Friday June 10, 2011

Speaker: Ben Sigman

Theme: Joseph: When People Let You Down

Weekend Music links on iTunes: All About You, God Is With Us, Your Love Never Fails, Like an Avalanche

Read: Matthew 5: 1-16, 38-48

Think: If we are going to navigate the difficult things in relationships, even when someone fails us as Pastor Ben talked about, we have to submit to the ways of the Father. The Apostle Paul said, "Do everything possible on your part to live in peace with everybody" (Romans 12:18). Peace always has a price tag. Sometimes it costs our right for revenge, or our pride, it usually it costs our self-centeredness.

A paraphrase of Jesus' seventh beatitude says, "You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family."  There is a spiritual exchange that happens when we choose the path of peace. But understand that when we choose to pursue peace we aren’t avoiding conflict, running from a problem, pretending it doesn't exist, or being afraid to talk about it. That’s actually cowardice. It’s also not appeasement. Always giving in, acting like a doormat is not what Jesus had in mind either. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, was never afraid of conflict!  He refused to back down on many issues, standing his ground in the face of evil opposition. What it is about is the attitude and condition of our hearts.

A friend just emailed me a very fitting poem by Mother Teresa that speaks just to this:

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered, Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives, Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies, Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people will cheat you, Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight, Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous, Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will forget tomorrow, Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough, Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God,
It never was between you and them anyway.

Do: Determine to respond to any challenging relationships you’re dealing with today in the Spirit that Jesus himself conveyed – with mercy, with care, with a commitment to restoration and peace. And do so with the full awareness that the whole exchange is about the vertical relationship – You and God. It’s not really about the horizontal – you and the person.

Pray: God I stand before You wanting to do the right thing in your eyes. Help me to know what that is and to respond to the difficult people and relationships in my life with the same attitude as You. Help me to pursue peace, to press on even when others will fail me and disappoint. For I know it’s not about them, it’s not about me, it’s about YOU! Amen.

The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.