Keep Out?

Solomon, preacher, poet and king, wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:9 Complete Jewish Bible, "What has been is what will be, what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun."

Comedian Dave Chappelle, a nonbeliever in God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ and God the Holy Ghost, recently made a Solomon-like observation. "Remarking on the feat of building the Great Wall of China, he marveled, tongue in cheek, "I didn't know they had Mexicans" (The New York Times, April 2, 2013, "Comedian And Jokes Return, Tweaked.") Efforts to keep out foreigners, war and poverty are continual themes in human history.

Defense is necessary. So are major peace offensives.

John Maxwell, author, speaker, entrepreneur, has a daily email, A Minute with Maxwell, with a thought word for the day. Today's thought word is "maximizer."

Fe (faith) comes by hearing. Let's maximize the numbers of people who hear about God and enter into relationships with Dios (God) and creyentes (believers).

Of course some people will not receive Jesus Christ. Some also will not form close relationships with us. An Egyptian saying for a person who is unsuccessful at becoming intimate with another person is, "A thousand raps at the door, but no salute or invitation from within."

The Apostle Paul teaches us to examine ourselves to see our spiritual state; we may find that we have some barriers to forming good relationships that need to be broken. Paul also encourages us to go out of our way to relate well, not in a way that violates Biblical principles but rather shows Biblical principles lived beautifully. 1 Corinthians 9:20-23 the Message Bible says, "Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!"

Please share some major peace offensives.