Jesus showed us how it works.
Out of Agape Love and in Grace Jesus healed. Jesus did not only share Good News, but lived it and then called His followers to do the same.
Jesus then sent them out to BE His example in the world and to bring Shalom.
Shalom : well-being, completeness, wholeness and peace cannot be or be restored without Agape Love and Grace being lived. The restoration of individual lives, relationships and communities only happens when Agape Love and Grace are lived among the children of God.
It is not about personal gain at the expense of the other, but about receiving what one needs and giving what the other needs in life. It is about genuine mutual interdependence, based on love and grace.
Jesus foretold how resistant the world will be to living in this Agape Way, His Way. People are so invested in the status quo, quid pro quo, exploitative, greedy, power hungry way of self-centered existence that they believe that is actually a faithful way. Jesus taught, commanded and modeled otherwise.
Our physical, emotional, mental, social and spiritual health and well-ness begins and ends in the living of Agape Love in the Kingdom of God. When we learn that and live it, individual, relational and communal shalom shall be restored. We will have peace within and around us. Not until then. There is no other way for that. Until we learn that and value it, we will continue to settle for scraps and exploit and abuse one another, and be victimized, abused and exploited.
You can claim the name of Jesus all you want. You can worship, praise and tithe everything. You can carry the biggest, floppiest Bible and wear the biggest gaudiest cross around your neck. If you do not live what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled in the Good News around Agape Love and Grace, that all means nothing. It is not about personal salvation, but the restoration of all the children of God. That is faithfulness in living God's Will and commands, and in following Jesus.
As I have felt compelled to say many times, "It is about you, sweetheart. It's just not ALL about you." It is in the living of Agape Love and Grace are our mission, rather than personal salvation, that the world will be transformed by the Good News of Jesus, and in nothing else. Unconditional, self-sacrificing, active commitment on behalf of the other is that to which we are called. When all of us do that, we all receive what we need, equally, which is the Will of God. Then all children of God will have enough and have well-being. That is what we are called to live in THIS PART of God's Kingdom, here and now. THAT is what we are called to put out in the world around us today and everyday. THAT is following Jesus - bringing shalom to the lives around us by the living of Agape Love and Grace.
How are we doing as individuals, congregations, church bodies and Christianity in America at doing THAT in this world around us?
Pastor Jamie
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