Casting Pearls- Golden Rule

We all know what the Golden Rule says. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. But few have thought the same rule extends to God too. He did for us as He would have us do for Him. How many of us are willing to give our lives for our children, or our spouses? Our mothers or fathers, our granddads or grandmas? All of us can think of someone that we would try to lay our lives down to save. Why don’t we feel the same way toward the One who laid down His life for us?

The Bible says in John 13:34 Jesus said “ A new commandment I give unto you, That you love one another; as I have Loved you, that you also love one another”. Jesus was telling us that as He was willing to lay down His life for us, we should be willing to lay down our lives for each other.We can all think of someone we would be willing to lay our lives down for, but we can also think of someone we wouldn’t help. Someone we wouldn’t give a bucket of water, if they were on fire. Can we love them too? Are we willing to lay our lives down for them? This command goes a lot further than we think. 

There are many different words for love in the Greek language. The one used here is Agape, meaning without reserve or reason. To love someone not because they deserve it but just because you want too. God loved all of us not because of anything we did. God loved us just because He wanted to love His children, Just because, you might say. We are God’s children because through Jesus we have been made Holy and been able to be adopted into the family of The Lord. I am unworthy, but I AM made me worthy with His Sons blood. The Lord loved us so deeply that He was willing to give up His own son for us so we would be acceptable in God’s sight.

As Christians we are called to show the same love to those around us. Now as a good Father, The Lord has to discipline His children sometimes, or show ‘tough love’ as we call it today. This is still in keeping with God’s commandment. We only need to remember the verse 2 Timothy 4:2 which exhorts us to “ preach the word; be instant in season; out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine.” So we need to be ready, both when we prepare, and when we don’t, to let others know what is right, what is acceptable behavior, what is right for them to be involved in, and teach them to recognize these things themselves, but to do so in a loving and gentile manner, as in 1 Peter 3:15 where the Bible says to “ sanctify  The Lord God in your hearts; and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear.” 

We all should be ready to lovingly rebuke and witness the reasons why we have a hope in Jesus. “My hope lies in nothing less, than Jesus love and righteousness.” There is a reason, for us all to hope, and we are called, as Christians, to tell the world  that they can have that hope too. This fulfills the Great Commission from Jesus, to go out and tell the world about Him.

Casting pearls- Reading your Bible - Past mistakes

        Why is it so important to read your Bible everyday? First off we should as in 2nd Timothy 2:15, Study to find ourselves approved unto God. And in Psalms 111:2 the Bible states that the works of the Lord are great, to be studied by all them that have great pleasure in them. Above all that, if we wish to have a relationship with someone, we spend time with them. Since we can't spend time physically with God, we should desire to do the next best thing and read the Holy Word, His Bible.
          In Matthew 1:3-6 and 17 we tend to get bogged down in the begats, but even there God is trying to point something out to us. In these verses we see the lineage of Jesus up to David the King of Israel. The  verses between 6 and 16 continue this litergy, but what stands out is that four women were mentioned in Jesus' lineage. It was odd,at that time, to even mention a woman in someones ancestors, as  their name and wealth was not usually passed on through them. Yet, these four women were mentioned for a special reason. They were included to show us that no matter how rough a start we may have had, God could still use us to complete His plan. Also you will notice that the men mentioned are not the first born of their fathers. Since they were not the first born, the inheritance of their fathers was not guaranteed to them, so it proves that God was their cause for being prosperous. In some cases, such as Jacob's, it was only by subterfuge that he received his fathers blessing first. God used the people least likely to prosper here on earth, to bring His messiah, so we would see that God can make of us whatever He chooses. 
           First, in Tamar's place, she had been the wife of Judas' son Er. Er had died without an heir so she was given to Er's brother Onan. Onan perposely cheated her out of possibly getting pregnate by' spilling his seed on the ground' and therefor keeping her from conceveing . Onan also died without leaving an heir so Tamar was left in herr father-in-law's house until the next brother grew old enough for her to marry. The third bother Shurah was still not a man at that time(13). When Shurah finally reached 13, Tamar was not given to him but was forgotten, so she took it upon herself to carry on the lineage. Tamar pretended she was a prostitute and seduced Judas as he was was on his way back home one day. and she made him give her his staff and ring to hold until his servant returned with payment of a goat. When the servant returned, Tamar was gone and could not be found. Later, Tamar was found to be pregnate and Judas was going to have her punished and killed for sleeping with someone outside the family, until Tamar produced Judas' staff and ring proving that he was the father of the child. 
            All this story can be found in  Genesis chapter 38, in the middle of the story of Joseph. Not because it is more important than Joseph, but because it had to do with the lineage of the messiah. 
            Next we have Rahab, she was a prostitute in Jericho  and was living in a house bult into the outside wall of the city. When Joshua and the Israelites came up across the Jordan river and camped just outside the city. Joshua sent spies into Jericho to spy out the best way for the Israelites to attack them. The spies were almost caught, but were hidden by Rahab. For her help she was told to tie a red ribbon, or strip of cloth in the window the spies were let down from and she and her household would be spared when the Israelites attacked. Later, when the walls of Jericho came tumbling down, Rahab and her family were spared and joined up with the Israelites. She married a man named Salmon, and had a son named Boaz, who married the third woman in our list.
          The next woman's name was Ruth, and was outwardly the most vertuous woman in our list. In fact other than the Proverbs 31 woman, she is the only other woman refered to in the Bible as a vertuous woman. Her problem was where she was from. She was from Moab, who were looked down upon by the Israelites because of their heritage, and the fact that they had been at war with the nation of Israel previously. The Moabites came from Lot after he had left Sodom and Gamorrah. Moab, their founder, was the son of Lot's daughter after the distruction of Sodom and Gamorrah. She thought the world was ending and everyone else was being killed, so she got her father drunk, and then slept with him. The resulting son was Moab, the product of incest, so the Israelites always looked down on them. 
          The last of the four women mentioned was Bathsheba, the wife of King David and mother of Solomon. She is refered to in the Bible as 'her that had been the wife of Uriah' to let us know that she had been David's wife through adultery, and then murder, commited by David, all in an attempt to cover up his sin. We all know of this story from VBS or Sunday School as children. Solomon later became one of the best known Kings of Israel and built the temple of God.  Great can be our outcome when we allow ourselves to be used by the Lord for His purpose. 
          After all the begats, in verse 17 we see explained that fourteen generations were from Abraham to David, and fourteen generations were from David to the Exile of the Israelites in Babylon, and fourteen generations were from the exile to the birth of Jesus. All this was to show us that there was a unique plan in place for Jesus from the beginning of the Israelite nation, and that no matter how people might have messed things up with their problems and lusts for this and that, God was still able to make His plan work, and He kept it on track for over 6000 years, so what can we do do mess it up? No matter how bad these people were, God still used them for His devine purpose.