Kerygma Basileia Ministries

Love Laughs Last


"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." -1 Corinthians 13:13

The law of attraction states that whatever you think about long enough and give all your energy and attention to will eventually appear in your life. That's because our lives are byproducts of our predominant thoughts. You create what you focus on. As Vincent Norman Peale once said, "You are not what you think you are. You are what you think."

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught that we are not to resist an evildoer but instead yield to them (Mat.5:39). It seems rather counter intuitive at first. But given some deep thought you may come to realize its value and effectiveness in settling conflicts, ending wars and creating peace.

Nowadays, such wisdom is very uncommon. Common sense says that if someone hurts you, cheats you, insults you, fights you, steals from you, or lies to you, then you should do to them as they do to you or even worse. It's the "eye for an eye" or "tooth for a tooth" mindset. But that only creates a ripple effect of more hurt, pain, anger and hate.

The Golden Rule, as taught by Jesus and literally every other spiritual guru that has ever lived, says that you should do to others as you would want them to do to you. Another equally important law states that you reap what you saw. Put these two universal laws together and you have a formula for all of life's successes and failures.

This means that, if you persistently put out positive energy into the universe you'll receive even greater positve results in life. Conversely, if you incessantly put out negative energy into the universe, then you are certain to get an even greater return of negative results in your life.

In other words, if you don't like the results that you're currently getting then you need to change your seed. The seeds are the thoughts and actions that you're constantly putting out into the universe.

There are so many counter this, counter that or anti this and anti that movements, government and non-government organizations that are designed to fight the ills and injustices of life. But inspite of their good intentions, these movements and organizations tend to be ineffective in the long run because they attempt to eradict evil as they see it by using the very same methods, means or tactics that are employed by the opponent, oppressor or perceived enemy.

This erroneous worldview ignores a simple yet crucial principle, which is that it's impossible to defeat evil with evil. Just as you cannot put out a fire with fire, likewise, you cannot beat evil at its own game. Evil can only be defeated by good. Hate can only be overcome by love. And darkness can only go away with light.

The notion that you can make darkness go away by fighting darkness with darkness is simply not sound. Yet that's exactly what the fight against terrorism, drugs and corruption intends to do. So much money, time and energy is spent trying to put an end to the problem and yet very little or almost no action is taken to deal with the root problem. The truth of the matter is that racism, poverty, war, drug trafficking and all other social ills, are merely symptoms of a love deficit in the world. So, why waste resources trying to remove the symptoms and totally ignore the root cause?

The more the war on terrorism and drugs continues the more death, destruction and bloodshed there is. As Carl Jung (1875-1961) put it,"What you resist persists." The reason for this is that the more time and energy is put into fighting or resisting a thing, the more it replicates itself. This is the universal law of focus. So, if you want to get rid of some unpleasant situation or problem, don't spend all your time and energy on the problem, instead, focus on the solution. Mother Teresa wisely said, "I will never attend an anti-war rally. If you have a peace rally, invite me."

Jesus was an example of defeating evil with good. He was never bothered by the fact that His enemies were plotting to kill Him. He never resisted them. Of course, he didn't submit himself to them either. Instead, He just kept preaching and teaching truth. In fact, many times He stood out there in the open before large crowds and spoke words of wisdom, love and peace, to everyone's amazement, both friend and foe.

On various occasions, He was challenged by the religious leaders about something he said or did. And on one particular day they accused Him of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul (Satan). He rebutted by asking them a couple of questions, to this effect: "If Satan casts out Satan, then how can his kingdom stand? If I cast out demons by Beezebul then who do your sons cast them out by?" (Matthew 12:22-29).

In effect, Jesus was telling the religious leaders that it was not possible to overcome a problem by employing the exact same mentality or thinking processes that led to or caused it in the first place. He wanted them to understand that the mere accusation that He was casting out demons by the Devil was foolish in the least. For, it would be counter productive for Satan to cast out his own minions or agents, as that would inevitably sabotage his mission and lead to the collapse of his kingdom. In other words, the only explanation to the miracles He was doing and they were witnessing was that He was operating by a far superior power, which was evidence that the Kingdom of God was present in their midst.

This explains why Jesus never went about wasting his time and energy preaching anti this or counter that sermons. Instead, he was focused on his mission of spreading the Good News of God's love to the whole world. This is how He was able to achieve so much in such a brief career. He did it by focusing on love. He didn't fight the devil. He simply submitted Himself to God's will (see James 4:7). He didn't hate or fight His enemies. Instead, he loved them and overcame the world through love. He didn't go about preaching anti-death or anti-disease sermons. Rather, He preached a message that focused on the kingdom of God. No wonder His life and ministry were so successful!

After all, it was Jesus who taught to love your enemy and pray for your persecuter (Matthew 5:44). However crazy and ridiculous that may appear, it worked then and still works today. If everyone would follow this advice, the world would be a better place. If we all practiced the Golden Rule it would be the end of hatred and all of our social problems. It would be the end of racism, wars, poverty, diseases and moral decadence.

In the Book of Romans, the Apostle Paul writes, "Who will separate us from the love of Christ?" (8:35). He goes on to mention tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril or sword as potential threats. Then he writes the following verses:

But in all these things we overwhelmingly
conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom.8:37-38).

Paul understood that love is the universal law that supersedes all others. He knew that through love you can conquer all evil. Still to the Romans, he writes,"Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse"(12:14). In verse 17 of chapter 12, he writes, "Never pay back evil for evil to anyone" and in verse 21, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good".

Therefore, you cannot overcome fire with fire or hate with hate. If you want to put out a fire you don't add wood to it, you fetch a bucket of water! If you want to get rid of fear, you should go out and do something daring. And if you want to get rid of hate, you need to go find somebody to love. "There is no love in fear; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love"(1 John 4:18).

Bible Offline 1 Corinthians 13:13 - And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

THE PURPOSE OF WORK AND WORSHIP

I observed all the work of God and concluded that a person is unable to discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though a person labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it; even if a wise person claims to know it, he is unable to discover it. -Ecclesiastes 8:17

Whatever your hands find to do, do with all your strength, because there is no work, planning, knowledge, or wisdom in Sheol where you are going. -Ecclesiastes 9:10

When God made man in His image, He gave them the ability to think and reason. This is one of the characteristics that separates humans from animals. God not only gave man the capacity to think but also the ability to work.

God wants to reveal Himself to the world through the work of his children. God worked six days in which he revealed Himself through His creation.

The word work in the Hebrew means to become. So, when God told Adam to work in the Garden and to cultivate it, He was effectively saying to man to become whom He intended him to be. To become a ruler and manager.

God told man to rule over all the creatures of the animal kingdom and trees in the plant kingdom, and over the whole earth (Gen.1:26-30). So, in essence, man became king of the Earth.

God planted the Garden of Eden and placed man in it to cultivate and nurture it (Gen.2:15). This was God's purpose from the beginning and to this day it remains the same.

Adam was called not only to rule over the Garden of Eden but also to manage it's resources and spread them all over the earth (Gen.1:28).

God knew that on his own Adam would be limited in his assignment, so He made him a helper, a woman, to support him in his ministry or work. (Gen.2:18; Eccl.9:9).

Most people tend to think of work as labour, toil or chores. But there's a difference between your work and your job.

Dr. Myles Munroe (R.I.P) said in his sermons, "Your work is what you were born to do. Your job is what you were hired to do".

Your work is your God-given assignmnet, mission or calling. Your job is what you are being paid to do by your employer. You can be fired from your job but nobody can fire you from your work. Your work is built around your innate talents and gifts that God gave you. Your job, on the other hand, is built around your acquired skills.

Again Dr. Myles was fond of saying, you can lock a bird in a cage for a while but you can't take away it's ability to fly.

Birds are birds because they were built with the ability to fly. They are fulfilled when they are flying, not locked away in a cage. Your job is like a temporal cage. You must free yourself from that cage and begin to fly high in the sky like a bird.

You will never become fulfilled, satisfied and happy in life until you discover your work, your assignment and mission in life and do it.

Actually, work is the highest form of worship. In reality, worship and work are inseparable. When you worship God you are effectively working and when you work you are worshipping.

Our religious minds have limited worship to a particular day of the week such as a Friday, Saturday or Sunday. The religious mindset likes to compartmentalize everything in life. Some things are sacred and others secular. But there is only one Holy God, and He wants his children to live holy and worship Him regardless of the day of the week.

And being holy doesn't mean being self-righteous or judging others. It simply means being conscious of the fact hat you have been chosen and set apart by God for a unique and specific purpose. It means that you are aware that you are not here on Earth by accident but that an Intelligent Being placed you here to fulfill your assignment. It means living your life purposefully and passionately.

Worship should not be limited to a church service, sinagogue meeting or prayer in a mosque. Worship is supposed to be well intertwined with our day to day work and interactions with our fellow humans. It's not supposed to be secluded to some 90 minute church service. Singing hymns, dancing, praising and giving is not worship per se. These are some of the ways we can express ourselves in worship to God but it's not limited to that.

As children of God, our lives shouldn't be compartmentalized into sacred and secular bits and pieces. Our lives must be totally surrendered to His will whether in church, the work place, school or the market place.

Most people work six days and rest for a day. This means that most of our time is spent labouring or toiling away at some activity. Some will attend a church service or prayer meeting once or twice a week. Then the rest of the time they will go about doing what they please. But that's not living purposefully.

As children of God, we need not be lazy in our work. Let's do it as best as we can and always seek to improve through learning and continued study.

Finally, let's not forget who we are. We are citizens of God's Kingdom and we belong to God's royal family (Philippians 3:20; 1 Peter 2:9).

So, let's go out there and represent our Heavenly Father as He rightly deserves through work and worship.