"In James 4:3, the Bible says we pray for blessings and don't get them because we've asked with evil, selfish motives. We want the blessing to be for ourselves exclusively. Instead, let's ask God to bless us so we can be a greater blessing. We might say, "God, bless me. Do something amazing in my finances. Get me to the point where I can buy somebody a car. Get me to the point, God, where if need be, I could rent an apartment for someone who doesn't have one and pay the rent for a year until she gets on her feet." Wouldn't that be wonderful? Or you might pray, "Help me, God, to be able to buy furniture for a family who doesn't have any. Help me be able to take them to a furniture store and just say, 'Here's your budget; pick out a house full of furniture.'" writes international, practical Bible teacher Joyce Meyer in her book Joy Redefined Loving Others.
God is not against people having pleasure. God desires that creyentes (believers) give and receive pleasure. George Washington Carver worked for Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee Institute. They were both committed to helping people, especially African Americans. Washington died before Carver. Carver gave one year's salary to Booker T. Washington's memorial fund. Carver says about this generous gift, "It was a sacrifice in one way but a blessed privilege in another."
Unbelievers recognize the pleasure of giving. Meng was the prime minister of King Qin in ancient China. Meng sent his advisor Feng out to collect debts. Feng forgave all the loans of villagers saying he was doing it on orders from Meng. At first Meng was mad, but one year later Meng was merry for Meng had trouble on the job and had to return to his home village. People were glad to see him and welcomed him. Meng praised Feng.
Use money to make friends. Jesus Christ says in Luke 16:9 Biblia Bilingue Version Reina-Valera 1960, "Y yo os digo: Ganad amigos por medio de las riquezas injustas, para que cuando estas falten, os reciban en las moradas eternas." "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home" (Bilingual Bible New King James Version.) Luke 16:9 New Living Translation Bible says, "Here’s the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home."
What are some compassionate, creative and committed ways you have used money to make friends?
Showing posts with label Compassion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Compassion. Show all posts
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Monday, January 21, 2013
Novel Sex
Trying new things can be good. Solomon's Shulammite wife strove to try new types of lovemaking with Solomon. Together they enjoyed the old ways of mating while embracing the new. Novelty can be exciting, edifying and exquisite.
Our God is the Creator. He created sex and sexuality. We are made in God's image. We are also creators.
Some novelty is destructive; more than one million Americans went to a swingers club in 2011. Instead of swapping sex partners creative marital monogamy involves consistently growing in ways to make a spouse's life better. Figuring out new ways to bring sexual pleasure and other pleasure to a spouse is a ministry, a responsibility and a loving, beautiful joy.
Solomon's wife enjoyed getting naked in nature with Solomon. She says to Solomon in Song of Solomon 7:11-12 New Living Translation Bible, "Come, my love, let us go out to the fields and spend the night among the wildflowers. Let us get up early and go to the vineyards to see if the grapevines have budded, if the blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates have bloomed. There I will give you my love. There the mandrakes give off their fragrance, and the finest fruits are at our door, new delights as well as old, which I have saved for you, my lover."
God built our beautiful bodies for love. Spouses, have fun customizing the missionary and downward rear entry. Strip off the No es posible attitude and the bad body image. Rear-entry vaginal sex is not immoral. Experiment with many of the hundreds of sexual positions and sensual sensations.
Some in our parents generation were taught and communicated to us that oral sex is depraved, but nothing in the Bible prohibits oral sex. Actually, the Bible encourages it. Sometimes we have taboos that God does not possess. Solomon's Shulammite wife says about Solomon in Song of Solomon 2:3 New Living Translation Bible, "Like the finest apple tree in the orchard is my lover among other young men. I sit in his delightful shade and taste his delicious fruit." Of course, oral sex is not just for a wife to give to her husband. A husband and wife can give each other oral sex even at the same time! They may even have simultaneous orgasms by licking, kissing, sucking, touching each others penis and vagina lying side by side.
Orgasms outside of sexual intercourse can be had in a variety of ways. Some say they can think themselves into orgasms. If you need touch, try creating a love tunnel for your husband's penis with your breasts, hands and/or thighs.
The Bible doesn't seem to say anything for or against anal sex. Anal sex seems to fall in the category of using the wise mind of Christ. Anal play seems fine, but anal penetration is it really safe and sanitary? Please leave an on-line comment about anal sex from a Biblical perspective.
With over 500 ways to have vaginal intercourse a marital couple might never get around to the anal-sex issue. Also many will not even come close to trying 500 sexual positions, and that's okay. A great marital sex life is not based on using multiple sexual positions.
Spouses, learn each other. Some people need more privacy than others for marital lovemaking. Some need less privacy. In the movie Dances With Wolves the wife of the Sioux holy man is on top making delicious while family and friends are sleeping in the same room!
Play games like "Hide and Go Freak," Manos Arriba (Hands Up) or invent your own game.
Men may think more about sex than women generally, but women have the potential to have more orgasms in a lovemaking session than men generally. The National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior reports that the more sexual positions a woman engages in with a man during a lovemaking session the greater the potential for orgasms. Many women love to shop and possess a wide variety of clothes, shoes, accessories and other items. Like we like variety in our shopping, we like variety in our sexual relationship. A husband going into his wife or a wife mounting her husband at various angles creates different sensations. Please leave an on-line comment about your favorite sexual positions.
Sexual fantasies about our spouse can be used to enhance a couple's sexual life. Talk to God to stop fantasies about people other than our spouse.
Tender and talented marital lovemaking includes more than oral sex or a husband going into his wife or a wife mounting her husband. Solomon and his wife enjoyed each others full body. Intimacy is:
Intentional,
Nurturing,
Talking,
Integration,
Mating,
Adoration,
Compassion,
Yearning.
'"Women, this might surprise you, but even more than your husband wants to have sex with you for his own sexual relief, the truth is, he wants to please you even more than he wants to be pleasured. It might seem like it's all about him, but what he really wants, emotionally, is to see how much you enjoy the pleasure he can give you. If he fails to do that, for any reason, he'll end up feeling inadequate, lonely, and unloved. Most of us men want to be our wives' heroes," says Dr. Kevin Leman in his book, Sheet Music Uncovering the Secrets of Sexual Intimacy in Marriage.
Bible-living, Christian spouses shouldn't have a bad sex life. Christian Minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote in his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," "There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love." God commands us to figure out how to love people. Galatians 5:14 New Living Translation Bible says, "For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”" Please leave a comment if your spouse likes to be loved in a way that is different from the way you like to be loved.
For the most part, believers are suppose to give, receive and feel love like Donna Summer sang in her song, "I Feel Love." If your relationships aren't so good, and you are not feeling love, then sin is present and needs to brought before God to be forgiven and stopped.
While God designed partner sex for married couples only, God designed both spouses and singles to celebrate their sexuality. Inner beauty is holy, and so is looking good on the outside. Sex and sexuality are a celebration of life. God is Life. Solomon says to his loved one in Song of Solomon 1:10 New Living Translation Bible, "How lovely are your cheeks; your earrings set them afire! How lovely is your neck, enhanced by a string of jewels."
Please leave an on-line comment sharing novel, Biblical, beautiful ways to express sex and sexuality.
Our God is the Creator. He created sex and sexuality. We are made in God's image. We are also creators.
Some novelty is destructive; more than one million Americans went to a swingers club in 2011. Instead of swapping sex partners creative marital monogamy involves consistently growing in ways to make a spouse's life better. Figuring out new ways to bring sexual pleasure and other pleasure to a spouse is a ministry, a responsibility and a loving, beautiful joy.
Solomon's wife enjoyed getting naked in nature with Solomon. She says to Solomon in Song of Solomon 7:11-12 New Living Translation Bible, "Come, my love, let us go out to the fields and spend the night among the wildflowers. Let us get up early and go to the vineyards to see if the grapevines have budded, if the blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates have bloomed. There I will give you my love. There the mandrakes give off their fragrance, and the finest fruits are at our door, new delights as well as old, which I have saved for you, my lover."
God built our beautiful bodies for love. Spouses, have fun customizing the missionary and downward rear entry. Strip off the No es posible attitude and the bad body image. Rear-entry vaginal sex is not immoral. Experiment with many of the hundreds of sexual positions and sensual sensations.
Some in our parents generation were taught and communicated to us that oral sex is depraved, but nothing in the Bible prohibits oral sex. Actually, the Bible encourages it. Sometimes we have taboos that God does not possess. Solomon's Shulammite wife says about Solomon in Song of Solomon 2:3 New Living Translation Bible, "Like the finest apple tree in the orchard is my lover among other young men. I sit in his delightful shade and taste his delicious fruit." Of course, oral sex is not just for a wife to give to her husband. A husband and wife can give each other oral sex even at the same time! They may even have simultaneous orgasms by licking, kissing, sucking, touching each others penis and vagina lying side by side.
Orgasms outside of sexual intercourse can be had in a variety of ways. Some say they can think themselves into orgasms. If you need touch, try creating a love tunnel for your husband's penis with your breasts, hands and/or thighs.
The Bible doesn't seem to say anything for or against anal sex. Anal sex seems to fall in the category of using the wise mind of Christ. Anal play seems fine, but anal penetration is it really safe and sanitary? Please leave an on-line comment about anal sex from a Biblical perspective.
With over 500 ways to have vaginal intercourse a marital couple might never get around to the anal-sex issue. Also many will not even come close to trying 500 sexual positions, and that's okay. A great marital sex life is not based on using multiple sexual positions.
Spouses, learn each other. Some people need more privacy than others for marital lovemaking. Some need less privacy. In the movie Dances With Wolves the wife of the Sioux holy man is on top making delicious while family and friends are sleeping in the same room!
Play games like "Hide and Go Freak," Manos Arriba (Hands Up) or invent your own game.
Men may think more about sex than women generally, but women have the potential to have more orgasms in a lovemaking session than men generally. The National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior reports that the more sexual positions a woman engages in with a man during a lovemaking session the greater the potential for orgasms. Many women love to shop and possess a wide variety of clothes, shoes, accessories and other items. Like we like variety in our shopping, we like variety in our sexual relationship. A husband going into his wife or a wife mounting her husband at various angles creates different sensations. Please leave an on-line comment about your favorite sexual positions.
Sexual fantasies about our spouse can be used to enhance a couple's sexual life. Talk to God to stop fantasies about people other than our spouse.
Tender and talented marital lovemaking includes more than oral sex or a husband going into his wife or a wife mounting her husband. Solomon and his wife enjoyed each others full body. Intimacy is:
Intentional,
Nurturing,
Talking,
Integration,
Mating,
Adoration,
Compassion,
Yearning.
'"Women, this might surprise you, but even more than your husband wants to have sex with you for his own sexual relief, the truth is, he wants to please you even more than he wants to be pleasured. It might seem like it's all about him, but what he really wants, emotionally, is to see how much you enjoy the pleasure he can give you. If he fails to do that, for any reason, he'll end up feeling inadequate, lonely, and unloved. Most of us men want to be our wives' heroes," says Dr. Kevin Leman in his book, Sheet Music Uncovering the Secrets of Sexual Intimacy in Marriage.
Bible-living, Christian spouses shouldn't have a bad sex life. Christian Minister and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote in his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," "There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love." God commands us to figure out how to love people. Galatians 5:14 New Living Translation Bible says, "For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”" Please leave a comment if your spouse likes to be loved in a way that is different from the way you like to be loved.
For the most part, believers are suppose to give, receive and feel love like Donna Summer sang in her song, "I Feel Love." If your relationships aren't so good, and you are not feeling love, then sin is present and needs to brought before God to be forgiven and stopped.
While God designed partner sex for married couples only, God designed both spouses and singles to celebrate their sexuality. Inner beauty is holy, and so is looking good on the outside. Sex and sexuality are a celebration of life. God is Life. Solomon says to his loved one in Song of Solomon 1:10 New Living Translation Bible, "How lovely are your cheeks; your earrings set them afire! How lovely is your neck, enhanced by a string of jewels."
Please leave an on-line comment sharing novel, Biblical, beautiful ways to express sex and sexuality.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Tie Me Up?
Mostly what God does is influence us instead of force us to change. Yet a lot of times conversely we try to change our spouses, family, friends and others by tying them up with ropes of intimidation, shame, blame, etc. Let's look at four ways God exerted influence recorded in John 8:1-11.
1) Some people will try to tie us up with the intimidation of screaming and/or drama. We can keep our influence -- our peace and wisdom -- in the midst of arguments. More than 2,000 years ago some religious leaders crashed Jesus Christ's class dragging in a woman caught in adultery and displaying her in plain view of the class. Jesus didn't display emotional upset or immediately speak. It's not that Jesus doesn't experience emotions -- He's the same one whose eyes flash like a flame of fire -- Jesus manages His emotions. He sought to slow down and cool down the exchange by stooping down to write on the ground. This gave Him and others time to contemplate what's happening. Then He could talk to God the Father for the resolution while allowing God the Holy Ghost to empower Him to implement it.
Jesus' pause models respect for people. It communicates, "I am smart. You are smart. We don't need to hurry up and make needless mistakes. Instead we recognize problems and are responsible enough to find ways to fix them." When we speak too fast we often say things that harm us and harm our relationships.
It's natural to think about the negative. It's spiritual to pause and meditate on the positive. A lot of arguments among spouses, family, friends and others are really about people not feeling valued or respected and not so much about the issues being argued about.
Twitter.com is a neat social networking website where participants must whittle their wonderful words to a maximum of 140 characters. Those who "follow" you receive your writing posts on their smartphone or computer. So value and respect your spouse, family, friends and others with posts like, "U R so GR8 that God gave up His life, so that U could have the best life forever!" Let's tweet via my Twitter name "Michelelove30," or we may chat through the social networking site Google's G+, or you may leave a comment at the bottom of this article.
If our attempts at frequent, fun, filling marital sex are frequently being met with, "I'm tired," or "I don't feel well," then perhaps we are saying and doing things to our spouse that communicate, "You aren't that important to me," "I really don't want to share my time by cultivating an intimate relationship with you and each of our children," "I just want to get my needs met," "I want to look good at all costs," etc. All arguments are not hot. Some are cool or cold. Even comfortably numb marital connections are ripe for infidelity. Arguments need resolution. If we can't, someone else will!
Jesus' stooping pause is not incidental or accidental, but essential. Indian Mughal Emperor Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar sought rahi aql (the path of reason) in the late sixteenth century, but it can only be found effectively in Jesus. One of the ways Jesus changes people is by using reasoning to convince them that they are valuable people who have veered away from right reasoning, but through Him can veer into the best way of living. No matter what we have done, God doesn't disapprove of us. He loves us. He's tattooed a picture of us on the palm of His hand. He has pure motives in trying to persuade us to follow Him. James 3:17 Amplified Bible says, "But the wisdom from above is first of all pure (undefiled); then it is peace-loving, courteous (considerate, gentle). [It is willing to] yield to reason, full of compassion and good fruits; it is wholehearted and straightforward, impartial and unfeigned (free from doubts, wavering, and insincerity)."
2) Persistent pestering is a tactic of those trying to tie us up with intimidation. Refuse to be abused; influence grows by keeping on doing good. The religious leaders were hoping that by trying to force Jesus to say something, He would flub.
Some act like a dragnet of dullness. If someone refuses to come to the truth with subtle modeling, then make it plain with respect. "They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!"" (John 8:7 New Living Translation Bible).
The source of all arguments is sin. We all have sinned, are sinning and will sin. Some sins are deliberate; for believers as we grow in intimacy with God our sins are less deliberate and more unintentional. When we see sin, God designed believers to model Him humbly, not haughtily like the religious leaders, in seeking to assist someone in receiving a greater revelation of God.
If we never committed sexual adultery, it is not because we are so smart and strong; it is because God kept us out of situations that would have caused us to fall into sexual adultery. Cooperate with God to wipe off any smug sneers on our face when we catch someone in sin of any type. Galatians 6:1 New Living Translation Bible says, "Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself."
3) When someone zealously attempts to tie someone else up with shame, the attacker is more interested in punishing people than allowing God to work through them to point people to the path of life which is love, truth, joy, all that is good. Compassion is influence.
Many of the religious people of Jesus' day do not come across as compassionate or confident people. They seemed to unknowingly have a mindset of, "I can't do anything right because I'm a bad person. So to make myself feel better I need to put down someone else. I need a lot of attention and patting on my back and places of honor to mask who I am."
Shame-based people will try to shoot others with shame attacks. Shame attacks are ineffective against shielded minds that simply shake them off with loving truth. Ephesians 4:15 Amplified Bible says, "Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
An illiterate, white student called black, Chicago, Illinois, teacher Marva Collins a "jungle bunny." Collins had not internalized shame about being black, a woman or a teacher. She responded to this sexist, racial slur with tender, humorous truth by saying she would take offense when her sweetheart learned to read, write and spell jungle bunny.
Jesus did not take offense to the attacks of the religious leaders. He did not internalize any shame about who He is as the Son of God or His competence in understanding and applying the Mosaic Law. Jesus was not an adulterer. He didn't want to be one. He didn't envy adulterers. With simplicity, expertise and authority He pointed out the principal problem of all those involved, and offered the solution to adultery. ". . . And Jesus said, I do not condemn you either. Go on your way and from now on sin no more" (John 8:11 Amplified Bible).
The woman caught in adultery was impressed, surprised and delighted that Jesus was not going to punish her, look down on her or harm her in any way. She was likely willing to leave adultery because someone really cares for her. The way we are wired is, "If you care for me, then I'll care for you, and the things you want me to do." The spiritual maturity of loving the unlovable is something we have to cooperate with God to display with the unlovable.
All sin ties us down. Loves cuts the ropes and releases us into the responsibility of following Jesus' enjoyable life engaged in love with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, God the Holy Ghost and all people.
4) Some want to tie us up in blame for our sin while taking little or no responsibility for their sin. Influence is available by receiving God's blameless view of us and His power to resist sin forever. The religious leaders attacked the woman without having first dealt with their own sin, and they discriminated against her by trying to pin all the fault for adultery on her instead of equally on the man also involved who is totally missing from this drama. When Jesus encouraged the woman to sin no more Jesus is engaging her not only with Himself but also with the man she had sex with, the religious leaders and others. Jesus wants everyone to learn to have frequent, fun, filling sex inside of marriage and to learn to celebrate single sexuality without sexual sin. No matter how much some may try to present sexual sin as beautiful, sexual sin is the advocacy of loveless sex. Jesus is about marrying as many people as possible into God's family of love. Romans 12:5 Amplified Bible describes the family of love, "So we, numerous as we are; are one body in Christ (the Messiah) and individually we are parts one of another [mutually dependent on one another]."
Since God designed us to help each other, harmful ropes like blame need to be taken off our lives. Jesus Christ has already paid the price for all the blame, shame, false fear, adultery and sin we have ever done, are doing and will ever do. His death and resurrection in three days took care of this. If we receive Him, then we need not continue to receive harmful things like blame, shame, false fear, adultery that hurt us and our relationships now and if not dealt with will leave eternal damage. Romans 6:23 New Living Translation Bible says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."
Tie me up? No thanks. Free in love forever is better. Please share an on-line comment about how Christ has set you free and/or participate in my relationship group by contacting me via email at michefrancesjackson@gmail.com.
1) Some people will try to tie us up with the intimidation of screaming and/or drama. We can keep our influence -- our peace and wisdom -- in the midst of arguments. More than 2,000 years ago some religious leaders crashed Jesus Christ's class dragging in a woman caught in adultery and displaying her in plain view of the class. Jesus didn't display emotional upset or immediately speak. It's not that Jesus doesn't experience emotions -- He's the same one whose eyes flash like a flame of fire -- Jesus manages His emotions. He sought to slow down and cool down the exchange by stooping down to write on the ground. This gave Him and others time to contemplate what's happening. Then He could talk to God the Father for the resolution while allowing God the Holy Ghost to empower Him to implement it.
Jesus' pause models respect for people. It communicates, "I am smart. You are smart. We don't need to hurry up and make needless mistakes. Instead we recognize problems and are responsible enough to find ways to fix them." When we speak too fast we often say things that harm us and harm our relationships.
It's natural to think about the negative. It's spiritual to pause and meditate on the positive. A lot of arguments among spouses, family, friends and others are really about people not feeling valued or respected and not so much about the issues being argued about.
Twitter.com is a neat social networking website where participants must whittle their wonderful words to a maximum of 140 characters. Those who "follow" you receive your writing posts on their smartphone or computer. So value and respect your spouse, family, friends and others with posts like, "U R so GR8 that God gave up His life, so that U could have the best life forever!" Let's tweet via my Twitter name "Michelelove30," or we may chat through the social networking site Google's G+, or you may leave a comment at the bottom of this article.
If our attempts at frequent, fun, filling marital sex are frequently being met with, "I'm tired," or "I don't feel well," then perhaps we are saying and doing things to our spouse that communicate, "You aren't that important to me," "I really don't want to share my time by cultivating an intimate relationship with you and each of our children," "I just want to get my needs met," "I want to look good at all costs," etc. All arguments are not hot. Some are cool or cold. Even comfortably numb marital connections are ripe for infidelity. Arguments need resolution. If we can't, someone else will!
Jesus' stooping pause is not incidental or accidental, but essential. Indian Mughal Emperor Jalaluddin Mohammad Akbar sought rahi aql (the path of reason) in the late sixteenth century, but it can only be found effectively in Jesus. One of the ways Jesus changes people is by using reasoning to convince them that they are valuable people who have veered away from right reasoning, but through Him can veer into the best way of living. No matter what we have done, God doesn't disapprove of us. He loves us. He's tattooed a picture of us on the palm of His hand. He has pure motives in trying to persuade us to follow Him. James 3:17 Amplified Bible says, "But the wisdom from above is first of all pure (undefiled); then it is peace-loving, courteous (considerate, gentle). [It is willing to] yield to reason, full of compassion and good fruits; it is wholehearted and straightforward, impartial and unfeigned (free from doubts, wavering, and insincerity)."
2) Persistent pestering is a tactic of those trying to tie us up with intimidation. Refuse to be abused; influence grows by keeping on doing good. The religious leaders were hoping that by trying to force Jesus to say something, He would flub.
Some act like a dragnet of dullness. If someone refuses to come to the truth with subtle modeling, then make it plain with respect. "They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, "All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!"" (John 8:7 New Living Translation Bible).
The source of all arguments is sin. We all have sinned, are sinning and will sin. Some sins are deliberate; for believers as we grow in intimacy with God our sins are less deliberate and more unintentional. When we see sin, God designed believers to model Him humbly, not haughtily like the religious leaders, in seeking to assist someone in receiving a greater revelation of God.
If we never committed sexual adultery, it is not because we are so smart and strong; it is because God kept us out of situations that would have caused us to fall into sexual adultery. Cooperate with God to wipe off any smug sneers on our face when we catch someone in sin of any type. Galatians 6:1 New Living Translation Bible says, "Dear brothers and sisters, if another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself."
3) When someone zealously attempts to tie someone else up with shame, the attacker is more interested in punishing people than allowing God to work through them to point people to the path of life which is love, truth, joy, all that is good. Compassion is influence.
Many of the religious people of Jesus' day do not come across as compassionate or confident people. They seemed to unknowingly have a mindset of, "I can't do anything right because I'm a bad person. So to make myself feel better I need to put down someone else. I need a lot of attention and patting on my back and places of honor to mask who I am."
Shame-based people will try to shoot others with shame attacks. Shame attacks are ineffective against shielded minds that simply shake them off with loving truth. Ephesians 4:15 Amplified Bible says, "Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
An illiterate, white student called black, Chicago, Illinois, teacher Marva Collins a "jungle bunny." Collins had not internalized shame about being black, a woman or a teacher. She responded to this sexist, racial slur with tender, humorous truth by saying she would take offense when her sweetheart learned to read, write and spell jungle bunny.
Jesus did not take offense to the attacks of the religious leaders. He did not internalize any shame about who He is as the Son of God or His competence in understanding and applying the Mosaic Law. Jesus was not an adulterer. He didn't want to be one. He didn't envy adulterers. With simplicity, expertise and authority He pointed out the principal problem of all those involved, and offered the solution to adultery. ". . . And Jesus said, I do not condemn you either. Go on your way and from now on sin no more" (John 8:11 Amplified Bible).
The woman caught in adultery was impressed, surprised and delighted that Jesus was not going to punish her, look down on her or harm her in any way. She was likely willing to leave adultery because someone really cares for her. The way we are wired is, "If you care for me, then I'll care for you, and the things you want me to do." The spiritual maturity of loving the unlovable is something we have to cooperate with God to display with the unlovable.
All sin ties us down. Loves cuts the ropes and releases us into the responsibility of following Jesus' enjoyable life engaged in love with God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, God the Holy Ghost and all people.
4) Some want to tie us up in blame for our sin while taking little or no responsibility for their sin. Influence is available by receiving God's blameless view of us and His power to resist sin forever. The religious leaders attacked the woman without having first dealt with their own sin, and they discriminated against her by trying to pin all the fault for adultery on her instead of equally on the man also involved who is totally missing from this drama. When Jesus encouraged the woman to sin no more Jesus is engaging her not only with Himself but also with the man she had sex with, the religious leaders and others. Jesus wants everyone to learn to have frequent, fun, filling sex inside of marriage and to learn to celebrate single sexuality without sexual sin. No matter how much some may try to present sexual sin as beautiful, sexual sin is the advocacy of loveless sex. Jesus is about marrying as many people as possible into God's family of love. Romans 12:5 Amplified Bible describes the family of love, "So we, numerous as we are; are one body in Christ (the Messiah) and individually we are parts one of another [mutually dependent on one another]."
Since God designed us to help each other, harmful ropes like blame need to be taken off our lives. Jesus Christ has already paid the price for all the blame, shame, false fear, adultery and sin we have ever done, are doing and will ever do. His death and resurrection in three days took care of this. If we receive Him, then we need not continue to receive harmful things like blame, shame, false fear, adultery that hurt us and our relationships now and if not dealt with will leave eternal damage. Romans 6:23 New Living Translation Bible says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord."
Tie me up? No thanks. Free in love forever is better. Please share an on-line comment about how Christ has set you free and/or participate in my relationship group by contacting me via email at michefrancesjackson@gmail.com.
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