God put something on my heart to talk about a few weeks back and has kept adding to it every few days with more from His heart. He made it clear to me that now's the time to share so here goes. In Hebrews 13:1 it says "Let brotherly love continue" - other translations say it like this "Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters." Here's the interesting part... It says the word "let" which means that the onus and responsibly is on us to make this happen. This also means that we have the ability to stop this from happening. You see, God is love and God is perfect so as far as love is concerned coming from Him - there's no problem there. So that means the problem has to by logic exist with us, with our selfishness, our greed, our ambition and our desire to be famous, rich and hold power over others. It's by our selfishness that love gets smothered and dies. It's also in our selflessness that love thrives, grows, expands, feeds, clothes and reaches others. What God put on my heart is simply this - when we believe in Jesus as our Saviour are all brothers and sisters - there is no position, no hierarchy, no top dogs and no one that's any better than any one else.
The Bible says very clearly in Romans 2:11 that "there is no respect of persons with God" - what this means is that He sees us all the same. So if that's how God sees us, why do we concern ourselves with seeing others as better or lesser than ourselves? The way He sees us is that no one is any better and no one is any higher than anyone else - we are all simply just little children who cannot survive without the love of our Father in Heaven. Here's where I believe it all goes wrong... Like I said above, God's love and His view of us is perfect so it means that the error must and has to be in us as humans. To illustrate this God showed me a picture I want to share with you. There's 10 kids who play together in a playground. They are all about 5 years old and they love to run and play and eat together and are all friends. They all range in ages slightly because of their birth dates but they don't care at all - all they care about is sharing each others company and playing together. After all they're kids and that's what kids do. For these kids, life is great. They love to play, share and help each other. When one kid falls over and scrapes their knee the others help them up and give them the care they need. It truly is a great picture hey. Well, theres one kid who is older than all the rest by just a little bit.
This kid is faster at running, better at climbing, comes from a family that's pretty well off and is great at speaking and telling stories. Naturally this kid becomes the pseudo leader of the pack and the kids follow this kids lead in generally everything this kid says and does without questioning it at all. This pattern goes on for weeks, then weeks turn into months, and months turn into years. After a few years this kid has developed in his mind that because everyone follows me and does what I say then I MUST be better than them all - it's only logical and makes sense... right? It's subtle at first but this mind set creeps in slowly but surely. Soon, this kid can ask for parts of other kids lunch and they will surrender it to him. He can ask for kids to give him some of their money to do the things he decides and they do. He can decide selectively who he wants to play with and the kids fall into line and obey. He can even decide whether or not another kid should be helped or not when they fall over depending on his verdict of why they fell. By now the picture of innocency of kids just sharing and playing in a playground is long gone. It's now become about ambition, power, greed and control. Stay with me because it gets worse...
One day this kid that's decided he's better than all the rest finds a yellow plastic ring on the ground on the way to the playground. The little whisper in his head says "go on... try it on, I bet it fits your head like a crown...". By now the kids ego has grown so big that he doesn't even stop to think and just puts it on his head and struts into the playground. He announces his arrival and tells the kids "I'm your King, you will now only reference me as King or Your Majesty". Some of the kids cheer, others silently go along with it and a few protest under their breath but haven't got the heart to say or do anything because of the power the older kid holds after years and years of playing this game of control. Now... I'm wondering who here has worked out where this is going. I know the story sounds far fetched and ridiculous but this sort of thing is happening all over the world in the Name of God and God is greatly displeased and is most definitely NOT for this. Jesus taught us in Matthew 23 about how we are to view others and made it very clear that we are to call no one here on earth Father - because we have one Father which is in Heaven. He also said we are to call no one master or teacher because we have one master and teacher which is Jesus.
What Jesus did when He taught this was destroy all the useless and pointless hierarchy that we as mankind build and brought in the pattern of the Kingdom of God in its place. The pattern of love, unity and humility. As humans we naturally look for leadership and when someone stands up and says with a plastic crown on their head saying "I'm the king now" we often fall into line and obey without question. The truth is we should only obey, serve and have our allegiance to one King and His Name is Jesus. He is the only one to who our complete trust can be given because He is the one true, just and holy Son of God - all others are inferior copies. He is the only one to whom our hearts can be trusted in full to be not be betrayed, hurt and manipulated. Now I know I'm going to make enemies by saying this but trust me when I say making enemies isn't something I'm not accustomed to at all. If anyone on this earth tells you to do anything against the teachings of Jesus, if they elevate themselves above you, segregate themselves to special areas assigned for the elite, make themselves out to be something more than you in God and use this to further their own plans and ambition - then they aren't of God.
Interestingly Jesus gave a compliment to a man in the bible and called him the greatest man born among women yet this man lived alone in the wilderness, wore camel skin and ate honey dipped locusts. What this man we know as John the Baptist did do was lead people into the Kingdom of Heaven and just like God he made no distinction for position. He welcomed all including the prostitutes, thieves, murderers, criminals and all the outcasts of society to a Kingdom of love, peace, truth and life through repentance in Jesus. He didn't have a special area for the pretty people or the well to do ones - everyone got baptised in the same river Jordan. It was the religious leaders of the day that had the yellow plastic crowns on their head, the ones who's hands smelt of money from the constant dipping into the treasury of the temple that hated John and the ways of God he brought to people. They hated him because they held the power over people and they wanted it to stay that way for as long as possible. For that very reason, these same leaders also rejected and killed Jesus as He was the biggest threat to their manipulation. The Kingdom of Heaven brings balance, peace and love and levels out the false kingdoms built by man. From my experience and from the Word of God, find the money trail and you'll find it leads to control and evil in the hearts of men and women.
One of the single most significant things that happened when Jesus finally died that day on the cross was to do with the veil in the temple. Before that day only a high priest - someone with title and bloodline - could enter the innermost part of the temple to meet with God himself. When Jesus died - that curtain separating the most intimate area where God was met was torn from top to bottom. What God was saying was this "Now... all can come. I hold no distinction, all are welcome because of my Son and His sacrifice for you". God encourages us to seek Him, ask Him questions and to test all things. He isn't looking for mindless robots that do the same thing week after week on a structured routine - He clearly says "I seek people to worship me from their spirit and in truth" (John 4:24). He doesn't expect us to blindly believe what He says and He also doesn't expect you to blindly believe what others say either. He wants you to know and understand the truth and we know and understand that by having a direct, personal and meaningful relationship with God our Father through Jesus Christ and the by Holy Spirit's help. The Bible says in 1 John 4:1 to "Test the spirits because not all that say they are of God are actually from God and many false prophets have come into the world".
The heart of God is this - we are called to be simply brothers and sisters in Christ to love, serve and help one another. In Romans 12:10 "it says to be devoted to one another, preferring one another". Jesus also taught the principle that to whom much is given, much is required (Luke 12:48). If someone is given a huge gift in music, speaking, business or anything else - then it was given to serve and help others and not for fame, greed or personal riches. James 5:17 tells us that Elijah - the guy that prayed and called down fire and rain from Heaven - was a normal guy just like you and me. A normal guy that prayed and sought God and found Him. Jesus taught us in Matthew 18 that the greatest in the Kingdom of God is the one that serves - not the one who has many servants. Jesus himself was the example of this when He willingly laid down His crown as the King of all Glory to become a servant to us to help us, heal us and ultimately die for us. If you want to know who the true servants of God are - don't judge it by the car they drive, how big their church is or how big the crowd of followers they have - look for the selfless, caring, humble heart of Jesus in them and through them. Can I encourage you today that if you believe in God, make the one person you do have your absolute allegiance to, the one you learn from and obey, the one you seek for guidance and truth, and the one who's example you follow to be Jesus. Everyone else is simply just another little kid in the playground but He is the true King that loves us and is worth following, worth listening to and worthy of our love and devotion. I pray that God gives you peace, love and truth as you seek Him. God loves you deeply.
