Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you.
Matthew 7:7, Luke 11:9

For everyone that asks receives; and he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks, it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his sons ask bread, will he give him a stone. Or if he asks a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?

.........
As I hear Jesus whisper this into one ear, I cringe because into my other ear I hear a chorus of raging souls who have begged God for something that was crucial to them, which they did not receive, or they think they received the serpent instead. I have heard tales of people who sought and didn't find, who knocked and the door did not open. I have been that person. This generous offer from the most powerful Man on earth is taken as a lifeline for drowning people. This is serious business. People die when the lifeline breaks. Pay close attention to how to hit this mark. God help you if you don't get it.

With every other command, for every other mark the action is between the aspiring immortal and the mark. Easy. One person aims and either hits the mark straight on, or misses and tries again and again with help from the Holy Spirit.  In this case a response is required. This is not archery, it is tennis. 

Playing ball with God the Father exposes a person to amazing grace, wishes come true and doors open into heaven. The one who gives what you ask for, the one who shows you where to find what you are looking for, and the one who opens the door you are knocking on, is not wearing a watch, and nothing but the best is good enough for you.

Yes,  everyone is guaranteed a response, but for God timing is essential. Sarah's  impatience is at the root of never-ending wars between Jews and Arabs. Impatience can be deadly. You miss the mark when you give up, or stop waiting at the closed door. Did the person you pray for die, or become sicker or more depraved? In this too, be patient. Death is not the end; it could provide perfect health and happiness for your beloved.So take off your watch too and wait for the response that will exceed your wildest imagination. 

Ask - wait and receive.

Seek - wait and find.

Knock- wait and watch open.

Patience is a virtue.

Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you. Matthew 7:6

While dogs and pigs can be playful and even lovable they cannot distinguish between the sacred and the silly. Neither aspires to anything more than a full tummy and an empty bladder; they are 90% physical and 10% emotional. If you hand a Bible to a dog or pig he will tear it to pieces for fun. Even if you read it out loud in barks and oinks, the smartest animals in the world could not listen. So what is the point?

While the sun and rain fall upon both the good and evil, and all men are created equal and we are all endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, the sad truth is that people are unequally able to receive the sacred. Some people are doggish and others are piggish. This mark warns us not to even try.

The ungodly are as callous and unreceptive as dogs.  The immoral, like swine who love to wallow in mud, would rather lie or cheat or steal than admire your pearls. This command admonishes aspiring immortals to preserve and protect the integrity of the sacred.

Yes, the Great Commission directs us to spread the good news that immortality was made possible by Christ, and invite the interested to be baptized, but stop with the invitation and let the Holy Spirit take over. Jesus said that no one comes to the Father unless He draws him or her. Wait and see who God chooses.

We are not selling widgets, we are not selling anything. When we give holiness to the holy, we are hiking up a mountain with friends, sharing light and water.

Peace.

The fifth commandment demands that we honor mom...every day. 

They need more wine.  (Jn 2:3) Woman what does your concern have to so with me? (Jn 2:4)  Whatever He says to you, do it. (Jn 2:5)

One man said he would do it and did not, the other refused, but regretted it and and went. Which of the two did the will of his father? (Mt 21:28)

Look your mother is seeking You. Who is My mother or My brothers?  For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and My mother. (Mk 3:33-35)

John, behold your Mother. (Jn 19:27)

This mark says to do what she asks, whether you want to or not.

Never leave your mom vulnerable. Care for her. If you must go, then find John and turn her over to him.

Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.

Matthew 7:1, Luke 6:37, 41, 42

The quest for similarity in everyone we come to know reminds me of God’s desire for us to return to His image and likeness. It seems as natural to criticize and condemn others as it is to inhale.

The brilliant pre-sun kind of light, the light of Tabor that shines upon every crease of human psyche curbs our pension to turn every good and holy characteristic of our Father into a win for His arch enemy. Criticism and judgment are as pervasive on this earth as oxygen and carbon dioxide.

There is a kind of good criticism though, the kind that is employed when, we go to our brother who sinned against us, privately, to point out his fault, the kind required to combat true evil in every form. Judgment, discernment, discrimination are essential on this old earth.

Aspiring immortals, if we are to live need fancy footwork indeed to dance on these stepping stones of correct criticism and judgment lest we fall into the serpent-filled mote.

It is better to turn that Holy Gene of the quest for image and likeness for everyone around us, upon ourselves. Once again, the truth is simple and repetitive. We who want to be immortal work so hard at becoming Godlike that there is no time or energy left to try to make others into our still immature selves.

So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Matthew 6:34

God loves reality. He hates lies because of the way they distort it. God likes reality to be pure and clean and true, like a fragrant pink spring rosebud.

Reality only resides in the ‘now’ zone. Memories distort reality and of course worrying about tomorrow does too. Worries about tomorrow are no more real than fairy tales and Star Wars. Don’t get God and me wrong, make-believe is fun! Stories, whether in books or on film, are very entertaining. But reality is God’s story and it is the most interesting, the most complex, and of course, the most interactive story ever.

Ask any sniper how important it is to stay focused and not to think about the future, even what you will eat for dinner, or the past, even about who hurt your feelings yesterday. Snipers, like aspiring immortals must focus on the real true mark now!

Jesus doesn’t want us to worry, but for Christ’s sake let’s only worry about the real matters of today. 

The commands of Jesus are the Mark, the target for the perfect life. To aim for and to hit the Mark is to conform to the image and likeness of God. To ignore, neglect, or miss the Mark is to sin. The commands provide stepping stones through earthly life, upon which the child of God survives tempests and deflects the boomeranging darts of pride. Adhering to the Mark aspiring immortals gain victory.

Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? …But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness (read: aim for the mark, obey these commands), and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:25-33; Luke 12:22-31

Only someone like God could command you to do something that is so healthy. Telling us not to worry is like grabbing the bag of potato chips out of our hand and giving us an avocado instead.

I remember the days when I had a lot to be very worried about. Self-employed people do not get regular paychecks. Weeks could go by with nothing in the mail but bills. Oh yes, and the letters from landlords giving us a month or a week, or even 3days to move because they wanted the house back for lots of reasons, never because we didn't pay our rent. It was almost a miracle but somehow the Lord always provided rent money. One month a check, just enough, was found in our post office box addressed completely wrong. How did we even get it? Nevertheless, the temptation was great to still worry how we could pay our bills month to month.

In those days the thought of taking this command seriously felt like being asked to jump off a tower. The idea of trusting God to catch me was a little thrilling and very scary. I've heard it called taking the leap of faith, but never before realized the psycho-physical reality of this leap.

Worry warts die because they put their faith in the devil with their negative thoughts.  He wants to keep them as far from trusting God as he can, same old trick as in the Garden of Eden. He never gives up because he usually wins. Aspiring immortals, on the other hand, learn how to fly!

Fun!!!!

Remember, Sunday, the day after the Sabbath rest, is the first day of the work week. It was the first day of creation and it was the day that Jesus' body was shown to Mary Magdalen, and Peter and the others. I am sure that Jesus was actually resurrected from the dead about a millisecond after he died, and waited until Sunday to go back to work. Contrary to the criticism of the Pharisees Jesus did observe the Sabbath rest.

Pascha is a holy day, a sacred day, but it is not the day of Sabbath rest. So on this most sacred of workdays, Evangeline gives the following assignment to her aspiring immortal friends: Memorize the following line said by Jesus in the Gospel of John 11:25.

"I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live. And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. "

Eat sumptuously on the feast of these words, and recall them as often as you can to be certain that they reside safely in a corner of your heart. And at the moment of your passing from this world to the next these sacred words will float from within your heart to your  lips to declare to all around you, saints and sinners alike, that you will never die.

Christos  Anesti

Alethia.

Dear Aspiring Immortal,

Every week a new mark. My little book counts 98 of them. Ninety-eight commands to obey to become Christ-like so we can return to the Father and live happily ever after. 

This is more important than that raise, or the new job, or the new car. Being able to outlive hatred, envy, poverty and disease is more important than getting a PhD or buying that new house, or taking a trip to China and back.

The good news of Easter is that there is only one command, one mark (that may be described in 98 different ways.) That is to love the Lord our God with all our hearts and all our souls and with all our minds, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Jesus said that loving God and each other are all we need to do to inherit the kingdom of heaven.

Does it sound too easy? Is there a catch?

Jesus showed God the Father how much he loved him, when he allowed himself to be crucified, even though that was the last thing on earth he wanted to do.   

But look how fast true love worked.  The power of Jesus' love resurrected him. His love and our spitting image of his love will resurrect you and me too. True love is more powerful and more important than every one of the zillion other things life has to offer. Prioritize and live.

The mark of Easter is love.

I love you for reading my blog, 

Evangeline

The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.

Matthew 6:22, 23

The Mark is formed by commands, such as “Don’t lie” and “Don’t steal,” and it is formed by descriptions such as, Healthy eyes fill the body with light, like Christ’s light-filled body on Tabor. Wouldn’t that be fun?!

Open your eyes to turn on the lamp and let the light of day or of beauty and knowledge fill your body. Closed eyes, like an unlit lamp keeps you in darkness and ignorance.  Worse yet is to open your eyes, and darkness enters because the eye is unhealthy! Blindness in every form is horrible.

Healthy eyes are fed a diet of beauty, wholesome sights and wisdom. A diet of pornography, violence and witchcraft sickens eyes and fills the body with darkness. Be careful of what you feed your eyes and how you exercise them.

Of course from time to time healthy eyes must see sad sights, such as Jesus Christ hanging on the Cross, or the cute little lamb being sacrificed on the altar. Such sacrifices are important for healthy eyes to see. How else would we understand the deadly effects of missing the Mark?

If there is free will, it is this. We decide between mental health and sickness, between light and darkness, between life and death because of what we choose to eat with our eyes, and what we think about. We will gather the flowers or weeds from the kinds of seeds we sow in our eyes, minds, and bodies.

Oh aspiring immortal; be filled with light and shine on this nighttime world!

The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness.

...store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Matthew 6:20, Luke 12:33, John 6:27

God is rich. God is richer than all the billionaires put together in this whole wide world full of busy-ness people. So, when through His only begotten Son, God gives us aspiring immortals advice about wealth, let us aim long and hard to hit that target!

We think that since heaven, the Kingdom of God, the homeland of immortals will be blissful, everyone is equal. This is not true, which is why jealousy can't come in. The Bible speaks of a hierarchy, where some are first, and some last, and here it talks about sending your treasure there.  I imagine that as on earth, a person with a lot of treasure in heaven will enjoy more experiences and status than a person with very little or no treasure in heaven. This is why it is written, that in many cases, the first (here) will be last (there) and the last (here) will be first (there). Some people are wiser about long term investing than others. It has nothing to do with their old earthly status.

God is not against treasure, so none of us should be either. The Creator of gold, and a zillion kinds of lavish natural beauty has children who like gold and beauty too. Gold is good, God is great. He wants us to be smart about it; to invest for long term gain.

It's not just cashmere sweaters and cheap metals or jewelry and electronics that we shouldn't store up, Christ is referring here to all kinds of investments that can vaporize.

If you are going to retire in the South of France, then you'll want to start buying property there, slowly build your house, furnish it etc. then, when you get there, you're all set. Same with heaven. Aspiring immortals are most wise who open a bank account in heaven.

The Bible says that the best way to get rich now and forever is to 1) Treasure these commands. These commands are not just good advice, but the entrance to a glorious world. (Proverbs 7:1) and 2) Sell what you have and give the money to the poor. The poor and needy, the sick and imprisoned, the downtrodden, the grieving, these people are the 401k plan, the banks into which one can make deposits into his or her heavenly treasure chest!

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21, Luke 12:34

Aspiring immortals, wise up! If your treasure and your heart are in heaven, then God is bound to send the rest of your body there too. Wouldn't you think so? It's one way to get your foot in the door!