The Glory of the Lord will
dwell in our Land (R)
Kindness and truth shall meet;
Justice and peace shall kiss.
Truth shall spring out of the earth,
And justice shall look down from heaven
The Glory of the Lord will
dwell in our Land (R)
~ Psalm 85
Emmanuel! Emmanuel!
The word became human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We
saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father’s only Son.
The glory of the
Lord already dwell in our land through the coming of the Messiah, our Lord
Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of the almighty God and therefore the
fulfillment of these verses from the Psalmist in Chapter 85.
If you believe
yourself to be a child of the living God, then the task of manifesting the
glory of God falls on you, because we are the chosen one and it is us that must
be the light of the world and show mankind the beauty, love and compassion of
the Almighty.
When our Lord
Jesus Christ spoke to the crowds and his people saying, “The scribes and the
Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses. Therefore, do and
observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example.
For they preach but they do not practice”, it must be obvious that there is a
direct difference between proclaiming that I am a child of God and living as a
child of God! In other for us to become the glory of the Lord in the world that
is saturated with the darkness of transgressions against our God and wrongdoings
against humanity, it is critical for us to put into practice the tenant of our
faith before mankind irrespective of our personal relationship with the people
or locality we find ourselves. Without doubt the bane of our society rest upon
our failure to practice what we preach.
CHALLENGE
Today God is
calling us to his light of love and how many of us are willing to lift up the
cross of salvation and become an instrument of the glory that the Lord has
given to the entire world to see?
Are we ready to
become the instrument of kindness and truth today?
Are we prepared
to become the instrument of justice and peace today?
Are we ready to
become God’s instrument of love, hope and faith today?
If we truly
desire to be the emblem of the child of the living God, our faith challenges us
today to go out and make a difference, and we ought not to be afraid because it
is the Holy Spirit of our God that will lead and guild our actions.
KINDNESS
In your neighborhood,
how many people do you encounter each day that are in need of your kindness? The act of smiling to a stranger can have a
powerful effect in the person’s life and at times may be the turning point
toward holding on or giving up in life. Therefore your kindness must embody the
act of sacrifice in which you help bring comfort to those who are being
challenged by the harshness of life.
When I was
hungry, you gave me food!
When I was sick,
you visited me!
When I was naked
you clothed me!
When I was
upset, you calm me down!
When I was
insulted unjustly, you stand by me!
When I was
jobless, you supported me!
When I was in
despair, you gave me hope!
When I was
hated, you love me!
When I was alien
and stranger, you received me!
Our kindness is
not restricted to our loved ones; otherwise it does not come from God! We must
show true kindness by helping to make life meaningful even to those that do not
share the same faith or religion, belong to our socio-economic class, have the
same lifestyles or orientation, and may not be of the same ethnicity or
locality!
Without doubt,
in order for our kindness to emanate from our God, it must be a clear
manifestation of Jesus Christ love for us; sacrificial or agape in nature,
meaning we do not anticipate a return for “investment” because we are doing it
for God and not to be seen or commended by man.
JUSTICE
Without justice,
peace can never exist in our community!
If we claim to
be children of God and yet turn our eyes away in the midst of injustices,
refusing to stand up and defend those being unjustly treated, how can we have
the continuous audacity to pray before God?
Imagine a poor,
helpless and alien person being treated unjustly because of the society
stereotypes and status quo regarding this person or group of persons? As a
child of God what will you do? Our faith asked us to stand up for justice and
voice our opposition to inhumanity.
Just because it
is legal, does not always make it right! That is why we are called the light of
the world.
For instance
slavery used to be legal and may still be legal in some parts of the world, but
is it just, absolutely not! Lynching and killings of the poor by their masters
used to be legal and go unchallenged by law, but does it make it right before
God? Absolutely not!
Denying access
to quality healthcare, education and other opportunities that can help transform
the lives of the poor, downtrodden and hopeless people may be legal or have a
systemic approval of the so called strong and powerful or rulers of a given
nation, but is it just? Not at all!
Sometimes we
engage in wars in the name of justice, but are we honest about our intentions; is
it just to engage in these wars that results in the death of millions,
disintegration of families and therefore nations and people with the resultant
crisis of refugees and compulsory migration for survival?
In order for
justice to prevail, we must be willing to let go of certain stereotypes that
diminishes and denigrates humanity and begin to see all as children of God.
Justice makes life peaceful because we are exercising what is right before God
by making sure that the innocent is set free and the guilty one condemned.
LOVE
In our
contemporary society, whenever the topic of love is brought up, regrettably the
first image that is painted in our consciousness is that of “Eros” or that
which is passionate and intense and aroused romantic feelings!
However the kind
of love that God is requiring of us is that which simply enables us to deny
self, or rejects greed and egocentric behaviors.
God is love and love
is God, and as a matter of fact, as the scripture continue, hope, faith and
love abound, but the greatest is love!
Love enables us
to give without asking in return!
Love enables us
to support those that hate us!
Love enables us
to see God in others that may be different from us!
Love enables us
to defend those that are hated in our society!
Love enables us
to reconcile people to God!
It is nothing
short of love, when we go out of our way to bring joy, peace and happiness to
others and without expecting anything in return.
It is only love
that can help us to treat others without prejudice and discrimination on the
basis of their faith, race and or other forms of lifestyle orientation.
We cannot claim
to be children of God, when we allow ourselves to become instrument of hatred
directed against humanity either due to ignorant or as a result of being taught
by previous generation.
It is never
godly to hate an individual simply because of the color of his or her skin!
It is never
godly to hate an individual because of difference in religious practice!
It is never
godly to hate an individual because of his or her shortcomings!
It is never
godly to hate an individual because of where he or she comes from!
It is never
godly to hate an individual because of his or her sin! You hate the sin not the
person!
Unfortunately our
contemporary society relentlessly tries to justify why we should hate, but
Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit is challenging us today to love as he did;
sacrificing his life for the salvation of humanity- all mankind, and not just
for Christians alone!
When Jesus
Christ spoke about the scribes and Pharisees in the Gospel according to
Matthew, he allows us to understand the necessity to follow their preaching-
that which speaks about the living God, however we must never follow their ways
of life, because they are not practicing what they preach! Today, the same
Jesus Christ is speaking to you and me too, and we must obey the teachings of
God, but never follow any kind of lifestyle that is contrary to such divine
teaching.
Do not wait for
the government and other kind of institution to act before you accept your role
as a child of God and become the light of the world! Nobody can teach me a
Christ that is different from that written in the scripture and followed by the
traditions handed over by the Apostles and other Saints of Jesus Christ, some
of which were martyred for their faith.
Do not look up
to the spiritual or political leaders in order to follow the teachings of God!
The glory of the
Lord will dwell in our land and indeed it already dwelled through Jesus Christ
our Lord and if you believe in Jesus Christ as the messiah and the Son of the
living God, then you must go out today and become the glory of God, his
instrument of kindness, justice and peace and love before all the people you
will encounter.
Prayer
Dear heavenly
Father,
I thank you for
your words which are active and living in our hearts.
Help us to go
out today and bring glory to your name.
Teach us to love
you and love our neighbors as ourselves, and turn us into your instrument to
bring comfort, peace and your joy to a world that is experiencing so much
darkness and pains from wars, discrimination and hate.
Send your Holy
Spirit to come and dwell within our heart, so that we can become the light of
the world.
In Jesus Christ
mighty name, we pray. Amen
Ref: Psalm 85,
Matthew 23, 1 Corinthians 13, 1 John 4, John 1
Podeh2016
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