Polarities

Polarity is to have two distinct and opposite properties. It has been used all over the world and has sadly crept to believers. It seems you cannot get two believers to agree on anything. Each separately spends time combing through scripture, quotes, sermons to prove the other side wrong. When we go against each other we are missing the bigger picture which is Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Instead of fixing our eyes on Him we are trying to look for the smallest differences and wanting to argue out how our point of view is correct and theirs is wrong. The only eyes we should have for one another are the eyes of Jesus. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus loving Jesus. Jesus who loved us even before we knew Him, who loves us when we are wrong and when we are right, who saves us from our iniquity and considers us His own. Jesus who calls us His little children, who went and bore the shame of the cross so we could be called sons of God. Jesus!

 

When we are drawn to ceaseless arguments and debates about who is right and who is wrong, we are missing the bigger picture. We are getting offended at others and forgetting we can pray for them. Imagine someone who starts walking an 8km journey and another starts 2 hours later, they won't be at the same place on the road. Only one who is on a higher ground is able to see that both are on the same path. One is ahead and the other is slightly behind. Similarly, Jesus has each and every believer in His hands and He knows where each is on their walk. When you and I stop to examine how someone else is doing and criticizing and even using scripture against them, are we really on the way or are we pausing to condemn? Consider the following verses: 

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye. Luke 7:3-5

 

When our eyes, thoughts and focus are fixed on others, they most certainly aren't fixed on Jesus. They are not fixed on His saving grace or the work and transformation He wants to do in our lives. I never want to miss Jesus and I hope you never want to miss Him too and that you never ever miss Him.Would you believe that the one who called you to salvation means IT when He says none that the Father has given Him shall He lose?

All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. John 6:37

Grace is how we all come to be believers in Jesus Christ. We have received the GIFT of salvation, indeed a gift because one that is higher than us gives us what we did not deserve. A gift we did not strive for, we could have never won or achieved by ourselves and a way to access God and become children of God. After receiving this gift we begin to learn more about what the Bible which is our manual for life expects of us, our conduct, our living, our faith and our calling. Additionally, God is our teacher, leading us through different stages of learning and sometimes we ask Him questions, some whose answers we find easily and others after sometime, we give the satisfied, Aha! Now I get it.

Our Father in heaven is patient enough with us His students. He teaches us lesson by lesson until we fully grasp it. So how is it when a fellow student has not yet grasped the lessons we have learned so patiently with our Lord Jesus and is still in session, we start pointing a finger at them and label them the opposite of believers? Why would anyone want to stand self righteous and look around at who to bring down? Why would anyone who calls themselves a believer want to join or rather even do the work of the accuser? I will share a few illustrations from the Bible and hopefully you will be convinced of the reason Jesus died for your sins was to save you and so that you could save others.
 

Nicodemus

People all over had been hearing about Jesus, what He taught and the works He performed. One such man was Nicodemus, a teacher of the law, he got curious and went to see Jesus in the night. When he met Jesus, Jesus spoke to him about spiritual matters and he could not understand. So Jesus explained one must be born again to receive the kingdom of God.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Later on Jesus would explain why He came into the world in 

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

In this passage of Scripture, Jesus teaches a teacher of the law about Himself and how a person ought to live because he sought to find out the truth and Jesus did not turn him away. As believers we have a chance to redirect others to the word of God and to Jesus. When someone does not understand Scripture we can give them grace and room to grow. The real question we can ask ourselves is, are we approachable enough to be able to teach others or is our message full of accusation and condemnation? Are we preaching and teaching Jesus or are we too busy being offended and pointing a finger?

The real question we can ask ourselves is, are we approachable enough to be able to teach others or is our message full of accusation and condemnation? Are we preaching and teaching Jesus or are we too busy being offended and pointing a finger? 

 

Servant who was forgiven 

Each of us has experienced the forgiveness that Jesus offers and we can extend that mercy towards others. The Parable of the Unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:23-25 shows a servant who had a debt and would have lost everything if the king sought to recover the debt in full. He begged forgiveness and the king forgave him. After being forgiven, the servant went and asked a fellow servant to pay him in full and when he could not, he threw him in jail. When the other servants witnessed this, they went and told the king what had happened. 

Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:

33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

 

We have received a gift of forgiveness. Set free by the Son of God, instead of putting stumbling blocks on the way of others we should let them know of the freedom that is available in Jesus that is accessible to all. Let us not use the gift we have freely received to put others in chains and bondage but to spread the message so that others may also be set free by the same Jesus who set us free. Additionally, our coming to salvation should have us fix our yes on Jesus to thank and worship Him each and every day for His sacrifice for our sins. Consider the following two verses:

Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. Luke 7:47

 HAVE we really comprehended the ever compassing love of Jesus that surrounds us? Have we forgotten that the Sovereign Lord is able to use any circumstance, person, place or position for the carrying out and accomplishing of His divine will? Our role is to listen to His instruction and follow the path set for us, following the example God has given us in His Son Jesus. Additionally, we are to listen to the guidance of His Word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. John 14:6

 

Let us receive the kingdom of God like little children having faith in Jesus who is our salvation and rejoice in this salvation! We do not have to follow the way of the world and spend each hour with a magnifying glass finding the discrepancies. Jesus knows the stage each of His children is in and we can count on Him to guide them to the way He has set before them.