St Matthew, Chapter 19, verse: 7, Moses written notice.

Our paragraph topic is:  (The question of divorce) Part 5. 

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.  You gave us life.  You give us joy.  You give us happiness.  And yet we are today without understanding of your will for us.  For you created us male and female.  You created us two flesh to become one.  You gave us our purpose.  You gave us our plan.  You gave us the world we live in to multiply and prosper.  And yet today we do not know you.  Today we do not obey your commands.  Today we live according to our own will.

For we were lost.  We were deceived.  We were dead, without your spirit.  And Christ.  He came to take back what was lost.  He came to pay the price.  He came that we would have life and have it more abundantly.  The choice is ours.  Do we live with you, according to the laws that you have given us, or do we live according to the dictates of the world.  Christ gave us your command: "What God has joined together let no man put asunder."  And yet we do.  How have we come to changing your laws.  They said to him, "Why then did Moses command to give a written notice of dismissal, and to put her away?"

Why did Moses allow for dismissal of a wife?  Why was the practice of separation begun?  Why was it necessary to have a divorce?  God our Father put them together from the beginning.  God our Father gave them a purpose?  God our Father created them male and female so that they would come together for a cause.  And it was God our Father who gave them life that they may prosper.  Yet man has changed the rules of God.  Man has decided that it is better that they are separate.  Man has willed that they may divorce and remarry.  And thus we have man's plan in today's world.

The plan was changed and the purpose discarded.  And now we divorce, we separate, we remarry as many times as we see fit.  For the structure of the original plan has been changed.  Can we not accept the original plan?  Can we not abide by the original plan?  Are we not God's children living according to his will?  Do we not start with his understanding, his plan, his purpose?  Do we not accept that we are put together for a purpose?  Do we not believe that he knows what is best for us?  It is up to us male and female to come together with the knowledge and the will to live according to his plan and his purpose and not according to the will of the world. 

If we are Christians and live according to the life that is given us through Christ then we should know the truth of who we are.  We should accept the will of our Father when we make the commitment to live according to his purpose.  Yet the tricks and traps of the world weigh upon us, both male and female.  The wants and desires of the world lead us in a direction away from the knowledge of our protector.  The passions of the life we live and the life we experience, on a daily basis, wear upon our conscience like water wearing upon rock, eroding away at our ability to follow the will of our father.  Yet it is only with the truth of who we are and the consolation of the Holy Spirit that we find a stronghold away from the constant battering of the world we live in. 

Come!  Let us retire from the storm of the outside world.  Let us live according to the will of our Father.  Let us know the truth of who we are in Christ and thereby secure the protection of the Holy Spirit that will guide us through the darkness.  Christ is the light in the darkness.  He is the beacon to follow.  He gives us the strength to weather the storm of the world.  Stay strong.  Stay true to who you are in him.  Seek the solitude of his protection and you will know the peace and joy of his love.  For he is our fulfillment.  He is our purpose.  He is our love and our happiness.  For there is nothing in the world that can compare to what our father has prepared for us in heaven.  And it is our decision to turn from the ways of the world and turn our hearts to him who made us and sustains us.  For to know him is to love him and to love him is to be with him. 

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, verses: 1-2, Great crowds followed.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Christ travels to Judea). 

Christ finished his sermon to his disciples and to the people and moved on.  He left Capharnaum and entered the district of Judea.  He was on a mission, the mission of his father, to preach the coming of the kingdom of heaven.  For the kingdom of heaven was open to all.  It was open to those who heard the word.  It was open to those near and to those far away.  For they heard of the miracles.  They heard of the teachings.  They heard and they came to see for themselves.  They came to know.  They came to believe.

There was a hunger in the land.  There was a yearning.  There was a void that was not being fulfilled in the people.  And Christ came.  He came to save.  He came to take back.  He came to give new life.  He came to be the sacrifice, the propitiation for the sins of man.  And the people came to hear, to see, to know, to believe.  AND it came to pass when Jesus had brought these words to a close, that he departed from Galilee and came to the district of Judea beyond the Jordan.  And great crowds followed him, and he cured them there. 

It was a time for new beginnings.  It was an exciting time.  It was a time for joy, a time for happiness, even though there was much pain and torment in the land.  John the Baptist opened the door and spoke of the coming of the Messiah.  Some believed.  Some did not believe.  Some were excited.  Some were fearful.  Many were worried that the change would mean destruction for them.  And yet it was time.  It was the place.  It was the now that took over the land.  And there was news in the air.

Many had read about the coming.  Many believed that it was upon them.  Many saw the miracles.  And many eyes were opened, ears heard, and many believed.  He cured them all.  He made them whole.  He brought forth the light into the darkness and opened a door for those who had waited for so long for his coming.  Christ was the beginning and he was the end of what had taken place in the past.  He was a slice in time that denoted a break.  Will we have the same?  Will we have a break?  Will we be able to see, to hear the word, to know the truth, to believe?

The time is upon us.  The thief is lurking in the dark, surveying your house, to see when he may enter and take.  For he wants your most precious possession.  He wants to take away your light.  He wants to take away your life.  He wants to leave you in darkness and despair.  Be aware.  Awake from your sleep and be on your guard.  Sleep not.  Put on your armor and be on guard.  It is easy to be on the fence, half believing and just going through the motions.  The truth opens the heart and allows one to see, to know without doubt.  And with the truth one can live truly in Christ, without conflict.

Come!  Follow what is in your heart.  Seek the truth of who you are in Christ and you will know.  There will be no doubt.  There will be no fear.  There will be no lust.  There will be no desire to go astray.  For the truth opens the eye and allows one to see the light within, the light of life given by Christ Jesus.  Know your light and let nothing take your life from you.  For your light was given to you by your Father in heaven through Christ Jesus.  He loves you.  He will care for you.  He will protect you.  And he will bring you home to be with him for all eternity.

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 18, verses: 35: Forgive from the heart!

Our paragraph topic is:  (The servant's fate) Part 4. 

Pay the torturer.  Christ told his disciples the parable of the settlement of accounts to give them a reference in real life they could understand.  He wanted them to have a complete grasp of the principle of forgiveness.  He wanted them to know the good and bad part of forgiving.  For the Father has forgiven them their transgressions because of his compassion.  Why should they not forgive their brothers and sisters their transgressions since they are forgiven?  Or they could exact vengeance and pay the torturer his due for not forgiving.

This was an important principle for his disciples and for us today.  For we are given from birth that no one should wrongs us.  We are given that we should fight back.  We are given and taught that we should exact our vengeance upon those who wrong us.  We see this daily, in the news, on the TV, in the movies, and we live it in our society .  Yet Christ came along and said that we should forgive those who wrong us.  This is not an easy concept to grasp, not an easy principle to put into practice.  We feel wronged.  We feel vengeance.  We feel compelled to exact revenge.  And Christ tells us that we must let go of those feelings and forgive from the heart.  "So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if you do not each forgive your brothers from your hearts."

What shall we do in the heat of the moment?  Shall we retaliate?  Shall we respond as we feel?  Do we stop and think about what happened?  Or do we think about all the transgressions that we are responsible for against our Father.  How did he respond?  Did he retaliate?  Did he exact vengeance?  Or did he forgive us with love?  We are children of God, created in his image and likeness.  We were not born of darkness.  We came from the tree of life, given physical form that we may live in the physical realm.  Our task on this earth is determined by the understanding of who we are.

Are we alive in the world?  Are we fully committed to living life, being successful, having all that this life has to offer.  Or are we partially committed, wanting all that we see and know but not having the opportunity to gain that which is in front of us?  Are we not committed, angry, willing to take all, by any means, to make us feel what we believe is our right to have?  Our physical desires hide the truth of the spiritual being that we are.  Our passions blind us to the love that our Father has for us.  And our intellect locks us out from the knowledge, the simple truth, that our intellect can not grasp the spiritual being, but the heart knows.

We belong to Christ.  He is our fulfillment.  He gave us new life.  He sacrificed that we might have the choice.  Do we choose the world?  Or do we choose the spirit?  What we see today as spiritual turns us away from ourselves.  For who wants to be spiritual?  Who wants to be religious?  Who wants to be a Bible toting, hell damnation condemning, prophesying, religious person.  That image has been given to us through our personal experiences.  Yet we worship what we do not understand.  The time will come when people will worship God in spirit and truth.  For the Father seeks those who know themselves and worship him in spirit.  For the spirit of Christ will come and abide with those who know.  And it is in the knowing that one understands the truth of who they are.

Our Father is love.  And through Christ Jesus we can become love.  For it is through him and with him and for him that we find our completeness.  The world has no hold.  Sin has no corner.  The light of Christ abides within our hearts and guides the way.  And the completeness of his love overwhelms the soul so fully that nothing else will satisfy.  It is with that knowledge of his overwhelming love that we begin to understand the power of forgiveness.  For we are all one family.  We are all children.  And we all belong to our Father, who provides for us and protects us.  Come!  Let us forgive from the heart.  Let us love with the heart.  Let us become brothers and sisters in Christ. 

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 18, verses: 31 - 32: Forgive All!

Our paragraph topic is:  (The servant's fate) Part 1.  

Christ continues to demonstrate to his disciples the need for forgiveness.  The fate of the servant who would not forgive but exacted punishment upon his fellow servants, is used as an example for the disciples.  The kingdom of heaven is similar to this demonstration.  For when the settlement date comes, all will be judged according to whether they were merciful, as our Father is merciful upon us.  The servant was forgiven his debt.  Will we forgive our brothers and sisters their debt?  Will we look upon them with contempt and anger?  Or will we accept them with open arms and forgive them their trespasses?

These are the principles that Christ sought to teach his disciples in this parable.  He wanted them to have a clear understanding of the message.  He wanted them to know why it is important for them to forgive.  Not just one time.  Not just two times.  But as many times as seventy times seven, as many times as it takes.  He wanted them to not be like the wicked servant in the parable.  For the story of the actions of the wicked servant got back to the master.  "His fellow-servants therefore, seeing what had happened, were very much saddened, and they went and informed their master of what had taken place.  Then his master called him, and said to him, 'Wicked servant!  I forgave thee all the debt, because thou didst entreat me."

Are we wicked servants?  Do we entreat our Father to forgive us and then do not forgive our brothers and sisters?  In the heat of the moment, do we remember?  In the midst of the conflict when our passions are high, when we realize that we have been wronged, can we think about what we did to our Father when we wronged him?  Can we make that comparison, our Father forgiving us, to our forgiving our brothers/sisters?  Evil would have us live in the passion.  Evil would have us act upon our feelings.  Evil would laugh at us as we battle our brothers and sisters because they have offended us because they have wronged us.  Evil would not have us step back and think of the love and the mercy that our Father gave us when we sinned against him.

All we would think about is that we were offended.  All we could see is that we must get revenge.  All we could understand is that we were hurt.  These are the things that our emotions would have us act upon.  In an argument, in a fight, in a heated discussion, in an effort to hurt or retaliate, we are fully engaged in what our feelings tells us that we must do.  We do not take a deep breath and step back, to think and to feel from the heart of all the things that we did wrong and how our Father forgave us. 

Our God has forgiven us.  Our God loves us.  Our God is merciful toward us.  For those who seek to know him he is loving.  For those who seek to be with him he is forgiving.  For those who desire to love him he is open armed and welcoming.  He provides.  He protects.  He forgives.  Our past is with us.  Our history is like a movie that plays before us, a witness of all the transgressions that we made against the will of our Father.  He should be mad.  He should be angry.  He should exact punishment.  Yet he is merciful and forgiving.  Should we face the day of settlement, our history would certainly condemn us to eternal damnation.  Yet we entreat the compassion of our Father to forgive us of all that we have done.

Be not the "Wicked Servant."  Be not the unforgiving.  Step back and open the heart to that which was given to you.  Seek to become like Christ and understand the love of the Father toward you and toward all your brothers and sisters.  We are all his children.  He created us.  He gave us life.  It is through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus that we have new life, a new beginning.  Come!  Rejoice in what is before you.  Seek the knowledge of who you are in Christ and you will know the truth.  If the eye is sound then you will see the light that is within you.  And then you will know the truth and the love that the Father has for you.  Open the door to your heart and let the Holy Spirit come in.

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 18, verses: 23 - 27: Have patience with us!

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the unmerciful servant)  

Peter asked the question and Christ responded.  He asked: " But how often shall we forgive?"  How often shall we endure the hurt and the pain of our brother's and sister's sin and still forgive them of their transgressions?  How often shall we stand by and watch them play the game of seeking repentance only to turn around and sin again?  How often can we put up with their problems and not get angry?  Is seven times enough, he asked?  Christ wanted his disciples to know that seven times was not enough.  Even if their brothers and sisters continue to sin, to forgive them should not be limited by the disciples inability to forgive. 

He told them that they should forgive not seven times but seventy times seven.  Forgive as often as it is necessary and then some.  Forgive more than they can sin and then some.  Forgive that they will know that you are different and that there is something in you that will not allow you to judge, to be angry, to not love, or to not forgive.  Forgive that they will see that there is something inside that allows you to see them in a different light.  Forgive that they will see that there is something inside you that allows you to be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful with you.  Forgive that they will see that there is no limit to your mercy as there is no limit to his mercy and there is no lack to his justice.

And then Christ told his disciples this parable to help them understand why they should not limit their forgiveness.   "This is why the kingdom of heaven is likened to a-king who desired to settle accounts with his servants.  And when he had begun the settlement, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.  And as he had no means of paying, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.  But the servant fell down and besought him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will pay thee all!'  And moved with compassion, the master of that servant released him, and forgave him the debt."

When the time comes for the settlement of accounts will we meet our debts?  At the judgment day when we are called upon to review our lives on the scale of justice will the scales tilt to good or will the scales tilt to evil?  When we are faced with eternal happiness in heaven or eternal damnation in hell, how will we plead, guilty or not?  Will we beseech justice to have mercy?  Will we ask for clemency?  Will we be sorrowful for our sins?  Will we seek compassion?  How will we plead?

It is the honesty in our hearts that will weigh upon justice.  It is the realization that flashes before our minds that will awaken us to the judgment before us.  And it is the absence of the worldly and the presence of the spiritual reality of who we are that will press upon us the justice that we face.  We had the words.  We had the teachings.  We had the built in presence of right and wrong.  And then we had the world that transformed us into physical beings that allowed us to hide behind the veil of untruth.  Yet the end comes when we are faced with the truth of justice.

Christ gave us all that we should know.  He came to us.  He walked among us.  He spoke to us.  He left us to return to God his Father.  And he sent us his presence in the Holy Spirit.  He established for us the written word and built for us his church.  The time for settlement comes.  And it will come for all without delay or postponement.  It cannot be stopped.  It cannot be changed.  It is the justice of God.  Will you be ready?  Will you be prepared?  Our Father is merciful.  Our Father is Loving.  Our Father is forgiving.  Have patience with us Father that we may come to know the truth of who we are in Christ!  For we are lost.  We are blind.  We are influenced by evil.  We pray that the day of settlement will not find us without your mercy, without your grace, without your love.  In Jesus Christ name we pray.  Amen.

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 18, verse: 22, How often to forgive? How often to love?

Our paragraph topic is:  (Peter asks how often to forgive) Part2.   

Christ was teaching his disciples about winning back the souls of their brothers and sisters.  He told them to meet with thy brother/sister face to face to help them understand their transgressions.  Help them overcome with love and not with anger, or hurt or pain.  For these emotions will cause them to strike out, to exact revenge, to cause pain and hurt as they, thy brothers/sisters, did to them.  Should they not be hurt!  Should they not feel the pain?  Should they not be angry, or vengeful?  These are the questions that the disciples were thinking about when instructed by Christ to win back their brothers/sisters.

Then Peter spoke out, asking the question, how often should we forgive.  How often should we accept their transgressions?  How often should they, the disciples, allow their brothers/sisters to betray them, to bear false witness against them, to lie against them, to cheat, to steal and then to seek forgiveness?  Is seven times enough before they should stop forgiving?  Is seven times enough before they should turn their backs on their brothers/sisters?  Is seven times enough before they should cast them out and never allow repentance again?  Christ answered Peter's question and told them what they should do.  Jesus said to him, "I donot say to thee seven times , but seventy times seven.”

Peter was a simple man, a fisherman.  Everything for him was black and white.  He felt strongly and deeply.  Yet he was a sensible man.  He wanted to know practical things, things that he could apply, things that he could grasp, things that he could know.  He knew forgiveness.  He knew how to accept that some people make mistakes.  He knew that we are all human, not perfect, so we would err.  Yet he wanted to know how long should we accept the errors of others.  How long should we allow sin to be committed against us and still forgive?  He wanted to know if there is an end to the ability to forgive.

At what point do we stop forgiving and start to hate?  At what point do we stop forgiving and start to take revenge?  At what point do we stop forgiving and ourselves turn to the sin that we seek to forgive.  For this is the pit that we open ourselves to fall into if we place a limit on that which is given to us from our Father .  Christ told them, his disciples, as he tells us today, that there is no limit on forgiveness.  He told them that there is no limit on the love that we should have for our brothers/sisters who sin against us. 

We have a merciful Father, a God who is love, a provider, a protector, a creator.  It is he who is all forgiving, all loving, all merciful and all just.  And it is through his love that we become love.  It is through his forgiveness that we are forgiven.  It is through his mercy that we become forgiving of others, our brothers/sister.  For if they truly knew who they are, if they truly knew where they come from, if they truly knew that their actions are not the actions of children of a loving God, they would not commit sin.  Sin comes to influence.  Sin comes to take over.  Sin comes to commit sin.  Sin comes to recruit others to sin. 

But Christ came that we would know who we are without sin.  Christ came that we would have life anew.  Christ came that the light of life would shine within us.  And Christ left that we may have the light of the Holy Spirit reside within us, to guide us through the influences of sin.  How often should we forgive?  He told us seventy times seven.  He told us they do not know what they do.  He told us to forgive without limits.  He told us to forgive with love.  He told us to forgive that they may see the goodness and the light that is within and know that their Father in heaven loves them.  For through you and with him and in him we are the light of the world.  So come!  Let your light shine for those who cannot see.  Let your light shine for those who know not.  Let your light shine for those who have not.  And you too will know the truth of who you are in Christ.

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 18, verse:17b, Fraternal Correction: Appeal to the church to save him.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Fraternal correction) Part 5.   

The battle is against sin and the weapon is love.  Christ spoke to his disciples on the battle to win souls.  He spoke with them about how to keep the souls that may be lost to sin.  For sin will come.  And sin will enter.  And sin will corrupt.  So the disciples had to learn the ways to fight sin.  They had to learn the process, the steps, the means to combat sin once it had taken hold.  For they loved each other.  The disciples loved their brothers and sisters and did not want to loose them to the ways of sin.  

Christ told them to meet with their brother face to face.  Speak with them about their transgressions.  Speak to them with love.  For the battle is to win back thy brother.  The battle is to win back thy sister.  And if this did not work then take one or two more and speak with thy brother.  For they will be witnesses as to the ways and the nature of sin.  Once sin has taken hold it will not want to let go.  And if this does not work then Christ told his disciples to appeal to the church.  Appeal to the body of the church.  For all must be made aware of the transgression that sin may not have a way into the church.  But if thy brother still does not hear, then Christ told his disciples:  "But if he refuse to hear even the Church, let him be to thee as the heathen and the publican."

Release them and treat them as though they are heathens.  Treat them as though they are possessed of sin.  Treat them as though they are lost.  And let the church prey that they may be saved by the grace of God.  For we are the children of God.  We are created in his image and likeness.  And our Father will continue to hold us in his hands until, we let go.  For he loves us as his children.  He provides for us as he is our father.  He protects us as he is our protector.  And he gave us free will as he is gracious.  For the decision is ours.  The choice belongs to us.  The will of the father will not be imposed upon the children, but they must choose of their own free will.

So we stand at the crossroads.  We walk the fence of life knowing, but not knowing, according to the flesh.  For the flesh tells us that we do not know.  The flesh tells us that we do not have proof.  The flesh tells us that we belong to the world.  The flesh blind us.  The flesh weakens us.  The flesh destroys the memory of who we are in Christ.  And the flesh leads us to death.  For Christ came that we would have life anew.  Christ came to pay the sacrifice.  Christ came that the light of his life would shine forth in us.  He came that we would know the truth of who we are in him.

We are the aliens.  We are spiritual.  We are not of the flesh and not of this world.  For death is only a door that opens to the spiritual that is within us.  Death is the portal to eternity.  Death is the beginning of life, as we have never known here in the flesh.  And for those who can see, death is the transition from flesh to spirit, from worldly to heavenly, from the known to the light of life that is within.  Come!  See the light that Christ has given you.  Know the truth of who you are.  Open the eye to the soul and awaken the spirit that is you.  The Holy Spirit will come and abide.  The Holy Spirit will reveal.  The Holy Spirit will bring light that will shine forth in your life and be your counsel.  For the Father has sent him to abide with you.  Follow the path before you and you will know the truth.  Christ loves you and wants you to be with him in heaven. 

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 18, verse: 9, Occasions of sin for the Eye .

Our paragraph topic is:  (Avoiding scandal) Part 6.   

Drastic as it may sound, Christ continues to warn his disciples of the dangers of occasions to sin through the parts of the body.  The eye is the key to the soul and if it leads to sin then Christ says that it should be plucked out and cast away.  The vision to plucking an eye out is very hard to imagine.  Plucking an eye out compared to being cast into the hell-fire is not imaginable since we have no real comparison to the hell-fire.  But Christ knows and he warns his disciples so.  He warns the people of the same.

And the occasions of sin of the eye are the causes of scandal.  The people heard his words.  The disciples heard his words and how drastic or bad, or unbelievable they did sound.  Yet they were spoken from the mouth of Christ, the mouth of the Messiah.  For one must imagine the loss of an eye as compared to the hell-fire.  And if the plucking of an eye is bad then the hell-fire must be ten times worse.  Control the eyes.  Let them not lead to sin.  Let them not stray.  Let them not be controlled by evil such that one commits sin as a result of what one sees.  For the words were spoken.  And the words were written.  And Christ told us:  And if thy eye is an occasion of sin to thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee!  It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell-fire.    

It all starts with what we see.  For through the eyes and into the mind and settling in the heart begins the passion of our desires.  For we desire earthly things.  We desire cars and houses and clothes and women and money and power and all manner of earthly things that become ingrained in our minds and desirous of our hearts.  We are fed these desires on a daily basis.  And it is through these desires that we make plans.  It is through these desires we scheme.  It is through these desires that we take actions that lead us down the road to the commission of sins.  And through the commission of those sins, our hearts turn black and we become instruments of evil.

Guard what the eye sees.  Reject the desires of the mind.  Fill the heart not with the desires of the world but with the love that Christ has given us.  For it is through his love, through his passion, through his desire for man to live eternity with him and the father that we find our freedom from sin.  We are heavenly beings created in the image and likeness of our father.  Creatures of light and not of darkness.  But evil would have us live in ignorance.  Evil would have us destroy our likeness and assume its likeness.  We are not evil.  We are not of the darkness.  We are children of light.  

Come!  See the light that is within you.  Know the truth of who you are in Christ.  Seek the knowledge that will provide freedom from the desires of the world and your father will provide for you.  Your father will protect you.  Your father will strengthen you to walk in his goodness.  For Christ came that we may have life.  He restored us to new life.  He provides us with the opportunity to live a life of eternity in heaven, if we choose.  But without choosing we live in darkness.  Without the knowledge of who we are we are asleep.  Without the truth of the light of the Holy Spirit we live in darkness.  Open the door and let him in.  Seek the light that Christ has given you and you too will know the true self that is within you.  Christ loves you.  God the Father adores you.  The Holy Spirit awaits you.  Let him in.

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.