Highlighted New Testament Bible

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Sunday, August 18, 2013

St Matthew, Chapter 17, verse: 26, Tribute to the kings of the earth: The Payment.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Paying the Temple tax) Part 4.   

Simon Peter was questioned by the tax collectors about the didrachma and he was angry.  The question opened a wound.  The question made him see red.  The question made him see the injustice of the system and it did not sit well with him.  For many years Simon did not like how the tax collection system was administered and he wanted to do something about it.  But Christ wanted to teach him a lesson.  Christ wanted to show him how to overcome the anger.  He wanted Peter to learn not to let the injustices of the world cause him to open the door to anger, to frustration, to hatred, and not to give evil a foothold into his heart.  

Christ saw how Peter was disturbed.  He knew the turmoil in his heart.  He felt the anger and the frustration in Peter so he wanted to help him to understand how to accept it.  Christ sought to question Simon on the injustice.  He sought to show Simon how to overcome.  And he sought to demonstrate to Simon the trust that he must have in the father to overcome all injustices.  So Christ sent Simon fishing.  He gave him a task that would bring him peace, a task that would take away the pain of injustice and bring calm into his mind and soul. 

Simon was a fisherman and that was the one thing that he knew.  And Christ sent him to fish that he might believe in the providence of God.  He told Simon:  But that we may not give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook, and take the first fish that comes upAnd opening its mouth thou wilt find a stater; take that and give it to them for me and for thee."

What can we learn today from this lesson that Christ gave Simon then?  Simon was disturbed by this injustice.  This injustice had been with him for years and each experience made him feel worse.  He wanted to react.  He wanted to do something.  He wanted to find some solution.  We face the same situations today.  There are many things that would disturb us.  There are injustices that we face that would make us angry, disturb us, frustrate us, make us want to take action into our own hands to find a solution.  But God is our father and it is his to resolve, his to deal with, his to exact wrath and punishment.

How then do we find resolution?  How then do we cope with what we face daily?  How then do we allow ourselves to have peace with the pain and horror in the world?  Christ sent Peter fishing.  He gave him something to do to past the time until the issue would be resolved.  He gave Simon a task that would give him the time to trust in God's justice.  He gave Simon a task that would allow him the opportunity to practice patience.  And so it is with us today.  God's rule will prevail.  God's justice will be upheld and the wrath of God will be exacted upon those who practice injustice.  We must trust in God to fulfill his promise.  We must have faith in God's will for us that we do not open the door to the evil of hatred, fear, frustration, anger, and all manner of wrongs that are against the will of the father.

Christ gave us a commandment that we should love one another as he has loved us.  For we are all created in the image and likeness of our father.  We all have the spiritual life given to us by our father and it is that life within us that is most precious.  For our father loves each and every one of us and if we understood the love that he has for us we would know the truth of who we are in him.  That knowledge of love brings a peace that is not of this world and that peace is the joy of who we are in him.  Let not your peace be disturbed.  Let not your joy be overturned that you loose the inner peace that comes with the truth of who you are. 

For God so loved the world that he sent his only son that we would have life eternal in him.  And it is that precious gift of life that we must strive to protect from the destruction that comes through the open door of the injustices of this world.  Hatred, fear, frustration, anger, all are intended to disturb the peace that Christ has given us through the father.  Practice Perfect Patience and you will know the justice of God.  Practice Perfect Patience and you will see the miracles of the father.  Practice Perfect Patience and you will know the love of the father that will fill your heart and soul completely.  Be at peace.  Be with love.  See the truth of the light of the life that Christ has given you and you will see your brothers and sisters as they truly are in you.  Come!  Follow the path before you.  The truth is before you.  Seek it.  Follow it.  Find it and you will know.  Christ loves you.  The Holy Spirit awaits you.  God the Father be with you. 

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.