All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
In Simpler Terms...
How do we balance scripture? This confuses people often.
For example:
Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. Matthew 5:42
If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Matthew 5:41
And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. Matthew 5:40
Yet if we're to give away whatever someone asks, why then does Matthew 24:43 justify guarding your home? But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
And Luke 3:11 states: John answered, "Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same."
So scripture obviously isn't saying we should give anyone what they ask of us regardless of how detrimental it may be...IE: Just because someone passes your house and has an eye for it and demands you give it to them, displacing your family and children....scripture, no matter how the first 3 verses appear, is not asking that of us.
So how does one address these to someone starting out having not read all of scripture yet or even to one that has and yet is unsure of which direction, even after prayer? Especially when even those trying to explain it have varied ideals. Some would give them the shirt off their back...even if they would freeze to death. But then the widow gave her last to the prophet that she had planned as her and her son's last meal. But in this day and age, not everyone who demands of us is a prophet. It seems most are more like vipers and deceivers.
Views: 142
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Amanda on
-
It sounds like you're asking for discernment about how to apply some of the teachings from Christ's sermon. One application could be to forget about what's fair or what's justice. That doesn't mean we should let ourselves be forced and pushed and compelled into doing something that's sinful, but if we are being asked to do something that isn't in and of itself wrong, then we are to comply, such as stay over for another shift at work when your relief didn't show up. This was asked of me, when I was providing private duty nursing. At times, when the case was a 24/7 and shifts were 8 hours, if I was working 3pm to 11pm but the one who was to take over and work the 11pm to 7am shift didn't show, I'd have to stay over until another person was called in, or stay for the whole shift, if no one else accepted being called in to work it. It was one of the disadvantages of the job, and I had to accept it as part of it if I continued to work in private duty nursing. Another application is to stop keeping score. Even when we know we are right about something, sometimes it's best to just let it go, such as how to fold laundry or when you want something but the other person wants something else. Just let them win, have their way.
-
Permalink Reply by Seek on
-
Where does scriptural wisdom come in though? Not everyone is always aware of the Spirits leading in a particular situation. Sometimes we can confuse guilty condemnation from others with conviction and get scammed all over not using wisdom. I used to think according to some scripture that it meant we were to just sit and take it. That if someone stole from you that you didn't fight them or even go to court over it. But as I kept reading I realized that's not what we're asked to do.
1 Timothy 5:2 says what God thinks of those who do not provide for their household. So wisdom says protect those we love from harm and work to provide for them. So giving away your home or only mode of transportation isn't wise either. But there are actually those who believe that is what we are to do. But to do so puts us in violation of 1 Timothy 5:2.
I'm not talking about going the extra mile as I'm working over but say the extra mile meant more. Like me, if you have a child that must be picked up from daycare at a certain time, do you work past that pickup time? Not a good example but gives you the idea of what I'm asking. Finding balance...how to set one's mind at ease if they're unsure of the right decision.
I dealt with this hard and having someone tell me go with the choice that gives you peace was the least helpful since neither option did...because you believe everything you do is wrong. I've spoken with others and know I wasn't the only one went through this. And people still do. Many won't even let on for fear they'll look stupid or somethin . And there has to be a better way of easing the minds of those who struggle to know the right path to take when faced with two choices and not wanting to do the wrong thing. It's how to balance a passage with other passages so that it makes sense to one who is caught in this crossroad.
-
-
Going the second mile is doing more than what is being required, but the context wasn't based on a life or death situation --putting someone's life or the lives of others in danger or their safety and well being -- but on being temporarily inconvenienced for a short period of time when compelled to do something that would mean giving up your own personal rights and responsibilities, for the time being, in order to do that something, as my example of having to stay over for a second shift at work.
Yes, sometimes, it did interfere with me picking up my son at the baby sitter's on time (I always used private sitters and never used daycares) or if the sitter had come to my home to stay with my son, then it would cause the sitter to have to stay later, too (until either I or my husband would arrive home). It happened many times over the course of my home health and private duty nursing years of work. I had to make sure my sitters knew that, at times, this could happen, just as when I accepted my job, I was warned that it could happen, and one of the reasons I never used daycares was because I would often have to work past their closing times.
As for wisdom, we must seek God for His wisdom, not only for how to interpret His Word but also how to apply it. We pray for wisdom. I also think it's OK to ask others for their insight and help. I think we should choose only to ask a few, trusted people (ones who have proven to us over time that they love God and are wise concerning Scripture) or, otherwise we end up with all kinds of answers, which is confusing.
Luke 17 KJB
1 Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!
2 It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.
3 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.
4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.
5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?
8 And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink?
9 Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not.
10 So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
-
Permalink Reply by thewatchman on
-
I thought this verse was talking about being ready when Christ comes back?
"why then does Matthew 24:43 justify guarding your home? But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into."
Seek, you mentioned in the other discussion later about loaning your car to the neighbor and then they didn't answer your phone calls or return it when they said they would. I was thinking today, would your insurance have covered them had something happened while they were using it? If this is your only mode of transportation, and they aren't covered under your insurance, by law, this is illegal, then, for them to drive it. I think that I might offer to take them where they needed to go, time is giving too.As to someone passing by our house and demanding that we give it to them?....I know there are places in the world where this happens. I have friends from Serbia and they talk about being exiled from their home and country. It is very troubling, that someone, sometime, could basically come in and demand everything you have, own, know, and tell you that it is no longer yours and that you need to leave with nothing. This happens more often than not in places all throughout the world...what do we do...in these cases? We go to the Lord Jesus, in faith, and lay it before Him.
Everything we do is to glorify the Lord and for the benefit of the soul of others. Death could be detrimental to us too, but we are called as followers of Jesus, that even in that, those souls that are presently dying for their faith in Jesus Christ is not too much to ask.
Rev. 2:10 - Fear none of those things which you will suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried; and you shall have tribulation ten days: be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life.
Psalm 27, too, is very encouraging too.
I liked Amanda's reply too.
-
-
After talking this out with someone, maybe this can help make this more understandable:
What I was trying to find out is how to actually respond to someone who was at the point I was at...wanting to please God, yet always worried I wasn't. Always afraid I was making the wrong decision. The difference now and before however, is that I look at: God will direct your path. So if the decision is wrong, God will direct me in it at some point. So it doesn't bring me the terrible struggle I used to have. And I'm trying to look back at that and wondering which response would have settled my heart quicker rather than all the responses I did get. Trying to find a way to respond to any others that face this struggle that will help them to be calmer.
One of the pieces of advice I got often was to "let go and let God". That confused the tar out of me as it should. Cause whenever I asked what it meant, the response was "surrender". Ummmm...okkkkkkkkkk....you mean wave a white flag? In other words, if they cannot explain the terms to someone Religiously ignorant, how on earth am I to ever understand it? Going along, I now get the "let go and let God". And for me it comes back to "God will direct your path"...stop worrying if you're doing right or wrong, God will direct you even if you mess up on a decision when your heart is right...even when you wonder if your heart is wrong...God will fix your heart.
At any rate, I do not want to come at a person struggling with "let go and let God". That sent me into emotional tailspins and made me feel dumber than a box of rocks when people kept saying that, and made me wonder why no one would bother to tell me what it meant. I think that goes to the "so spiritually minded they're of no earthly good". They forget what it was like when they first came to Christ and they speak to those who do as if they should understand their meaning. Sometimes even they may not understand it. But I want to understand it and rephrase it so that it is helpful rather than cliche.
-
Permalink Reply by Leonard T on
-
What you are talking about is a process. There are no short cuts. The process is discipleship and requires the Paul and Timothy method. There must be a mentor willing to walk with the student and a student willing to walk with and listen to the mentor. But, here is part of the real problem ... the church has been under pressure from the outside and has been infiltrated from the inside leading to major confusion. You can find 6 different people proclaiming to be a teacher of the Word and find 6 different methods for interpreting that word. Which is right? Some will say my answer is subjective (I can live with that), but if we truly approach the Word at face value seeking to interpret Scripture by Scripture the answer is usually found and often isn't the answer we wanted to find. Most people approach Scripture with a preconceived idea and seek to validate their idea. They will seek proof texts and pull verses out of context. They will ignore or change the meaning of other text in order to get the outcome they want. The true student of the Word simply wants to know what God means by what He said (exegesis). Oh, and then there is the culture card ... :-(
-
-
You can find 6 different people proclaiming to be a teacher of the Word and find 6 different methods for interpreting that word.
Nahhhhh. Ya think? LOL Maybe that's why I was so confused so much. I wanted to know the truth yet everyone had a different truth. And that made it even harder on me. I know the last thing I'd wish on anyone is to go through that kind of struggle just to get God's truth. There's so much more we could be doing if not held in bondage by so many teachings that we don’t know which is real. But I wish there were a way to impart some measure of peace to someone in such a state, just in the interim until they can be discipled.
I'm not always the brightest bulb in the box but I know enough to look things up. I will look up word definitions, read commentary, examine several translations trying to find the truth in a passage. I read the entire Bible twice without understanding any of it. Understanding began to dawn during my third read. And for an avid reader, we're talking 6 months for one read. And while someone is seeking truth and in the Word, they will have that horrible inner struggle going on which only seems to keep truth more elusive.
Welcome to
All About GOD
The Good News
Meet Face-to-Face & Collaborate
© 2024 Created by AllAboutGOD.com.
Powered by
