Category: Jesus

Every single thing in our life is a morality decision. Whether you believe in God or not it’s all about morals. Recently in our part of the world eleven people came down with e-coli at two separate parties. Instantly the powers that be swooped in to investigate the matter. It was determined that in both cases the meat came from one source. So they shut down the meat market while they investigated and inspected.

How is this a moral matter? Well, employees were denied a wage for the time the market was shut down, the owner of the market was denied revenue, the local and federal government were denied taxes, not to mention the ranchers whose meat was not going to market. See, we decided that at least eleven and maybe more people’s health were at stake and that outweighed the needs of the market. Everything is a moral matter.

Everyday you decide if you are going to flip the guy off in traffic that just cut you off. You decide if you are going to tell that little white lie. You decide if your daughter is going to do something just because all the other kids are doing it. Everything is a moral decision. So what happens when your morality conflicts with God’s?

To live below that morality is to live inhumanely. I would guess that everyone reading this blog today would say that the CDC and the FDA did the right thing with the market. People are more important than money. Human life has to be the most important thing right? But is it?

Does human life outweigh other factors? Not always. The cigarette industry admitted to adding an additive to cigaretts to make them more addictive. Food companies add stuff to their product to get you eat more. Drug companies are continually being sued for their experimentation on people. On a more personal note we ignore people who make us uncomfortable. One of our women from TLC coordinates a group to go to our local nursing home. Today she told us about a woman whose daughter is a Christian but rarely goes to visit her mother. Her mother has two sets of clothes. If she soils them before laundry day, she is stuck. The nursing home has informed the daughter but she hasn’t been by with more clothes. The daughter’s morality obviously conflicts with God’s fifth commandment.

God’s rules weren’t put into place to restrict you and take away freedom. On the contrary, the rules were put into place to protect you and give you more freedom. When we fail to respect people, on any level, it hurts others. When basic manners are set aside it changes the whole face of a society. If history is an indication of anything then we see that once respect for others is gone so is the society as we know it.

When your morality conflicts with God’s there is always chaos. There is always disorder and yes there is always pain inflicted on people. Everything is a moral decision we were designed that way. Let’s not forget it in our day to day life.

Every family on planet earth has things that are discussed within the four walls of their home and are not for public display or discussion. They aren’t family secrets they are merely for private use only. These things are considered family matters.

Do you realize that there are things as followers of Christ that we should discuss within the four walls of the church that do not need to be discussed outside those four walls? There are some things that are family matters. As a body of believers we are a family. When you are in a family there are some things that you keep among each other. You don’t want the neighbors to know because they are matters that only a family would have knowledge of.

Jesus walked among the people for three years. In the time of his ministry he preached a kingdom message. He spoke to all who would listen about a kingdom that could be had on earth. In the time of his ministry he also had disciples, those that stuck close to him and traveled with him. Jesus took those disciples aside and taught them deeper things. Things the public was not ready for. He prepared them for a time when he would no longer be with them so that they could carry on his work. They had lengthy discussions about what he was teaching but if you notice they were always done away from the crowd of followers. It was simply a family matter.

We could all take a lesson from this. When we meet people who do not know Jesus our first instinct is to begin talking about everything we know. First off, it isn’t helpful because most people don’t know what we are talking about. For them, it’s like walking into a movie that has already begun. We need to slow down. We need to talk to them about the things Jesus talked about in his time. He talked to the people he came across about kingdom things that would help them. Things like their own pain and illness and issues that they were struggling with and how to overcome them. He recognized that they didn’t understand the principles of God. He had a message to be taught but the people he encountered had real needs now. They needed immediate help and a resolution if they were going to move forward in their lives. Saying things like ‘Jesus loves you’ does nothing for a person if that person doesn’t know him. It simply sounds kooky. Saying something about knowing the pain of a losing a loved one and what got you through that time in your life is more realistic and helpful. Listening to a need without judgment is better than a trite answer. Remember the family matters are for a later time. There are people with immediate needs out there that need to be helped now. They honestly don’t care that Jesus loves them if they don’t know where their next meal is coming from. They only want to know one thing; can you buy some groceries for them? Can you help?

There will be plenty of time to explain the whole history of your family later. For now, just meet them at their need. Be a friend who can help.