matthew 19:30).
