Lest we forget

People are born imperfect into an imperfect World. It is not in the nature of man to do good, but because of man’s ego and the temptations of the World, it is his nature to see himself better than others and when given the opportunity, it is his nature to “one up” others at every opportunity. A wise person said that when we have the opportunity we should do good unto every person, especially those who are of the faith. Even though this is against human nature to do so, it can be accomplished.

Jesus preached to the people that we should live gentle lives and not return evil for evil. That we should love our enemies, offer blessings to those that curse you, do good to those that hate us and to turn the other cheek to those who would smite us. But don’t you understand, this is all against the nature of people because they are imperfect and this is an imperfect World.

If in fact we ever realized it, our lives in this World are of very few years and just as they had a beginning, they will have an end. Some of us live our lives as though they will never end and strive to get out of life as much as they can no matter what the cost is to others. In one word we are all hypocrites, for with the same tongue and with the same breath we praise and bless God and curse man who he created. His creation which in part is other people that we encounter in our lives. This should not be so, but is in reality the nature of man.

We should look at our lives as a training ground or a dress rehearsal to prepare us for tomorrow if we are to believe that there will be a tomorrow. How can we possibly believe that the few years that we spend on this Earth is all that there is to our lives. If we do believe that, then we should eat drink and be merry and get everything out of life that we possibly can, for in just a few years we will certainly die with no hope for anything beyond the grave.

Another old saying that everyone is familiar with goes like this: “if you can’t say something good about someone, then don’t say anything.”  That certainly is a good thing to do, but it goes against the human nature of man because man cannot bridle his tongue and control what comes out of his mouth.

I have seen with my own eyes and have experienced it myself that there are many people who are believers in God and Spirit filled that continue to gossip, criticize and speak evil things about others. If you don’t believe that can happen, then you are either blind or see it happen and turn a blind eye to it. This is nothing but imperfection in our imperfect lives, who because of misery in our lives seek to exploit the misery in other people’s lives. This should not be, but is again human nature. We might not be able to control these kind of thoughts, but our tongue can be controlled if we want to.

So, what can we do to control our vile tongues and cease from offending others? Maybe nothing as long as we are in these imperfect bodies. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try, but the evil powers that maintain much control over our lives work constantly to prevent us from doing what we should.

Maybe like some groups of people we might choose to live in isolation like some who are called Monks who isolate themselves from mankind in a Monastery for the purpose of not being influenced by worldly things. There are some of these isolationists that live in silence, never speaking a word aloud for fear of defiling themselves by speaking things that could offend others. Could this be the answer to maintaining purity in our lives in order to force perfection upon ourselves.

It has been said that God’s will is for us to love one another. What is the love that God wants us to express? Is it the words “I love you” which have very little meaning unless our love for each other is expressed in some other way. Love is the opposite of hate, but can be verbalized with the same breath. Both words come from the same heart and are expressed with the same tongue. We are all capable of doing this. So love just expressed with words alone have no meaning if not expressed by doing something good for someone else. God loved the World and gave the life of His own Son to save us from eternal damnation. If we really love someone, shouldn’t we be willing to do the same thing?

Have you ever wondered about what the Bible says about defiling yourself? It is those things that we speak which originate from within our heart that cause us to be defiled and make ourselves to appear to be unclean and indecent. Again it is the words that we speak which are the things that make us appear to be evil to others and spoil the testimony of those who are said to be believers. Right back to where we were in the beginning that we allow our tongue to make us appear bad to others because we allow evil thoughts to be verbalized instead of controlling our tongue. These things should not be so. How can we say that our words bless God and turn around and curse man and spoil our testimony of being a child of God.

I would like to end this with one quotation from the Bible that is in First John, Chapter four and verse twenty, as follows:

“If any person says that they love God, but in their heart they hate a brother or a sister, they are a liar. For any person that doesn’t love their brother and sister who they can see, how can they love God who they have not seen?” (paraphrased)

We are all brothers and sisters in the sight of God because He has created us and is the Father of us all. If we say that we have love for a person, then how do we express our love? Is it with words only? If we say that we don’t hate a brother or a sister, then our actions and our words will not express hateful things.

There is only room in God’s Kingdom for the love of one another. If we don’t forgive a brother or sister who has wronged us and love them as God commands us, then God will not forgive us for the wrongs we have done to each other.

Having said all of that, it is my desire for God, through His infinite mercy, to forgive me of all my trespasses. To that end I forgive those who have in many ways trespassed against me because I know that the devil was behind all that has occurred. Just as God has put all of my trespasses behind Him and will look on them no more, I do the same thing for those who have trespassed against me and will not speak of them from this day forward because they are behind me.

Since love for a brother or sister is more than just words, I will in the future express my love for all of God’s children as the opportunity presents itself.

Human nature that is part of these vile bodies works against each one of us, but because of the glory of God’s promises which are to come for those who obey Him, it is my desire that nothing in this World hinders me from experiencing what He has prepared for us.