What we do in life echoes in eternity

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."
-Matthew 5:3

The Bible is one story, one meta-narrative, that is told through so many different lenses and mediums, and people.  A testimony to the power of God, that no matter who is in the story it still reveals the unity, love and redemption of Christ. It never contradicts itself, and when you get down to the deeper meanings of what it says it actually backs it self up, everything is connected.  It's fascinating.

Most philosopher's are external processor's, that is, in order to wrap our minds around ideas we must talk about it, have discussion, dialogue.  This is why philosopher's write and talk so much.  Not because we think so highly of ourselves, but in order to think things through we can't just meditate on it.   i honestly believe that this is one of the best ways to learn and everyone can benefit from this type of interaction.

One of the best examples of this external processing took place for me during M.I.T. (Minister's in Training) class on Thursday.  We were learning about Jesus' sermon on the mount specifically the end of Matthew 6 and the beginning of Matthew 7.  The very end of the class we got to where Jesus says "do not give dogs what is sacred, do not cast your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces"  Not an easy passage to understand, especially when you read all of what he has said leading up to this point.  Aaron explained his interpretation this way,  do not cast your cares on those that cannot handle it.  Be careful not to expose what is sacred (our pain) to those who will try to destroy us with it.  i absolutely believe Aaron's view is spot on. But it raises so many other questions that needed to be wrestled through.

"How do we reconcile this, with the idea that we are 'more than conquerer's in christ'?"  Devon asked,  (great question).   It was a question i had but didn't realize it yet, but external processing kicked in and the threads started to come together.  Because even if we are careful with our deficiencies and pains we will still get hurt.  When you invest in relationship as God calls us to "love your neighbor as your self," people will tear us to shreds, they will bite us and hurt us, it's the fact of life.  And when we minimize this risk, we minimize the reward.  But we need to have discernment with whom we share our cares and deficiencies with, and when people share theirs with us we cannot judge them, because when we judge people we make a value statement about them and, "when you make a value statement about someone you miss their pain," (Aaron Couch).

This is how i reconcile these things, at least this is where i am at right now.  This is not inspired so take it as you chose.  Jesus starts his sermon on the mount with the 7 most paradoxical statements in the Bible, and presents what i believe is a theme running through out, following God, and living in his Kingdom is paradoxical at least to us. The first two statements tell us; "blessed the poor in spirit, because of them the Kingdom of Heaven is," and "blessed those who mourn, for they will be comforted"  A few quick notes,  poor in spirit, is the greek word anas meaning utterly destitute; comforted is translated from the greek word paraklete which is the same word used to describe the Holy Spirit, and means some one who comes along side.  Finally, blessed is the greek word markioi, which is best translated as internally happiness.

Often times we get to a place where we have been hurt so bad by people that there seems to be no way out, we feel broken and completely defeated.  During these times Jesus tells us we are happy, because we are the Kingdom of Heaven.  Also during these times we will be mourning, and again we are happy because we will be comforted.  But we can only be comforted when people choose to journey along side us.  Back to more than conquers.  So we are told that "we are more than conquerors through him who loved us," The inclusion of the fact that it is through him who loved us is of high importance in my mind.  The ability to be more than conquerors comes through love, which means we will conqueror through love, and when love is used its more than conquering, its freeing.  When we share God's love, his redemptive story with people we free them from the bonds of slavery to live in the Kingdom of Heaven. When we choose to be poor in spirit (yes it is a choice - "take up your cross daily and follow me), we choose God's love for people we represent the Kingdom of Heaven.  Because of us the Kingdom of Heaven exists.

So we are more than conquerors because even when people hurt us, and they will, and the world says seek vengeance and revenge and justice we are to love them as Christ loved the church. We are to forgive them, and by doing so we help to free them to God's love, God's story, and the beauty that comes from following the God of the universe.

"This is a profound mystery, but I am talking about Christ and the Church."
-Ephesians 5:32


P.S. Thanks for the inspiration Devon! :)