Coat Pocket Homilies

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War And Peace

The old testament has quite a bit to say about the kingdom of Heaven, and
so did Jesus in something like thirteen of his parables.

I decided for myself long ago that its venue isn't up. Instead it's down here
on Earth relative to messiah's future jurisdiction as monarch and ruler of the
entire world; which for now is in the hands of the wrong kinds of people.

For example; according to Isa 2:4, Messiah intends to put a stop to war.
Well; just look at the kingdom of Heaven's politics today. War is common,
even in the very promised land itself.

Of particular interest to me is the prediction that "neither shall they learn
war anymore". Well; here in my land, kids as young as six are training in
martial arts; and boastful of the fact that they are able to disable somebody
with their bare hands.

My favorite atheist, Christopher Hitchens, once remarked that religion ruins
everything. He was so right. Well, that has to stop, and it will. Isa 11:9
predicts a one-world peaceable religion; and it won't be given lip service, no,
it will be practiced. (Isa 2:2-3)
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Overwhelming Force

● Rom 3:23 . . All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God

Well; in my own experience, that statement has been 100% reliable because
I have yet to encounter even one person in all my 81+ years who I felt was
successfully duplicating God's sinless perfection. So then, I've concluded that
God has set the bar so high that nobody can reach it. His own goodness is
the gold standard and, speaking for myself, I can't even come close to
equaling it let alone topping it; and that's not a good thing.

● Rom 6:23 . . For the wages of sin is death

Jesus told an interesting parable that just might be apropos in this case. It
goes like this:

"Suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first
sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose
the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will
send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms
of peace." (Luke 14:31-32)

Well, anybody who reads the Bible is fully aware of the supreme being's
capabilities and would much prefer to be at peace with God rather than war
because there is just no possible way to defeat Him; hence the urging:

● 2Cor 5:20 . .We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were
making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: "Be
reconciled to God."
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Kiddy Pools and Deep Water

● Luke 11:1-2 . . He was praying in a certain place, and when he had
finished, one of his disciples said to him: Lord, teach us to pray just as John
taught his disciples. He said to them: When you pray, say: yada, yada,
yada, etc.

When I was a little boy, just about every night at bedtime I recited the
classic lay-me-down-to-sleep children's prayer. In my opinion; a rote prayer
like that one is okay for getting kids started towards a meaningful rapport
with their maker.

Jesus' disciples were full-grown men physically. But they were just babies
spiritually. A prayer like the Our Father is a good place for spiritually
immature Christians to begin, but it's not a good place for them to stay.

●1Cor 13:11 . .When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child,
reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.

Take for example Jesus. Now, I don't know how he prayed as a child; it's
possible that he used a siddur as many Jews do. But there is no record of
him ever even once praying the Our Father. In point of fact, when examining
Jesus' prayers, it's readily apparent that he always prayed in a
conversational style instead of rote. A really good example of his style is
located at John 17:1-26. Jesus' style is the style that mature Christians are
to follow as their role model.

● Eph 4:15 . .We should grow in every way into him who is the head: Christ

● Heb 4:16 . . So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive
mercy and to find grace for timely help.

The Greek word for "confidently" basically means all out-spokenness, i.e.
frankness, bluntness, and/or boldness.

Reciting a rote prayer like the Our Father is not what I call forthright, nor
blunt, nor out-spoken, nor bold. No; it's actually quite childish.

When people have been Christians for some time, and still reciting rote
prayers, I'd have to say that their spiritual growth has been stunted, i.e.
they're not developing properly.
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