The Mark – No.26a – Lord's Prayer 1

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.

Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.

Matthew 6:9

Saying the Lord’s Prayer is like putting on your mom’s fur coat. It may not fit now, but when you grow up it will.

In the Mark number 25, we came to understand in a new way what it means to call God our Father. How wonderful! No father of the flesh can compare in wisdom and generosity to the Father by whose will and nothing else, you were born.

And yet, Christ doesn’t tell us to say My Father, but Our Father. We live as a family unit loving each other who we can see even as we love Him who we cannot see. My ability to be a good brother or sister is as important to fitting into this big fur coat as my ability to perceive as Father the Creator of the universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the God who lead the Israelites out of Egypt and slavery. He is a very specific Person. He is not just anything we want him to be.

He is in heaven because the earth cannot contain Him. He is there and we are here. He is light-years above us. He is more magnificent than the sun, and more peaceful than the stars. His home is beyond the galaxies. His paintbrush sketches the nebula.

Holy is His name because He indescribable. In the very first commandment to Moses He made it clear, “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other Gods before me.” The Name on your lips and in your heart is so exclusive as to abhor casual usage. Imagine this: the Name above all names that the Jews dared not say as a word, YHWH, is suddenly called our Father.

For the only begotten Son to tell us to call the Lord of all Father was the very beginning of Christ’s mission to bring the children of Adam and Eve back from distrust and banishment.

Awesome! 

The Mark – 14, Cheek Turning

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.

But I say to you, Do not resist an evil doer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.

Matthew 5:39, Luke 6:29a

 

When I was a child I did not understand what grown-ups meant when they said to turn the other cheek. Then one day I read a Bible that said, “…and let him strike the other also.” OUCH!

Smart God tells us not to resist, but rather to let the person complete the zing by doing it on both cheeks, all that you have. Don’t put up your guard and don’t strike back! Be strong enough to break the circle dance of anger. Let it play itself out in the other person. Take the punches like a god. See Christ be whipped before the crucifixion. Be willing to be whipped too. In this way you are being Christ-like which makes you at-one with the Mark! Congratulations you made it!

People hurt others in psychological as well as physical ways. Sometimes they slap intentionally, sometimes just because they are slappers and they don’t mean to inflict pain, and sometimes because they perceive that they are slapping you back. Evil is like a gas, it pervades the atmosphere and then dissipates; it goes away. You can’t fight a vapor, you wait it out.

The Mark – No. 9 Be Luminous

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.

 [As you wouldn’t light a lamp and place it under a bushel basket, but on a lampstand to give light to all in the house]…let your light shine before others, so they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Matthew 5:16

If your marksmanship has improved, and you have internalized the commands and you are starting to evolve into a replica of Christ, by now you are probably glowing in the dark. Isn’t this fun?! 

Recap:

1. Obey the commands
2. Change your way of thinking.
3. Be patient and mild
4. Hunger and thirst for righteousness
5. Be merciful
6. Be pure of heart
7. Make and maintain peace
8. Be peaceful during persecution
9. Illuminate

John said that in Christ was life, and the life was the light of all people. Everyone shines life. To think like Christ and behave like Christ is to shine brightly; it is to teach, to heal and to feed and relieving suffering. These works are the manifestation of God’s light (in you) and should be on display to cause people to thank God and worship Him and love Him.

It is THE luminous circle of love! First God loves you and fills you with His light, then you use your light to love and help others, then they love and thank God too!

Illuminating is not a request. It is a command. It is one of the purposes of going through the kind of transformation that forces us to combat our nature (read: genes or ego). Turning into a flashlight, is not for your own good, so you can live happily ever after, or just look like a star. It is to expand the kingdom of God on this earth, one state of consciousness at a time. Joy.  

The Mark – No. 8 Take His Hits

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.

Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. 

Matthew 5:11, Luke 6:22

Hitting the Mark on this one in my opinion, in this day and age especially, would be nearly impossible. I wonder what form the blessing would come in while I was being shunned and hated. It is like saying that you won the Jackpot, you have liver cancer. How exactly is the blessing manifested? I suppose it says that if you are willing to take the hit for Christ, you are really standing in His sandals. He will be with you and reward you in unimaginable ways.  

Being hated for Christ is very different than simply being hated. It may not be on account of my Christianity that I am being persecuted but on account of my personality! Think about some loud and brassy televangelists. They were reviled even by Christians, not because they were preaching Christ. Who can hate a true Christ, someone who is kind and gentle, peaceful and merciful?

Finally, I think this Mark can’t be achieved because it depends on others. It is impossible to try to be hated while trying to love.  MAYBE there is a way. There are a few countries in this world where Christ is hated. One could plan a vacation there, and wear a big gold cross. If you happened to be killed, you could become an instant saint! Now that’s a blessing! Remember though, Christian martyrs do not commit suicide! Someone else has to kill you and you have to not want that to happen!

Lord, I’m sorry for making fun of this ‘beatitudinal’ command. You know I would take your hits and even die for you. I try every day to find ways to die to my ‘self’ for Your sake, so You won’t cringe if I wear a cross and act like a jerk. If it ever happens that I am persecuted and excluded for your sake, I promise not to buckle. What’s next?

The Mark – No.5 Be Merciful

he 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.

   

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Matthew 5:6; Luke 6:36

‘Lord, have mercy on me, who sins.’ I ask You to help me to be like You, and forgive me when I fail. You ask me to do the same for others. Help those in trouble; be sympathetic, tender, responsive, and compassionate. No blame game, no lusty fault-finders playing hide and seek. To be Christ-like, to be God-like is to overlook offenses, and to pity the ignorant sinner. To be Christ-like is better than being right.