The Mark of Christmas

The Mark is the target formed by the commands of Christ. They teach us how to be like God, how to become a child of God. Unlike most teachers and preachers, Jesus Christ shows by example everything He tells us to do, and more. The wisest among us study Christ's life as much as we study His teachings. Even his birth teaches.

I wonder if it was even harder to be born than it was to be crucified. We think that the pain and humiliation of the crucifixion was the ultimate act of love because we can identify with the unfair trial, or imagine people jeering at us with disdain. We can imagine the embarrassment of the public flogging and the grief and agony of leaving behind our friends and family at death.

On the other hand, we can no more imagine the human birth of God’s only begotten Son than we can remember our own.

When Christ told the man to sell all he had, give the money to the poor and follow him, was He reminded of Christmas when He shed the glory of the heavenly throne to become a helpless infant born to modest parents in a stable? Jesus Christ let go of everything He had to give us eternal life in obedience to His Father. He has indeed done everything He asks us to do.

The Mark of Christmas is to find ways to emulate this level of love, humility, and adventure!

Hark! Do you hear herald angels singing?

I pray that this Christmastime brings you the humbling awareness of the enormous sacrifice that became Christmas.

Maybe our extensive debt-making gift-buying is one way to do it! Spend all that you have on your friends and enemies and follow Him.

Peace to you,

Abundance to you,

Light in you,

Evangeline 

The Mark – 18, Have You Hugged Your Back-stabber 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.

“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for He makes the sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Matthew 5:44 

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who abuse you.”

Luke 6:27-36

Do you have an enemy? Is there or has there ever been someone in your life who obviously hates you and wants evil to befall you? Someone who [figuratively] puts their foot out to make you trip when you walk by or someone who tells lies to ruin your reputation? Has anyone poisoned your coffee lately?

In nature the sun rises on you both. But human nature is more selective. Human nature only wants to shine where there is already light. Human nature prefers to make the dark even darker. It makes you behave like your enemy, fight back and try to win by hurting him more, or if you are the passive type human nature makes you simply ignore your enemy.

Jesus Christ, in His luminous supernatural superman way, tells you to walk on water. He tells you to override human nature, even the passive type, by loving in tangible ways the person who wants to destroy you. Why?! This command begins to make sense when you see that He is telling you and me to be the light of the world as He is, a child of God as He is, so we too can destroy darkness. Love of enemies is the litmus test for His immortal children.

I hope you have no enemy, but I hope even more that if you do, you can love him or her. Some enemies will dissolve as fast as the wicked witch of the west when the water was poured on her. Others, the more insidious enemies, will see the overtures as weakness and go for the kill. Don’t worry; this is when being a supernatural child of God really comes in handy. He will shield you.  

Love your enemies; our world needs more luminous, immortal, supernatural children of God in it.

The Mark – No. 17, Let Go - Be God

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.

 

“Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.”

Matthew 5:42, Luke 6:30

The metamorphosis we go through to become Christ-like, to hit the Mark with our behavior and our thoughts, is replete with light-filled phases. This command to be exceedingly generous presupposes such a light-filled phase that reveals awareness of the limitless wealth of God and by relation, you His true child.

He said in John 15:7, “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you (read: memorize these commands,) ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Also, the begging angle is, “Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you…” and “Now ask and keep on asking and you will receive so that your joy may be complete.” Luke 11:9 and John 16:24.

If someone prays to you for something, give it or lend it. You are a child of God and you have a responsibility to answer prayers as He does. If you don’t think you can afford it, then walk over to the light and look around.

The Mark – No. 10 Bear Fruit

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.

He removes every branch in Me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit He prunes to make it bear more fruit.

John 15:2, John 15, 16

If you thought that you could go to God’s Kingdom to escape terms like the GNP (Gross National Product), think again. The acronym actually stands for God’s National Product and it is very important to Him. Productivity matters. Busy bees, busy ants, busy christs. God’s world is teeming with activity and continuous improvement. Perhaps the phrase, “May (s)he rest in peace” only applies to the time between when we leave the body and the Second Coming. I suspect that even on the new earth our fruitful productivity will be required to create the most magnificent world possible. This explains why fruitful branches are kept and unfruitful ones are burned. (Read John 15:6)

It is no wonder that the verb ‘to produce’ sounds like the noun meaning fruit? Fruit, such as apples, peaches, and figs are not only beautiful and tasty they also keep our bodies healthy. In addition to vitamins and fiber, fruit comes with a bonus: seeds.  Seeds are the source of even more fruit. Fruit is the most productive of God’s creation. Look around; to be productive, i.e. to  be fruitful is to be like God.

Reading the Bible and praying often is a grand way to learn and feel holy. But getting out in the world to follow Jesus Christ’s who taught, healed, fed, and raised the dead increases the GNP and builds God’s country. Are you in?

The Mark - No. 4 Desire Righteousness

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.

Hunger and thirst for right standing with God.

Matthew 5:6, Luke 6:21, Luke 12:31

Some of these commands are taken from the Beatitudes which simply state that those who embody certain characteristics are Blessed. They are not laws that typically define a command, but like laws the Beatitudes illuminate the Mark, the target for the perfect life. To treat the Beatitudes as commands is to believe that we can regulate our selves even as laws aim to regulate us. To repent, to change our way of thinking is a command. To be Blessed is godly. To repent so we can be Blessed is a bulls-eye shot.

To strive for the kingdom is to hunger for righteousness, or right standing with God.  This is where the autonomy of free-will is truly demonstrated. Our genetic dispositions are not free will, but something imposed upon us by nature; assigning ourselves to a religion and church-going may happen because of external pressures from family or society, but to hunger and thirst for right standing with God can only come from within a person’s own heart and mind and will. God knows that. How much do you really want to be Christ-like and immortal? Is it a casual desire, like getting a new car, or is it a hunger that forces a response?

Hunger and thirst scream for attention in the same way that illness does. They are loud! Spend a moment, especially a moment of extreme hunger or illness imagining an equally loud desire for the contentment of right standing with God. Fasting helps us to understand what it means to hunger for righteousness. As food and drink nourish the body, right standing with God nourishes the soul. Could a starving soul live for very long? 

Recap:

1. Obey the commands.
2. Repent – Change your way of thinking.
3. Learn from Jesus Christ who is gentle and humble.
4. Want to be righteous as Jesus Christ is righteous.