And there is me thinking that God wanted a relationship with us so we can call him Abba Father.
A relationship where we respond to his calling to be like Jesus.
Loving the outcast, the sinners, the rejected, the poor man, the prostitutes, the marginalised, the guy who you see begging on the street pissed as a fart who you sit next to and talk to and he pukes all over you but you hold him in your arms whilst he is crying.
You know the nitty gritty things of life.
You sit in the shit bin of life with them rather than look in the bin and say "Walk out of it" You sit in it with him and walk out of it with him.
All these things I do and will continue to do.
I don't mind being puked on whilst hugging someone and stroking their head.
I don't mind being told to stick my Jesus up my effing arse because you lot condemn me because I'm an alcoholic, a smoker a gambler.
You tossposts have no interest in me as a person, you just tick a box and go on your merry way.
Very sad to lay heavy burdens on people rather than love then where they are at in order to show then Jesus.
The Jesus who will set them free from oppression and heavy burdens that society and so called bleivers place on them, the chains that need broken.
Not broken by obedience but as a result of love.
Maybe the guy who puked over me will one day or the guy who pissed on me or the lady who offered me sexual favours for money to get a night in a homeless shelter will see the love of Jesus who accepts them as they are will one day walk the streets and come alongside those who are like they were.
Is that the Jesus you follow?
That's my Jesus who I follow.
There were many drunkards and poor people in Christ's time that He had the power to help, but didn't.
Your post is the perfect example of the defense of those in Matt. 7:23.
I might remind you it isn't a sin to drink or gamble. A man might be consumed with these things which can cause sin, but these things are not sin.
Creating images of God in the likeness of man is sin. Rejecting God's Sabbath is sin. Creating your own "Feasts unto the Lord" is sin.
So while your "works" of feeding random poor people in Christ's Name surely looks righteous, and surly causes you to receive the praise of man, if a person practices "Lawlessness" Jesus doesn't know you. His Word's not mine. Isn't this exactly what Jesus was speaking to in Matt. 7?
Matt. 26:
8 But when his disciples saw
it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose
is this waste?
9 For this ointment might have been sold for much,
and given to the poor.
10 When Jesus understood
it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me.
11 For ye have the poor always with you;
but me ye have not always.
12 For in that she hath poured this ointment on my body, she did
it for my burial.
13 Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world,
there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.
If Jesus doesn't know us, then all the poor addicted homeless folks we help in His name is meaningless. All righteous works of your own. And if you are furthering a religion which "calls Him Lord, Lord", but transgresses the Commandments of God by your own religious traditions, then you are condemning this person to a fate worse than addiction or poverty.
Jesus had the power to feed all the poor and lepers and homeless in His Time, but He didn't. He has the power to give everyone His Grace, but He doesn't. If you don't know why, then I implore you to seek the answer. Not from religious man, but from the Author of my Faith.
Luke 4:
25 But I tell you of a truth,
many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;
26 But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta,
a city of Sidon, unto a woman
that was a widow.
27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet;
and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.
28 And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
29 And rose up,
and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
Maybe it is more important to obey the Word's of the Christ and follow His Righteousness, than it is to tout your own "good" works. Maybe you can then be directed by a God that knows you, to further
His Righteousness to those HE has called, and not your own righteousness given to random poor folks.
Matt. 10:
12 And when ye come into an house, salute it.
13 And
if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it:
but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you.
14 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words,
when ye depart out of that house or city,
shake off the dust of your feet.
I say these things not to anger you, but as the Christ did to those who created their own Righteousness in His Time, to shake you a little so can see the Elephant in the room, and humble yourself under the Mighty Hand of God.
