The Lord has been showing me so many things in the last couple of weeks, so many things I previously thought He wanted because it is what makes Him happy, but really the more He pressed these revelations into my heart the more I realized, it’s all really for us. We go through life sailing through the storms and things happen and we worry, we get mad, we get angry, we get scared and stressed out. That’s all normal, right? We grow up, become adults and we face life, that’s just how it is.
What if I told you the way you reacted to situations in your life, is a choice. You’ll probably say: “Well if someone smashed the windscreen of my car or steals my things, I would get mad, I would get really mad and that’s normal, it’s to be expected. I can’t help it.” But that’s just the thing. You can. You can help it. You see there are so many verses in the Bible, things Jesus said that seems like its things He only wants from us, but if we put our selfishness aside and we read into these verses with our heart we will see that it’s not only things He wants from us but things He wants for us.
In Matthew 5:38 – 46 Jesus talks to us about love for our enemies. Now I know what you’re thinking. This is a thing so many people have preached about and whenever someone utters the words “love your enemies”, we tend to take a deep breath, because this is such a hard thing to do, some would say nearly impossible, but if we could only understand how much joy, how much freedom there is to be found in this, we would be such rich people. You see we want to think God has given us treasure in things like provision, health and wealth but the most precious treasures are hidden in the things we think will ruin our day because sometimes there is much more to win in losing.
Jesus says that we should turn the other cheek. It doesn’t mean we should invite people to mess with us. He’s trying to teach us that whatever a person is causing you to lose or endure, sacrifice it. If it’s your time, money, sleep whatever it is, give it up. If you are faced with a situation where something or someone is causing you to lose something and you have handled it appropriately with kindness and it still persists, you can either react with anger, frustration, irritation, impatient and lose anyway or you can cut it lose, give it up, stay humble, kind, patient, treating them with mercy and still lose what you were going to lose but THEN, you get to keep your peace. You get to keep what really matters. You get to keep peace, joy and freedom from anger and stress. THAT is real treasure.
Still we go and we give it away so easily, every day, for simple things like a parking spot someone steals, someone cutting in the que your standing in, something that’s not working right or having to go back to the IT guy 3 times. There is just so many things that can ruin our day so easily and steal our joy and peace, steal our happiness, but ONLY and I will repeat that, ONLY if we let it.
This sounds crazy, because you can’t just stop getting angry or frustrated, things happen and it’s not in our control, right? That is true yes. It’s not in our control, but what IS in our control, is how we react. I’m not saying it’s easy to turn the other cheek and cut it lose, I’m saying its possible. If you walk with Christ and seek Him in everything, He is going to change your heart and give you what you need, to do this. You are not going to wake up tomorrow and be filled with some kind of care bear magic and go hug someone if they just ran over you dog.
No, this takes training and dedication. You will need to dig deep into every layer of selfishness, temperament, perfectionism, control addiction, pride or whatever it is that’s causing you to toss your peace out the window every time something happens that’s an inconvenience to you. You will need to reset your way of thinking. The word of God says: Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is, His good, pleasing and perfect will. – Romans 12:2. You will need to learn to sacrifice, in order to get to that treasure. Someone can take your wallet without your permission but they can’t take your joy if you don’t let them.
Here comes the cherry on top, like this couldn’t be life changing enough. In the last part of Matthew 38 – 46 Jesus says this: “But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, THAT YOU MAY BE SONS OF YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” I don’t think I need to explain. Just a few verses before that, He says this: “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16) and a few verses before that He also said: “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.”
You see the more we empty ourselves of us, the more space we give for the Spirit of God! The less cluttered our hearts are with darkness, the more space we give for our light to shine. People will much rather listen to what they see in you, than what you say. St Francis of Assisi once said: Preach the Gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.
We think purity is being without sin and keeping to the commandments, but purity is being without selfishness, hatred, anger, jealousy, impatience etc. Purity is taking everything OUT, that cannot be done with love. We think treasure is everything we can gain for ourselves, like wealth, accomplishments, success, looks, skills and we pray for these things because we think this is what will make us happy, but in actual fact, these are the very things that steal from us, that binds us to this world, that conforms us to this world.
These are the things that has the ability to steal our joy and peace, because when we seek these things, we are building treasure where the enemy can destroy. Patience, kindness, mercy, grace, wisdom, indurance, obedience and learning to make self-sacrifice for the opportunity to display love, THAT is treasure we are building in heaven (Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. – Matthew 6:19 – 21)
Jesus is trying to teach us that we will gain so much more than what we will lose. Don’t try and love your enemies, we are not capable of that, we can only give love, because we receive it (We love because He first loved us. – 1 John 4:19) Just rid your heart of selfishness, pride, anger and all the other things that keeps love out, then love is sure to show up, because love has a name and its name is Jesus Christ. (1 John 4:8) You only need to give Him space and He will move in and joy and peace and freedom will come along with Him. Where He is, love will reign. THAT will be your light, THAT will be your purity, your salvation, your redemption and your most valuable treasure.
Have you ever seen a movie where the good guys shoot the hostage? They take away what the enemy is using against them. That’s what we need to do, we need to die to ourselves, we need to give it all up, as it is written in Matthew 16:25 “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it.”
Blessings, Miryna van As