Brown's Daily Word 3-12-10

Good Morning,


Praise the Lord for this Friday. Praise the Lord for Sunday that is coming. Those of you who live in the area, join us for our Friday evening TV outreach this evening at 7 PM on Time Warner Channel 4. We started this ministry in 1993 with the help of our friend, Michael Paul Callahan, who with his family have settled now in the Oswego area. Michael and Connie Callahan's oldest son, Aaron Christian, has been chosen to attend a leadership conference in Washington, DC. Aaron Christian was dedicated at our church here in Union Center 17 years ago. Praise the Lord for all our children and the youth. May Jesus our Lord anoint them and bless them wonderfully that they would grow to be His servants and ambassadors for His Kingdom on earth.

I am continuing look at the sermon on the Mount. Jesus came to turn the world upside down and right-side up. According to Matthew 5:40, Jesus said, “And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.” If he’s that desperate, freely give up your basic rights, such as ownership. We are bit to demand our personal rights all the time. This kind of thinking goes absolutely contrary to our instinctive behavior. Self-protection is inborn. Many of us go way beyond self-protection, and believe in getting even. This is not the Lord's way.

What Jesus our Lord is saying is we must not always insist on "our rights".

Chuck Swindoll mentions four "rights" in his commentary on this passage:

1). The “right” to dignity … to be treated without insult

2). The “right” to comfort … to cling to what pleases me

3). The “right” to privacy … to do only what I prefer

4). The “right” to possessions … to keep all I wish.



Jesus siad that, as His followers, we shouldn’t focus so much on our rights, but rather on our responsibilities as His subjects in the kingdom of God. Eugene Peterson paraphrases this passage in The Message: “If someone sues for the shirt off your back, gift-wrap your best coat and make a present of it.”

I recently read a story about a traveler who, between flights at an airport, bought a small package of cookies. She then sat down in the busy snack shop to glance over the newspaper. As she read she became increasingly aware of a rustling noise. Peeking over her newspaper, she was shocked to see a well-dressed gentleman sitting across from her, helping himself to her cookies. Half-angry and half-embarrassed, she reached over and gently slid the package closer to her as she took one out and began to munch on it. A minute or so passed before she heard more rustling. The man had gotten another cookie! By now there was only one left in the package. Though beside herself, she didn’t want to make a scene so she said nothing. Finally, as if to add insult to injury, the man broke the remaining cookie into two pieces, pushed one piece across the table to her with a frown, gulped down his half and left without even saying thank you. She sat there dumbfounded. “Of all the nerve!”

Some time later when her flight was announced, the woman opened her handbag to get her ticket. To her shock, there in her purse was her package of cookies, still unopened. Somewhere in that airport another traveler was still trying to figure out how that strange woman could have been so forward and insensitive! But he didn’t insist on his right to eat the cookies he bought. He shared with someone who demanded that she eat them.

In Christ,

Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-DNlvXPfU4