The Mark – 23, Forgive or Die

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.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;

Matthew 6:14

Imagine a ball with needles protruding all around it.

Now imagine that you are walking along a path in the woods, enjoying the crisp clean air of a snowy winter’s day when suddenly someone lobs that weapon at you. It cuts you in several places and lands in your hands. You look up to see who hurt you. How do you react?

1. Throw the sharp ball right back and aim for the face.
2. Hold onto the ball and cry very loud to get sympathy, while pointing at the offensive assailant.
3. Drop the ball, look up at the assailant, smile, and keep on walking.    

Every time you refuse to aim for the mark, to obey the commands of Jesus, to be kind, generous, pure of heart, make peace, etcetera you are throwing that poison ball at the heavenly Father. You expect Him to drop the ball, smile at you and keep on walking. 

The Mark of God-likeness requires us likewise to drop all deadly weapons that hit us and keep on walking. Don’t retaliate, don’t cry and blame, don’t look back even for a second.

To forgive means to let it go, with purpose and with great abandon. No one on the path to immortality brings weapons along. Smile and keep on walking toward the light.

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.6 Be Pure

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.

Be pure in your heart.

Matthew 5:8

The mind informs and influences the heart, but the heart rules. The heart is extra sensory; the heart is keenly perceptive in ways the mind does not comprehend.  I will even venture to say that your heart is the substance of your being, this intangible element of personhood that neither computer nor internet can trump as it has with the mind. As people age, they often lose their mental faculties, but they rarely lose their hearts.

When I cut open a ripe avocado, I am thrilled when I see an avocado that is perfectly ripe through and through, when it hasn’t started to rot. In contrast to contamination, purity resonates in delightful rhythm.

The land of immortality is comprised of the pure of heart. This is why we yearn to be there. Yet, to be there we must be pure too, lest we contaminate heaven.

The call for purity is repeated by Christ. He commands righteousness, perfection, and purity of heart.

Psalm 24:3-6

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?

And who shall stand in his holy place?

Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,

who do not lift up their souls to what is false,

and do not swear deceitfully.

They will receive blessing from the Lord,

and vindication from the God of their salvation.

Such is the company of those who seek Him.

Psalm 73:1

Truly God is good to the upright,

to those who are pure in heart.

The challenge for this week is to look into your heart and purge from it any impurities that may lurk there. How can this be done? Try prayer and fasting. King David did when he prayed, “Create in me a clean heart oh God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Ask and ye shall receive.  Peace.   

The Mark-Our New Adventure

Hello! I am back from Italy. The artists are immortal who made those magnificent mosaics, paintings, and sculptures in the churches and streets of that glorious country. Being there I felt keenly the layers of time that form Christendom. I hope that someday in heaven I will be able to give each artist a bear hug of gratitude.

My blog is going on a new mission. I want to give you my book, The Mark, in weekly morsels. The Mark is a compilation of the commands of Jesus. Nothing can better help an aspiring immortal to succeed than to heed Christ’s commands. Yet, they weren’t delivered to us in a tidy rock scroll like the Ten Commandments that we can memorize. You have to wade through the Gospels to find them, and wade I did.

The commands of Jesus point the way to the perfect way of thinking, behaving, relating, and accomplishing immortal life born on earth. Time and again Jesus referred to the necessity to obey His commands. Christ’s commands describe Him. To aim for the Mark and to hit it is to become Christ-like. To ignore the commands or to rationalize them away is to miss the mark—to sin.

To aim to reflect the image and likeness of Christ who is God, is to be like the renaissance artist who tries to paint perfect saints but actually like Geppetto whose work of art becomes a real person, the immortal Christ in you and me. Stay tuned. This will be an adventure, I promise!

Queen of Days

Every year we squeeze ourselves into that upper room and wait. We imagine how wonderful it will be to instantly speak another language; this year I hope it is Italian. Every year we wonder what it really looked liked to see tongues of fire hovering over men's heads. Every year we are amazed and grateful.

This year let's fly to the throne room in heaven, behind the curtain of this firmament and visit God as He prepares to penetrate men's souls.

On the wings of this wish and prayer our hearts soar. Hold my hand, let us dare to approach the conference room where the Holy Trinity has gathered. Sh..., listen to that mighty wind about to descend to earth. It reminds me of the wind of God that swept over the waters on the first day of creation. Can you hear God speak?

"Today I will baptize My people with My Spirit and with fire. We will undo the separation among men that I caused at the tower of Babel. They will be reunited with each other in understanding even as they are reunited with Me.  I will bring together men of all nations Africans and Asians, Arabs and Greeks, Jews and Romans; no man shall be overlooked.  To commemorate the day in which I handed my Laws to Moses I distribute My Spirit to all people. Correctly is it written that from this day forth men will no longer need books because I will write My precepts on their hearts."

As I listened, I thought, "Who can hear these words and not be shaken to the core?" then I heard God speak again.

"From this day forth, everyone who calls on My name shall be saved from destruction at the end of the age. To them I will make known the ways of life and make them full of gladness with My presence. Look below and see the peoples gather to repent and be baptized one by one.  Now let each man receive that which You Jesus promised when You said that it is to mankind's advantage that You go away so that the Advocate could be sent.  Spirit of truth the hour has come for You to go forth upon the earth to guide men in all truth and to help them unto the ages of the ages."

Suddenly I was blinded by a great light and I felt myself falling through the skies. The mighty wind was carrying me back to earth. Time was going by, but it was a pure empty kind of time. A kind of time that I never before experienced. I felt peaceful in its emptiness. Then sound entered our space. Just as I felt the earth approaching, I heard God's say, "On this day I give birth to my Bride, the Church."