I find it amazing the way we let things take over our lives. Sin is that very thing that makes us turn in on ourselves and look at things in a way that God did not intend for them to be. Over the past 2 days I have had to reload my laptop twice. Once did not seem to be enough, so I found myself doing it again. I always find this an interesting task, for which I sit at the laptop and answer questions and change settings. It is very taxing and very exciting brain work. Not really.
In the midst if this reloading the stresses of not getting done what needs to get done start to take over along with the mundaneness of simply reloading the laptop twice. This then boils over to seeing those around us doing the slightest little thing and we explode. Has this ever happened to you? Have you ever been doing something you really wished you did not have to do, and find yourself letting the stresses of the moment pile up until the slightest little thing sets you off, on something that did not deserve the set off. This is really what we call sin.
This sin is turning in on ourselves and looking at the stresses in our lives and trying to handle them all ourselves. It is when we think we can handle these things by ourselves that we get into real trouble. We look to ourselves to find the solution, and that is where we discover we can not do this and then we react. Each of us reacts differently, but we need to lash out beyond ourselves in some manner, and it is usually those that we love that get caught up in the middle of that. They do not deserve the lashing that comes to them, but they are the one that is chosen by us to receive that which we can not handle at that time. Why does this happen? Or does this not happen to you and this is something that is special for me? I do not believe that I am the only one who takes things out on the wrong people, there are hundreds of not thousands of titles written on this.
But you see the real issue is, is there ever anyone that deserves to be lashed out at? We are to love everyone, just as Jesus loved us, and he gives us the strength and power to do whatever has been put in front of us. It is sin that actually hurts in this life, not the person that hurts us. And really in the end if a lashing is necessary what really does it help? I know after I have given someone a bunch of stuff from my pent up anger they do not deserve, I feel worse than I did before carrying around all of that junk, and the person who got it is wondering why did this pile up in my lap. God gives us a way to deal with all of life. He is ready and willing to take everything from you. Give Him complete control over everything and do not let the stress effect you, because Gid has already handled the situation. Just as Paul said, “Actually, I don’t have a sense of needing anything personally. I’ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I’m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I’ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.” Know who you are in Christ and love everyone around you.

Are we going about this the wrong way. We will not let people into the assembly until they fix this or that behavior…
We are very quick to point out what is wrong in the others life and not dwell on our own sin…
Jesus spent time with those that the Pharisees did not see as people we should associate with, because they were not accepted by God. Funny though God in Jesus accepted them right where they were. He did not stop at the door of the party and say, “All right all of the tax collectors must give back all the money the took over and above the tax they were to collect plus 10%. And all of the drunkards must now give up drinking and never drink again, and give a speech before each party on the evils of drinking. And all of the prostitutes must stop selling them selves to make a living, sex is a gift and can not be exploited like that.” Jesus entered the party and accepted the people as they were.
Jesus loves us just the way we are, and is loving to us to bring us out of our sin. Jesus was the only one with the woman who committed adultery who was not prepared to throw a stone, and according to his thoughts on who could throw a stone, he was the only one, yet he did not. Why not? We think well of course he did not, because that would not be how Jesus would act/react. However this is exactly what we hope Jesus will do to those who are so far in sin that they can not be welcomed into our assembly, when we tell them that Jesus will cast them into hell. If you do not turn from your sin, you will be condemned. Jesus did not condemn this women, but he loved her where she was and told her to do it no more. He spent time with her, and knew her.
We do not want to get to know people to see where they are, but just convict them of their sin.
A few years ago some wrote a book, No Perfect People Allowed. This is exactly how we need to be. No one is without sin, and Jesus welcomes us all.
Jesus entered the party, and sat with the sinners, we should do the same. Accepting them as people, and loving them in relationship .

I have started reading The Secret Message of Jesus by Brian McLaren. He says on page 33 “Or else he was a teacher whose words would be quoted to condemn people our church or denomination didn’t approve of.” He is of course speaking of Jesus here, and I can see what McLaren means about using words of Jesus to condemn people our church or denomination does not approve of, I just came from the synod assembly of the denomination I am a part of. I wonder if we follow Jesus or if we do what we think Jesus wants us to do, living in the history of the church we were raised in. I have not made it far into the McLaren book, however he has already spoken about how he was raised in the church and the Jesus he was shown in this raising is one of meekness and mildness, one who would not question anything, but just love.
I believe Mark Galli hits it on the head in Jesus Mean and Wild The Unexpected Love of an Untamable God. Galli says on page 166, “We are functional atheists most of the time. We jump out of bed, gulp down coffee, and sprint into the day, immersing ourselves in all its petty and large concerns. We barely give God a thought and pretty much live our days as if he is away on a trip.” I had to stop and read this again when I read it the first time. I thought wow, that is it. We pay our homage on Sunday, give God the hour of our lives on Sunday morning to put in our time and we live the rest of our lives as functional atheists. We live as thought Jesus has no effect on us at all. We live our lives to look out for the only one that really matters, us. We live thinking only of oursleves, and not worried about our neighbor. I heard that Mark Allen Powell spoke on the good Samaritan text at our synod assembly. He commented that Jesus asks at the end who is the neighbor? Well to the Jew who was lying in the ditch, he would probably say the men who left him for dead were his neighbors, while the Samaritan was a no good waiste of flesh. Even though the Samaritan was the one who gave him care, the Jew would still see him as the enemy. We do not live the way Jesus calls us to live, but only the way that causes us the least amount of pain.
I believe as many others, that we need to follow Jesus and do what he has called us to do. That is not to be a church, or a religious group of people, but people that claim the kingdom, the place that is now, the reign that is now taking place, to walk in this new reality. This is what Brian McLaren speaks about in his book, this is what Jesus called us to do, and is calling us to do.

It seems there is a lot in this world that pulls us away from love. But what is the opposite of love?
As one of my friends said to me recently the easy answer for this question is hate, but that is not truly the opposite of Love. He said the opposite of love is indifference. I believe he is right.
As the video below from Desperate Housewives shows, hate is not the opposite of love, because love like hate takes work, it takes commitment, it takes involvement. Indifference is a slide away from any commitment to the other. If I am indifferent towards you I do not care if you are well, or if you are hurting. I could not care less if you are in my life at all… Indifference is the place we can not be.
Some would say that fear is the opposite of love. And love can lead us to fear what might happen to those we love, but that is not the opposite of love. Fear is a byproduct of love, but a 1 John says, perfect love dispels fear. God has no fear in what will happen to us, as he already knows and loves us inspoute of how we will hate him and turn our backs on him. God is never indifferent to us. He always had and always will love us, but that does not mean there is not hardships or pruning. God loves us, but loves us enough to not leave us the way we are. He is always molding us into the person he calls us to be, the person his unfailing love is bringing us to be.
Live in the love that we have, because he first loved us, and share that love with others. Being the person to speak the words in truth to the person who is sinning and acting like nothing is happening. To the person who seems blind to the way they are headed. Love is kind and patient, but it is also something that can not let others destroy themselves. Love can be tough, as intervention, and helping others become who they can be. Love.