You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭43‬-‭45‬ ‭NIV‬‬

This world is a contentious place. 

Nowadays you can easily make enemies of friends without even trying—and never know it. 

Unfriended, unfollowed, or worse yet, a comment in a thread demonstrating they’re unraveling over your differences.

More people are standing up for what they believe in on both sides of the aisle. And while free speech should be celebrated, the casualties can be enormous. 

It’s easy to love and respect those who agree with you. It’s much harder to feel the same for those who don’t. 

But. 

In Christendom, that’s a big word usually to instruct us to do what doesn’t come naturally. 

All people matter to God. 

While this world is loaded with principles and values that oppose God, it doesn’t nullify the value of the people who possess them and advocate for their beliefs. 

This scripture instructs us to separate the person from their position and show love and respect for them as children of God as important as those who are already in your camp. 

As far as reconciliation is possible, it’s up to you to take the first step to affirm the relationship. It doesn’t require affirming their position, just respect of it. 

Pray for those who persecute you because of your position. 

As long as we’re here still walking this earth, God’s not finished with any of us. 

“The lord is on my side; I will not fear: What can man do unto me?”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭118‬:‭6‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭3‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The upside down.

If you’ve ever seen the series Stranger Things, an upside down reality exists alongside the one in which we now live.

It’s the ugly opposite reality but stick with me for a second.

Quantum theories posit that multiple simultaneous realities exist.

So perhaps the reality in which we now live is actually the ugly opposite and the upside down reality is the perfect one. One where humanity lives by Jesus’ beatitudes.

Even Gandhi said that if people lived by Jesus’ beatitudes, all of India would be Christians today.

That’s the upside of the upside down.

Jesus completely flips worldly values upside down then calls it blessed.

It’s not just radical thinking, it’s the way of living.

The beatitudes aren’t a set of commands but the life that is produced in us by living an upside down life in Christ.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬-‭17‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The wish of every believer lies in that last verse. 

It’s not unbelievable that God will one day say the same of you. 

Offered and accepted, redemption from sin is, in fact, assured. 

It’s hard to grasp that the very same God and mastermind of all creation, time and space will one day pause to personally greet you with the same heartfelt words he used to speak of his very own son. 

The promises of heaven don’t mess around. They’re as big as our minds can conceive, and then bigger still. 

Our finite minds may be unable to capture such heights and depths of heaven, but Lord knows, trying to is always within our reach every morning.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭3‬:‭7‬-‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Take your broken car to the mechanic and afterward you’ll be seen driving it away running like new.

Evidence of repentance is witnessed in life change.  

John confronted the priests in attendance at the Jordan baptisms with this most basic truth about following Jesus. 

Change follows any encounter with our creator.

James 2: Faith without works is dead. Faith is the root and works is its fruit.  

The rule of continuity is fundamental to human development. 

Presto changeo and redemption’s evidence appears. 

So produce fruit in accordance with repentance. Nobody arrives grandfathered into God’s kingdom. 

Seeing is believing. 

Here in my fourth reading of the Bible cover to cover, today I am happy to again start revisiting the New Testament.

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭2‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬

No casserole. No Huggies. No pacifiers. 

Gold because it acknowledges him as king

Frankincense because it acknowledges his divinity. 

Myrrh because it acknowledges his suffering and sacrificial death. 

These three gifts together reflect Jesus as King, God, and Savior — a humble baby whose life would change the world.

From the very first day, Jesus’ life was predetermined from the start to the “It is finished.” 

Even those with no earthly knowledge of his future path reflected that path in the gifts they offered in this account of a divinely appointed baby shower to which we are all invited.

Requested friends and followers, buckle up. 

A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty. 

‭‭Malachi‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

-All too often, we treat God as if he’s a feeble old man who won’t take notice and can’t tell the difference anyway. We short him what is rightfully his convincing ourselves it doesn’t matter so much. 

Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. 

‭‭Malachi‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬ ‭NIV‬‬

-Of course we know he doesn’t need our sacrifices but has set the practice of giving him our best as a test of our wholeheartedness. 

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

‭‭Malachi‬ ‭3‬:‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

-No better test exists than in our finances, tithes and offerings. 

-It’s a heart condition. 

-Wholeheartedness is offering our very best in return for his very best. 

-Any measure less is a shoddy, halfhearted substitute.

The day is coming when all other gods will be muted. All other allegiances will be silenced. All declarations of faith in false gods will be null and void. 

The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name.

‭‭Zechariah‬ ‭14‬:‭9‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Those led into worshipping false icons and deities as a place of hope and refuge will be abandoned by the truth of Jesus, left holding the bag on which they relied for guidance and direction. 

Many well-meaning, good people will have denied the John 3:16 invitation for another invalidated path to greatness or godliness. 

Hard to hear and harder to embrace, this single truth alienates those who insist on believing they can score god points by living a good life that helps your fellow man alone and apart from belief and faith in the person and purpose of Jesus. 

Absolutes are never popular, but often necessary to separate the sheep from the goats, lies from truth, and heaven from hell. 

I started off and I’m ending up to be a pretty good dad.

For several years in between, notsomuch if I’m to be completely honest as I learned to be in recovery.

My best Father’s Day gift was the one I gave myself almost ten years ago at the hands of a very patient and very mighty God, my own true Father.

It has kept on giving to my growing family who will inherit this world when I am gone and makes me most proud to be and to have been part of their lives.

To all fathers still traveling the painful path of the hopeless, come home for Father’s Day and be the prodigal to which you’ve been called but have yet to answer.

It’s a gift that will bless your family for generations. It will make this one a Father’s Day everyone remembers.

Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord’s wrath. In the fire of his jealousy the whole earth will be consumed, for he will make a sudden end of all who live on the earth.

‭‭Zephaniah‬ ‭1‬:‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

-I bet you missed it. 

Read that verse again. 

If you miss it, it’s literally not the end of the world. 

-Jealousy is the driver of God’s wrath. 

-Nothing makes God more angry than when his creation misdirects their love and worship to idols and false gods. 

-He is jealous like a jilted lover, only much much worse. 

-What’s it like to have a god who is so deeply and madly in love with you, so much so that when you seek a relationship with something or someone else or elevate a creation of your own hands to god status, he flies off into a rightful jealous rage?

-Most of us concur that nobody has ever loved us so much that our unfaithfulness has provoked  such response. Add our accumulated sins to the mix and it’s even harder to believe anyone might love us at all. 

-Yet, that’s the mystery of our faith. A loyal, monogamous relationship between a faithful God and you, his creation, warts and all. 

-Jealousy is the heartbreaking concern that you believe you can be happier with another.