St Matthew, Chapter 19, verse: 18a, Which commnadments to keep.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The rich young man speaks to Jesus) Part 4.

The rich young man approached Christ and asked the question that we all ask.  What must I do to attain heaven?  Christ told him to keep the commandments.  Is it just that simple?  Is it just that easy to attain heaven?  Keep the commandments.  So as we review the commandments handed down to Moses and the Jews of Israel, what must we do today.

Today is different from the time when Moses lived.  Today is different when the Jews lived.  Today people live in cities, drive cars, watch TV, work in office buildings, go to schools, and do all sorts of things that are completely different from the time when Christ walked the earth.  How do we apply them today?  How do we keep the commandments today when times are so different?  The rich young man was puzzled by Christ's reply.  He did not know what commandments to keep.  So, He said to him, “Which?”

Of all ten commandments the young man asked, which ones should he keep.  And our question today is the same.  Do we keep all the commandments or do we observe some of them? Our society has rules.  Our families have rules.  Our jobs have rules and regulations that we follow in our daily routines.  Do we follow these rules or do we seek to find shortcuts around those rules that will benefit us more than they will benefit others?  Do we lie?  Do we cheat?  Do we lust?  Do we bear false witness?  Do we honor our fathers and mothers?  Do we hate or do we love our brothers and sisters?  Do we love all mankind or are we selective in who we care about and love?  These are some of the problems that present themselves to us on a daily basis.  It is how we respond to them that speak to what is in our hearts and minds.

We are born and breed in a society that teaches us how to survive.  That survival may mean stealing or taking what we want and desire or it may mean that we are given the tools needed to provide for ourselves adequately.  But as we look around in our environment we are faced with all that the world has to offer.  And if we do not conform to the way of the world then we do not have the opportunities to experience what the world offers.  We are left out.  We are denied.  We become outsiders looking in on what others have that we do not.  Is this what we want?  Do we want what the world offers?  Or does our Father in heaven offer more?  

Our desires and passions motivates us to conform.  Our desires and passions tell us that we must find a way to have all that our hearts desire.  And as we follow that path of our passions we toss out the guidelines given us by our heavenly Father as to how we should live.  We throughout the love that is a part of our spiritual nature and replace it with the desires of the world.  And we forget.  We compromise.  We adapt.  We change and rationalize that which is in our hearts for that which is in the world.  Slowly we move along the path of the world and get farther from the path of that which is of the spirit.  And finally we are so far down the road of the world that we forget who we are and fall asleep in the realm of the desires and passions of the world.

Which commandments do we keep?  Christ came that we would have life and have it more abundantly.  He gave of his own life to pay the price so that we could have our life.  And we give our lives to the world.  We turn away from the spirit that is within us and turn to the darkness that is in the world.  Keeping the commandments is keeping the life that is within us.  Keeping the commandments is maintaining the love that Christ has for us.  Keeping the commandments is holding onto the love that our Father has for us and the protection that he provides.  If we only knew.  If we only understood.  If we only allow ourselves to see the truth of who we are then we would not decide to fill our hearts with the passions and desires of the world. 

Our Father loves us.  We are his children and he is our Father who will provide and protect us.  And death is but a door that opens to the joys and happiness that is ours through Christ.  Or, it can open to the pain and sorrow of what life offers without our Father.  The choice is ours to make.  Seek to know the truth before making the decision.  Seek to find out who you are in Christ before traveling down the road of passion and desire for the world.  For great are the treasures that are sacrificed.  Great are the joys that are lost.  Great is the happiness that is forsaken without him that is the source of all happiness.  Come!  Seek to know the truth of who you are in Christ and you too will find peace, joy, and happiness that is everlasting.

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. 

St Matthew, Chapter 19, verse: 17c, Keep the commandments?

Our paragraph topic is:  (The rich young man speaks to Jesus) Part 3.

One there is who is good and he is God.  The Father created us.  The Father gave us life.  The Father protects us and guides us and provides for us.  And he is good.  He is great.  He is wonderful.  He is glorious.  He is above all and is all.  And he is good.  But we live in a world where our actions indicate that there is no belief in God.  Our actions demonstrate that we are our god.  We believe that we must do for ourselves.  We believe that we must provide for ourselves.  We believe that we must protect ourselves in any and all circumstances.  And when the world demonstrates that we are not in control, we do not know how to make sense of it.  We loose control rather than surrender the control to our Father.  We believe through our actions that we are the ones who are great and wonderful and glorious.

The young rich man questioned Christ to get an answer to his question.  He wanted to know what he must do.  And behold he came.  Of all the people who followed Christ and sought his teachings, this young man appeared and asked the question that could have set him on the right path as he stood at the crossroad seeking to know which direction to take.  He asked:  "What must I do to attain heaven?"  And Christ told him:  "But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." 

Keep the commandments.  Simple, easy, straight to the point: "Keep the commandments."  Is it just that simple.  Is it just that easy, to just keep the commandments.  As we are children our parents command us to follow their rules.  Looking out on the world and seeing what it has to offer, we rebel.  Our society commands us to follow the laws that are set before us, we do not.  We adapt them to fit our own needs as we see fit.  Our God gives us commandments to follow as a guide to life, but we create our own guide to follow as we choose.  There are those who would believe and would attempt to follow the commandments.  We are not perfect so we make some effort to obey.  Yet in the world we live in, we are compelled to disobey, to set aside, to rationalize our actions to fit the situations we face.  Our society motivates us to turn away from the commandments and to follow the norm of today.

Keep the commandments.  Keep the rules that are given to us and do not go astray from them.  They are the boundaries that separate us from the protection that our Father provides and the evil that wants to lead us away from our Father.  The choice is ours.  Choose to follow the commandments or choose to cross over and be led by that which will lead you astray.  What do we loose?  What do we gain?  If we only knew the peace, and the joy, and the happiness, and the glory that is ours, we would not make the choices that we make today.  We sacrifice our heritage simply for the glitz and glamour of the moment. 

Our Father does not dictate to us.  He merely sets guidelines to follow.  He is good and he knows what is best for us.  He sees the truth of the choices that we make.  He knows the path down which our decisions will lead us.  And he is compassionate and merciful to forgive us if we awake from the influences of evil and turn back to his protection.  But if we knew the truth of our decisions and the treasures we give up for the passion of the moment, we would not make the decisions that we make.  We would rejoice in the commandments, if we knew.  We would celebrate the gifts of the Father, if we knew.  We would be overwhelmed with the path that we walk, if we only knew the treasures we forsake.  We have a choice.  And the choice is ours to make. 

Let us not be led astray by the influences of the world.  Fear not the loss of the flesh, for the spirit is alive and cannot die.  Fear not the death of the body for the body is dust and must return to dust.  For worse than death is the one who can kill the body and kill the soul in hell.  We have the life that has been given us by Christ.  We have the life that is within us.  We are the children of our father, created in his image and likeness.  Yet we live in the flesh not knowing the truth of who we are in the spirit.  Keep the commandments!  Seek the truth of who you are in Christ and you will know and see the light of life that is within you.  The Holy One will come and abide with you.  The Holy One will teach you.  The Holy One will guide you, protect you and be with you at all times.  Then you too will know the truth of who you are.  And with that truth no one will be able to lead you astray.  For your light shines within, and that light is the life that Christ has given you that you will know where you are from.  Open your mind.  Open your heart.  See the truth that is within you.  For you too are a child of God, your Father.

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. 

St Matthew, Chapter 19, verse: 17b, God is good?

Our paragraph topic is:  (The rich young man speaks to Jesus) Part 2.  

And behold there appeared a young man from nowhere with a question for Christ.  The young man was innocent.  He was perplexed.  He was without a sense of direction with this question that he sought to find an answer but the answer eluded his understanding.  The question was, what must one do to obtain the kingdom of heaven.  What must one say, or think, or behave, or be to assure that he would enter the kingdom of heaven.

Christ came into this world and preached to the people the coming of the kingdom of heaven.  He told them that they must repent and be renewed in the spirit.  He spoke to them of the old ways.  He spoke to them of the new ways that must come into play.  He spoke to them of attitudes, of behaviors, of love, of hate, of good and of evil.  He wanted them to know the truth of what was taking place here on earth.  He wanted them to see for themselves the light of life that was before them that they would know who they are.  And then comes this young man seeking knowledge of what was good.  And Christ told him:  "One there is who is good, and he is God."

The young man was filled with the question of what was good.  He was driven by the need to know what was good,  what was right, what was wrong, or what was bad.  And he sought the one person that he thought was good.  He placed a label upon that person who he thought was good.  So he called Christ the good master.  He asked Christ what good works must he perform to assure that he would attain the kingdom of heaven.  But deep within him was the unknown.  Within him was the innocence and the desire to fulfill.  Yet also within him was the slight tinge of evil that was hidden.  And Christ saw and corrected him that he would not be allowed to think that he was the source of all goodness.

Only one who is good and that is God our Father.  This is a statement that is true, in and of itself.  Yet our concept of God is not real.  Our concept of our heavenly Father is not tangible to us as the world is tangible, as our physical bodies are tangible, as our need for food, clothing and shelter is tangible.  For these are the things that occupy us.  These are the things that consume our daily consciousness.  These are the things that we strive to overcome, to obtain, to master, to assure that we have enough of.  And our Father is good.  Our Father is all powerful.  Our Father is protective.  Our Father is loving and merciful, and forgiving, and good.  But to our understanding this is not tangible to us as the world is tangible.  Or is it?

For our understanding tells us that we must provide for ourselves.  Our understanding tells us that we must be a success unto ourselves.  We are the be all and end all of who we are.  And this is how we are programed to think and believe and be in the world.  For is the world is good?  Is the world caring?  Is the world loving if we just embrace what it has to offer?  This is what we are told.  This is what we are given to believe.  This is what we love by and not by the goodness of our Father.  How deceived we are.  How misled we are.  How unknowing we are of the truth of who we are in Christ.  The truth will come to you.  The truth will knock at your door.  The truth will set you free.  The truth will open the eyes of your heart and fill it with the love of the Father so much so that nothing else on earth can compare.  All you have to do is open your heart and accept what the Father has to offer.  He offers love!  Open up and let him in.  God is good. 

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. 

St Matthew, Chapter 19, verse: 17a, What is good?

Our paragraph topic is:(The rich young man speaks to Jesus ) Part 1.

And behold a certain man came to Christ with a question.  He wanted to know what was good.  He wanted to know what was acceptable.  He wanted to know what he had to do to enter the kingdom of heaven.  He had heard of the miracles performed by Christ.  He had heard of the words spoken by Christ.  He had understood the meaning of those words but he wanted to be certain of those words and not just depend on the hearsay as passed down from those who carried the word.

So his curiosity led him to find Christ.  For he figured that Christ had to be a good man.  He figured that Christ had to be a just man.  He figured that Christ had to be a religious man who would tell him what was right and good.  So he sought him out that he may get the true words directly from Christ himself.  And he believed that he would get the truth from such a good man as Christ.  But underneath his question, hidden in the back recesses of his mind was that lingering question, the question of good and right.  And Christ spoke to that question.  He said to him, "Why dost thou ask me about what is good?

What is good?  What is bad?  What is right?  What is wrong?  Do we know good from bad?  Do we know what is right or what is wrong?  Can we determine for ourselves what is good or what is bad, what is right or what is wrong?  We are the ones who must live by what is good or what is bad.  We are the ones who must abide by what is right or what is wrong.  Are we to make these determinations for ourselves?  Are we to abide by our own determinations of these boundaries?  It would seem so in the world that we live in today.

We are brought into a world that has existed from the past.  And with that existence are the things that are given to us as what is right and what is wrong.  God our Father gave us rules to live by.  He gave us boundaries to abide within.  He helped us to know what is right and what is wrong according to his wisdom and knowledge.  He has given us free will to choose.  He has not dictated to us that we should follow his commandments but allows us to make our own decisions.  And our decisions are influenced by the evil that exists in the world today.  So we are given the rules that are created by the world that we live in and they are handed down to us by those who have made those decisions for us.  Yet we have within us the truth and the knowledge of the father.

So what is good?  What is right?  What is wrong?  And what is bad?  The decision is ours to make.  If we choose, we can know the answer to these questions.  If we choose we can have the knowledge to discern these answers.  If we desire with our hearts, we are able to know what is good, what is right, what is bad and what is wrong.  For Christ came that we would know.  He came that we would see.  He came that we would understand the truth of who we are in God our Father through his sacrifice.  We are created in his image and his likeness.  God our Father is good.  He is kind.  He is merciful.  He is forgiving.  He is loving.  He is full of all grace and glory.  And it is from his gifts that we receive our goodness, our mercy, our forgiveness, and our love.  The choice is ours for the taking.  The belief is ours to believe.  The knowledge is ours for the knowing.  The love is ours to be loved, if we open our hearts and receive it from the one who gives it freely.  Open your heart and know the love that fulfills all desires.

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.