Thursday, June 28, 2018

God's Favor (5)

God favors those who make peace. The English term "peacemaker" gives a connotation of someone, who is an intermediary between people, who have some sort of dispute. The word in the original language could be stated more like "to produce peace."

In all these declarations of who God favors, Jesus is drawing a contrast between the Pharisaic understanding of keeping rules, and marking boxes on check lists, with having a relationship with the Father.

God does not favor rules keepers, or check box markers. The relationship between God and man is broken. No amount of rule keeping will fix it.

Even if rule keeping could fix it, no human being keeps the rules sufficiently well enough. The rule breaking far outdoes the rule keeping.

Let's bear in mind here, God is not against rule keeping per se. If sin had not come into the world, and people's lives, people would have lived like Jesus. They would have "kept" the rules as an expression of their nature. God inspired the Biblical writers to write down the rules, so people would realize that they do not keep the rules. Or they could see what a person, who pleases God, looks like. We would know how we were designed to live.

God sent Jesus to build the bridge, so people could return to him, create a relationship with him, and be restored in their core, so they would begin to live as they were designed.

So, God favors those who choose to cross the bridge, and begin that relationship with the Father. They have made peace with him. They are no longer rebels, or enemies. And they are living a life of peace, because they are living in agreement with how they are designed.

And God favors those who show others, where the bridge is … helping someone else begin to have a relationship with the Father, to cease living as rebels, and enemies, and to begin living as they are designed.

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