Jesus Never Changes
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
In Turnabout, Syria Rebels Get Libyan Weapons
By C. J. Chivers, Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti, NY Times, June 21, 2013
During his more than four decades in power, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya was North Africa’s arms benefactor, a donor of weapons to guerrillas and terrorists around the world fighting governments he did not like.
Even after his death, the colonel’s gunrunning vision lives on, although in ways he probably would have loathed.
Many of the same people who chased the colonel to his grave are busy shuttling his former arms stockpiles to rebels in Syria. The flow is an important source of weapons for the uprising and a case of bloody turnabout, as the inheritors of one strongman’s arsenal use them in the fight against another.
Evidence gathered in Syria, along with flight-control data and interviews with militia members, smugglers, rebels, analysts and officials in several countries, offers a profile of a complex and active multinational effort, financed largely by Qatar, to transport arms from Libya to Syria’s opposition fighters. Libya’s own former fighters, who sympathize with Syria’s rebels, have been eager collaborators.
As the United States and its Western allies move toward providing lethal aid to Syrian rebels, these secretive transfers give insight into an unregistered arms pipeline that is difficult to monitor or control. And while the system appears to succeed in moving arms across multiple borders and to select rebel groups, once inside Syria the flow branches out. Extremist fighters, some of them aligned with Al Qaeda, have the money to buy the newly arrived stock, and many rebels are willing to sell.
For Russia—which has steadfastly supplied weapons and diplomatic cover to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria—this black-market flow is a case of bitter blowback. Many of the weapons Moscow proudly sold to Libya beginning in the Soviet era are now being shipped into the hands of rebels seeking to unseat another Kremlin ally.
Those weapons, which slipped from state custody as Colonel Qaddafi’s people rose against him in 2011, are sent on ships or Qatar Emiri Air Force flights to a network of intelligence agencies and Syrian opposition leaders in Turkey. From there, Syrians distribute the arms according to their own formulas and preferences to particular fighting groups, which in turn issue them to their fighters on the ground, rebels and activists said.
Qatari C-17 cargo aircraft have made at least three stops in Libya this year—including flights from Mitiga airport in Tripoli on Jan. 15 and Feb. 1, and another that departed Benghazi on April 16, according to flight data provided by an aviation official in the region. The planes returned to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The cargo was then flown to Ankara, Turkey, along with other weapons and equipment that the Qataris had been gathering for the rebels, officials and rebels said.
Last week the Obama administration announced that it had evidence that Mr. Assad’s military had used sarin nerve agent in multiple attacks, and that the United States would begin providing military aid to the rebels, including shipments of small arms.
In doing so, the United States could soon be openly feeding the same distribution network, just as it has received weapons from other sources.
The movements from Libya complement the airlift that has variously used Saudi, Jordanian and Qatari military cargo planes to funnel military equipment and weapons, including from Croatia, to the outgunned rebels. On Friday, Syrian opposition officials said the rebels had received a new shipment of anti-tank weapons and other arms, although they give varying accounts of the sources of the recently received arms. The Central Intelligence Agency has already played at least a supporting role, the officials say.
The Libyan shipments principally appear to be the work of armed groups there, and not of the weak central state, officials said.
Syrian activists and Western officials say that like the unregistered arms transfers organized by other Arab states, the shipments from Libya have been very large but have not kept up with the enormous rebel ammunition expenditures each day.
And most of the weapons have been relatively light, including rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, small arms ammunition and mortar rounds.
But the Libyan influx appears to account for at least a portion of the antitank weapons seen in the conflict this spring, including Belgian-made projectiles for M40 recoilless rifles and some of the Russian-made Konkurs-M guided missiles that have been destroying Syrian tanks in recent months.
Syrian rebels, working with Qatari backers and the Turkish government, have developed a system for acquiring and distributing Libya’s excess stock, Syrian activists and rebels said.
Orders are placed and shipments arranged through the staff of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army, a Western-backed opposition committee that was formed in Turkey late last year.
Safi Asafi, a coordinator commander active on Syria’s northern borders, one of the unofficial gates for weapons shipment to the opposition, said that rebel groups seeking Libyan arms approach the council to arrange the deals.
“Any fighting group in Syria that wants weapons from Libya will go to the staff asking for the approval from the Turkish authorities involved in the transfer, then gets it, the weapons arrive in Syria, and everyone gets his due share,” he said.
By one common formula, Mr. Asafi said, the staff will take 20 percent of the weapons designated for individual groups and distribute them to others. But the ratio can fluctuate, he said, depending on the group’s stature and influence, and less powerful groups sometimes yield a larger cut.
The Supreme Military Council generally does not distribute weapons to blacklisted or extremist groups, Syrian activists said, but these groups have little trouble acquiring the weapons once the arms enter Syria, often buying them directly from groups that receive the council’s support.
During his more than four decades in power, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya was North Africa’s arms benefactor, a donor of weapons to guerrillas and terrorists around the world fighting governments he did not like.
Even after his death, the colonel’s gunrunning vision lives on, although in ways he probably would have loathed.
Many of the same people who chased the colonel to his grave are busy shuttling his former arms stockpiles to rebels in Syria. The flow is an important source of weapons for the uprising and a case of bloody turnabout, as the inheritors of one strongman’s arsenal use them in the fight against another.
Evidence gathered in Syria, along with flight-control data and interviews with militia members, smugglers, rebels, analysts and officials in several countries, offers a profile of a complex and active multinational effort, financed largely by Qatar, to transport arms from Libya to Syria’s opposition fighters. Libya’s own former fighters, who sympathize with Syria’s rebels, have been eager collaborators.
As the United States and its Western allies move toward providing lethal aid to Syrian rebels, these secretive transfers give insight into an unregistered arms pipeline that is difficult to monitor or control. And while the system appears to succeed in moving arms across multiple borders and to select rebel groups, once inside Syria the flow branches out. Extremist fighters, some of them aligned with Al Qaeda, have the money to buy the newly arrived stock, and many rebels are willing to sell.
For Russia—which has steadfastly supplied weapons and diplomatic cover to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria—this black-market flow is a case of bitter blowback. Many of the weapons Moscow proudly sold to Libya beginning in the Soviet era are now being shipped into the hands of rebels seeking to unseat another Kremlin ally.
Those weapons, which slipped from state custody as Colonel Qaddafi’s people rose against him in 2011, are sent on ships or Qatar Emiri Air Force flights to a network of intelligence agencies and Syrian opposition leaders in Turkey. From there, Syrians distribute the arms according to their own formulas and preferences to particular fighting groups, which in turn issue them to their fighters on the ground, rebels and activists said.
Qatari C-17 cargo aircraft have made at least three stops in Libya this year—including flights from Mitiga airport in Tripoli on Jan. 15 and Feb. 1, and another that departed Benghazi on April 16, according to flight data provided by an aviation official in the region. The planes returned to Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. The cargo was then flown to Ankara, Turkey, along with other weapons and equipment that the Qataris had been gathering for the rebels, officials and rebels said.
Last week the Obama administration announced that it had evidence that Mr. Assad’s military had used sarin nerve agent in multiple attacks, and that the United States would begin providing military aid to the rebels, including shipments of small arms.
In doing so, the United States could soon be openly feeding the same distribution network, just as it has received weapons from other sources.
The movements from Libya complement the airlift that has variously used Saudi, Jordanian and Qatari military cargo planes to funnel military equipment and weapons, including from Croatia, to the outgunned rebels. On Friday, Syrian opposition officials said the rebels had received a new shipment of anti-tank weapons and other arms, although they give varying accounts of the sources of the recently received arms. The Central Intelligence Agency has already played at least a supporting role, the officials say.
The Libyan shipments principally appear to be the work of armed groups there, and not of the weak central state, officials said.
Syrian activists and Western officials say that like the unregistered arms transfers organized by other Arab states, the shipments from Libya have been very large but have not kept up with the enormous rebel ammunition expenditures each day.
And most of the weapons have been relatively light, including rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, small arms ammunition and mortar rounds.
But the Libyan influx appears to account for at least a portion of the antitank weapons seen in the conflict this spring, including Belgian-made projectiles for M40 recoilless rifles and some of the Russian-made Konkurs-M guided missiles that have been destroying Syrian tanks in recent months.
Syrian rebels, working with Qatari backers and the Turkish government, have developed a system for acquiring and distributing Libya’s excess stock, Syrian activists and rebels said.
Orders are placed and shipments arranged through the staff of the Supreme Military Council of the Free Syrian Army, a Western-backed opposition committee that was formed in Turkey late last year.
Safi Asafi, a coordinator commander active on Syria’s northern borders, one of the unofficial gates for weapons shipment to the opposition, said that rebel groups seeking Libyan arms approach the council to arrange the deals.
“Any fighting group in Syria that wants weapons from Libya will go to the staff asking for the approval from the Turkish authorities involved in the transfer, then gets it, the weapons arrive in Syria, and everyone gets his due share,” he said.
By one common formula, Mr. Asafi said, the staff will take 20 percent of the weapons designated for individual groups and distribute them to others. But the ratio can fluctuate, he said, depending on the group’s stature and influence, and less powerful groups sometimes yield a larger cut.
The Supreme Military Council generally does not distribute weapons to blacklisted or extremist groups, Syrian activists said, but these groups have little trouble acquiring the weapons once the arms enter Syria, often buying them directly from groups that receive the council’s support.
WikiLeaks: Snowden going to Ecuador to seek asylum
By Philip Elliott, AP, Jun 23, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP)—Admitted leaker Edward Snowden took flight Sunday in evasion of U.S. authorities, seeking asylum in Ecuador and leaving the Obama administration scrambling to determine its next step in what became a game of diplomatic cat-and-mouse.
The former National Security Agency contractor and CIA technician fled Hong Kong and arrived at the Moscow airport, where he planned to spend the night before boarding an Aeroflot flight to Cuba. Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said his government received an asylum request from Snowden, and the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said it would help him.
The move left the U.S. with limited options as Snowden’s itinerary took him on a tour of what many see as anti-American capitals. Ecuador in particular has rejected the United States’ previous efforts at cooperation, and has been helping WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, avoid prosecution by allowing him to stay at its embassy in London.
Snowden helped The Guardian and The Washington Post disclose U.S. surveillance programs that collect vast amounts of phone records and online data in the name of foreign intelligence, but often sweep up information on American citizens. Officials have the ability to collect phone and Internet information broadly but need a warrant to examine specific cases where they believe terrorism is involved.
Snowden had been in hiding for several weeks in Hong Kong, a former British colony with a high degree of autonomy from mainland China. The United States formally sought Snowden’s extradition from Hong Kong but was rebuffed; Hong Kong officials said the U.S. request did not fully comply with their laws.
A State Department official said the United States was in touch through diplomatic and law enforcement channels with countries that Snowden could travel through or to, reminding them that Snowden is wanted on criminal charges and reiterating Washington’s position that Snowden should only be permitted to travel back to the U.S.
The Justice Department said it would “pursue relevant law enforcement cooperation with other countries where Mr. Snowden may be attempting to travel.”
Russia’s state ITAR-Tass news agency and Interfax cited an unnamed Aeroflot airline official as saying Snowden was on the plane that landed Sunday afternoon in Moscow.
Upon his arrival, Snowden did not leave Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. One explanation could be that he wasn’t allowed; a U.S. official said Snowden’s passport had been revoked, and special permission from Russian authorities would have been needed.
“It’s almost hopeless unless we find some ways to lean on them,” said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.
The Russian media report said Snowden intended to fly to Cuba on Monday and then on to Caracas, Venezuela.
U.S. lawmakers scoffed. “The freedom trail is not exactly China-Russia-Cuba-Venezuela, so I hope we’ll chase him to the ends of the earth, bring him to justice and let the Russians know there’ll be consequences if they harbor this guy,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
With each suspected flight, efforts to secure Snowden’s return to the United States appeared more complicated if not impossible. The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, but does with Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador. Even with an extradition agreement though, any country could give Snowden a political exemption.
The likelihood that any of these countries would stop Snowden from traveling on to Ecuador seemed remote. While diplomatic tensions have thawed in recent years, Cuba and the United States are hardly allies after a half century of distrust.
Venezuela, too, could prove difficult. Former President Hugo Chavez was a sworn enemy of the United States and his successor, Nicolas Maduro, earlier this year called Obama “grand chief of devils.” The two countries do not exchange ambassadors.
U.S. pressure on Caracas also might be problematic given its energy exports. The U.S. Energy Information Agency reports Venezuela sent the United States 900,000 barrels of crude oil each day in 2012, making it the fourth-largest foreign source of U.S. oil.
Assange’s lawyer, Michael Ratner, said Snowden’s options aren’t numerous.
“You have to have a country that’s going to stand up to the United States,” Ratner said. “You’re not talking about a huge range of countries here.”
WASHINGTON (AP)—Admitted leaker Edward Snowden took flight Sunday in evasion of U.S. authorities, seeking asylum in Ecuador and leaving the Obama administration scrambling to determine its next step in what became a game of diplomatic cat-and-mouse.
The former National Security Agency contractor and CIA technician fled Hong Kong and arrived at the Moscow airport, where he planned to spend the night before boarding an Aeroflot flight to Cuba. Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said his government received an asylum request from Snowden, and the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said it would help him.
The move left the U.S. with limited options as Snowden’s itinerary took him on a tour of what many see as anti-American capitals. Ecuador in particular has rejected the United States’ previous efforts at cooperation, and has been helping WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, avoid prosecution by allowing him to stay at its embassy in London.
Snowden helped The Guardian and The Washington Post disclose U.S. surveillance programs that collect vast amounts of phone records and online data in the name of foreign intelligence, but often sweep up information on American citizens. Officials have the ability to collect phone and Internet information broadly but need a warrant to examine specific cases where they believe terrorism is involved.
Snowden had been in hiding for several weeks in Hong Kong, a former British colony with a high degree of autonomy from mainland China. The United States formally sought Snowden’s extradition from Hong Kong but was rebuffed; Hong Kong officials said the U.S. request did not fully comply with their laws.
A State Department official said the United States was in touch through diplomatic and law enforcement channels with countries that Snowden could travel through or to, reminding them that Snowden is wanted on criminal charges and reiterating Washington’s position that Snowden should only be permitted to travel back to the U.S.
The Justice Department said it would “pursue relevant law enforcement cooperation with other countries where Mr. Snowden may be attempting to travel.”
Russia’s state ITAR-Tass news agency and Interfax cited an unnamed Aeroflot airline official as saying Snowden was on the plane that landed Sunday afternoon in Moscow.
Upon his arrival, Snowden did not leave Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport. One explanation could be that he wasn’t allowed; a U.S. official said Snowden’s passport had been revoked, and special permission from Russian authorities would have been needed.
“It’s almost hopeless unless we find some ways to lean on them,” said Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.
The Russian media report said Snowden intended to fly to Cuba on Monday and then on to Caracas, Venezuela.
U.S. lawmakers scoffed. “The freedom trail is not exactly China-Russia-Cuba-Venezuela, so I hope we’ll chase him to the ends of the earth, bring him to justice and let the Russians know there’ll be consequences if they harbor this guy,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
With each suspected flight, efforts to secure Snowden’s return to the United States appeared more complicated if not impossible. The United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, but does with Cuba, Venezuela and Ecuador. Even with an extradition agreement though, any country could give Snowden a political exemption.
The likelihood that any of these countries would stop Snowden from traveling on to Ecuador seemed remote. While diplomatic tensions have thawed in recent years, Cuba and the United States are hardly allies after a half century of distrust.
Venezuela, too, could prove difficult. Former President Hugo Chavez was a sworn enemy of the United States and his successor, Nicolas Maduro, earlier this year called Obama “grand chief of devils.” The two countries do not exchange ambassadors.
U.S. pressure on Caracas also might be problematic given its energy exports. The U.S. Energy Information Agency reports Venezuela sent the United States 900,000 barrels of crude oil each day in 2012, making it the fourth-largest foreign source of U.S. oil.
Assange’s lawyer, Michael Ratner, said Snowden’s options aren’t numerous.
“You have to have a country that’s going to stand up to the United States,” Ratner said. “You’re not talking about a huge range of countries here.”
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
by Peter Amsterdam
The Stories Jesus Told—The Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Luke 18:9–14
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The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector is only recounted in the book of Luke, chapter 18, verses 9–14. Among other things, this parable touches on the basic element of salvation. Let’s start by looking at the two characters in the story, shall we?
The Pharisee
Pharisees were members of Jewish society who held very strong beliefs about obeying both the laws of Moses and the traditions handed down “from the fathers.” These traditions were not part of the laws of Moses, but the Pharisees put them on the same level as the law.
The name Pharisee means “separated” or “separated one.”
They strove to observe the law of Moses, especially those laws that had to do with tithing and purity. Many Jews didn’t adhere to the purity laws concerning food, food preparation, and the washing of hands, so the Pharisees were careful about who they ate with so as not to become ritually unclean. Some of them criticized Jesus because He ate with sinners, and they looked down on His disciples because they ate with unwashed hands.[1] They also criticized Jesus on more than one occasion for violating the Sabbath laws.[2]
Pharisees were known to go above and beyond when it came to religious matters. The written law only required fasting once a year, on the Day of Atonement, yet some Pharisees fasted twice a week, on the second and fifth days of the week—Mondays and Thursdays—in a self-imposed act of piety. They tithed everything they acquired, which was also beyond what the law required.
Most Jews did not adhere to the Mosaic law as strictly as the Pharisees did; therefore the Jews of Jesus’ day considered the Pharisees to be very righteous and pious.
The Tax Collector
Now we’ll turn to the tax collector. There were three types of taxes which were required by the Romans, who ruled Israel during the time of Jesus: the land tax, the head tax, and the customs tax system. The taxes were used to pay tribute to Rome, which had conquered Israel in 63 BC.
The tax collector in the parable would have most likely been one connected to the customs system. Throughout the Roman Empire there was a system of tolls and duties that were collected at ports, tax offices, and at the city gates. The rates were between two and five percent of the value of the goods that were transported from town to town. On long journeys, a person bringing goods from one place to another could be taxed multiple times. The value of the goods was determined by the tax collector.[3]
The customs and tax collection system operated through what is called tax farming. The way it worked is that wealthy individuals would bid on how much they would pay Rome for the privilege of collecting taxes in an area. The highest bidder, the “tax farmer,” would pay the amount that was accepted by Rome for the bid, meaning that Rome got its tax money in advance. The tax farmer would then collect the taxes through local tax collectors. The tax farmer and those he hired to collect the taxes would make their living from the taxes collected from the people. They would charge as much as possible in taxes, within certain legal limits, as their income was determined by how much money they could bring in over the amount that they had already paid to Rome. In short, tax collection was a for-profit business.
The tax farmers hired local tax collectors to do the work of collecting taxes. These tax collectors would assess the value of the goods and then assign the amount to be paid. While there was some measure of control, tax collectors would often value the goods much higher than their actual worth, in order to make a profit. They would stop people on the road and demand these taxes, which could either be paid in currency or by forfeiting a portion of the goods. Those being taxed considered this institutional robbery.[4]
When some tax collectors came to John the Baptist to be baptized, they asked him what they should do, and he responded, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do”[5]—which is a sure sign that they were overcharging for their own benefit.
Tax collectors were despised. They were seen as extortioners and unjust, and according to Jewish law, others were not obliged to speak the truth to them.
They were considered religiously unclean, and their houses and any house they entered were thus considered unclean. The hated tax collectors were often put in the same category as sinners and prostitutes.[6] They were seen as thieves and shunned by respectable people. The tax collector in the parable is certainly not an upstanding character; he’s a rotter and he knows it, as evidenced by his actions in the temple and his prayer.
The Parable
With that background, let’s move on to the parable.
He [Jesus] also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt.[7]
Luke gives an introduction explaining that the parable is in regard to those who think that they can attain righteousness through their own merit. Jesus is telling this parable to those who trust in themselves, who feel they are righteous, and who consider others inferior and undeserving of respect.
Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.[8]
The words “went up” and later in the parable, “went down,” refer to the elevation of the Temple Mount, which was the high spot of the city. It was customary to pray twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, as this was when the two daily sacrifices for atonement were offered in the temple.
One author explains it this way:
The only daily service in the temple area was the atonement offerings that took place at dawn and again at three o’clock in the afternoon. Each service began outside the sanctuary at the great high altar with the sacrifice for the sins of Israel of a lamb whose blood was sprinkled on the altar, following a precise ritual. In the middle of the prayers there would be the sound of silver trumpets, the clanging of cymbals and the reading of a psalm. The officiating priest would then enter the outer part of the sanctuary where he would offer incense and trim the lamps. At that point, when the officiating priest disappeared into the building, those worshipers in attendance could offer their private prayers to God. Many pious Jews who were not at the temple would offer their private prayers at that time of day when they knew the incense offering was being made in the temple.[9]
The original listeners would assume that the Pharisee and the tax collector were going up to the temple to attend one of the daily atonement sacrifices and to pray.
The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’[10]
The Pharisee stood by himself when he prayed; he separated himself from the other worshippers. If his clothes touched the clothes of a person who was unclean, then he would be unclean too. And as one who was meticulous when it came to being pure and holy, that just wouldn’t do. He stood as he prayed and lifted his eyes upward, both of which were the custom in Jewish prayer.
It was also the custom to pray out loud, so there is a good possibility that others could hear his prayer. It could be that he meant his prayer to be a “preachment” prayer, you know the kind—where a person prays in a manner that is intended to preach a sermon to others rather than truly addressing the Lord.
Considering that Jewish prayers in the first century was generally either confession of sin, thanks for blessings received, or petitions for the person praying or for others,[11] there is the likelihood that he was more intent on preaching than praying. He doesn’t confess any sin, he’s not thanking God for any of his blessings, and he isn’t asking for anything for himself or others. He seems to be pointing out to others how bad they are, and showing contempt for them, and publicizing his own righteousness and obedience to the law. He’s comparing himself to others and pointing out how religiously conscientious he is compared to them.
He fasts twice a week, meaning he fasts 104 times a year compared to the one time a year required by the law. While the law spoke of tithing those things which were grown in the ground and tithing animals which were watched over, he titheseverything he acquires. He does this just in case the person who sold the item to him didn’t tithe on it as they should have.
The Pharisee is not a hypocrite; he no doubt actually does refrain from the sins he lists and he does fast and tithe more than required. But he is self-satisfied and self-righteous. He looks down on others who don’t keep the law as he does. He shows disdain and disgust towards others and thanks God that he “isn’t like them.” He views himself as the epitome of righteousness, and the original audience of the parable would have seen him that way as well.
The tax collector’s demeanor and prayer are completely different.
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!'’
The tax collector stands far from others, not because he’s righteous, but because he’s a sinner and he knows it. He won’t lift up his eyes to heaven because he feels unworthy. He extorts money from others by overcharging them. He’s a swindler. He doesn’t feel that he deserves to be standing with God’s people, or that he’s worthy of conversing with God.
He beats his breast, over his heart, because he is so distressed over his sinfulness. One commentator wrote:
In the Bible, the only other case of people beating their chests is at the cross when the crowds, deeply disturbed at what had taken place, beat their chests at the end of the day just after Jesus died (Luke 23:48). If it requires a scene as distressing as the crucifixion of Jesus to cause men and women to beat their chests, then clearly the tax collector of this parable is deeply distraught.[12]
He’s standing apart, beating his breast, and he prays: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”
The Greek word used in this verse for “be merciful” is Hilaskomai (hell AS kima), which means to make propitiation for.[13] The Greek word generally used in regard to mercy is Eleeō (el ey EY O), which means to help one who is afflicted or seeking aid.
The tax collector is asking for propitiation, or an atonement, for his sins. In some of the early Armenian and Syriac translations from the early centuries this was translated as “make an atonement for me.”[14] His cry isn’t for general mercy; it’s for atonement, for the forgiveness of his sins.
Author Kenneth Bailey expresses the situation of the tax collector beautifully. He wrote:
One can almost smell the pungent incense, hear the loud clash of cymbals, and see the great cloud of dense smoke rising from the burnt offering. The tax collector is there. He stands afar off, anxious not to be seen, sensing his unworthiness to stand with the participants. In brokenness he longs to be a part of it all. He yearns that he might stand with “the righteous.” In deep remorse he strikes his chest and cries out in repentance and hope, “O God! Let it be for me! Make an atonement for me, a sinner!” There in the temple this humble man, aware of his own sin and unworthiness, with no merit of his own to commend him, longs that the great dramatic atonement sacrifice might apply to him.”[15]
And we see that it does. Jesus ends the story with:
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. Foreveryone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.[16]
This ending was a shock to the original listeners. The Pharisee would have been seen as the righteous, respected one, as he not only obeyed the law but went beyond it. The tax collector, on the other hand, would have been considered the sinner. He was hated and reviled by virtually everyone, and with good reason; there was no way he could be seen as being righteous.
Yet who does Jesus say goes to his house justified, made righteous?—The one who is confident in his own righteousness due to his good works, or the one who cries out to God for mercy? Is it the one who is seen by others as holy?—The one who looks down on others as not being as religious as himself, and who separates himself from those who are unclean and sinful? Or is it the one who knows that he’s a sinner, who humbles himself, knowing that no amount of works could save him, who looks to God in true repentance for His mercy, forgiveness, and salvation?
When it comes to God’s saving grace, the one who humbly acknowledges his or her need for God is the one who receives salvation. Not those with the exalted self-opinion, who trust that their good works and religiosity are going to save them. Now don’t get me wrong; doing good works that help others is good, but those works aren’t what get you saved. You don’t earn a bunch of good points that cancel out your bad points. You can’t earn salvation or forgiveness for your sins. It’s simply a beautiful gift offered by God.
While this parable speaks of the need for personal humility before God in prayer, and warns against being self-righteous about our own works and looking down on others with scorn, contempt, and a judgmental attitude, its most important message is about God’s grace. The message is that our works don’t save us; God’s grace does. God has made a way for our sins to be forgiven and for us to enter into a right relationship with Him because of His great love, mercy, and grace. We are “righteous” before God because our sins have been atoned for, not because of our observance of religious laws.
Jesus is telling His listeners that it is through God’s love and grace that people are justified, that our sins are atoned for, a concept that, after Jesus’ death, the apostle Paul stated as:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.[17]
While salvation through grace, not works, is a main point of this parable, other points can be learned from it as well, such as:
Prayers or preachments that boast of one’s accomplishments or put down others for their lacks are not appropriate.
The way that God looks at others can be quite different from the way that we may look at them, and thus we should not be judgmental[18] of others. We should remember that “the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”[19]
The Pharisee thought he could be obedient to God yet still have disdain for those he deemed less holy than himself, like the tax collector. He assumed that keeping the commandments made him better than most and he looked down on others with contempt. To him, being religious was more important than looking on others with love, whereas in other passages Jesus makes it explicit that love is more important than religiosity, that love for others is second only to loving God.[20]
The parable reveals that God is not a God impressed with pious acts and feelings of superiority, He is, rather, a God of mercy who responds to the needs and honest prayers and repentance of people.[21] As it says in Isaiah 66:2: “But this is the one towhom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”
Self-righteousness and pride, thinking highly of oneself and putting others down, are signs of an attitude that is out of alignment with the way God views people. An effective way to bring an inflated view of self down to size is to compare yourself with God’s greatness and His perfection, rather than comparing with the supposed faults and sins of others.
God is a God of love and mercy. He loves humanity and He made provision for us to be saved through Jesus’ sacrificial death. He’s passionate about saving all people, even those who seem to be the worst sinners in the eyes of the world, people like the tax collector in this parable.
As Christians, we should do all we can to help others know Him through living our lives in a manner that shows the love, mercy, and understanding that our loving Savior has shown to each of us. And then, to share with others the wonderful news that the way to know God is simply to accept His free gift of salvation by grace.
Amen? Let’s do that, shall we? God bless you.
The Pharisee and the Tax Collector, Luke 18:9–14
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt:
10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.
12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’
13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Notes
Unless otherwise indicated, all scriptures are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[1] And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" (Mark 7:5).
[2] But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:2).
And a man was there with a withered hand. And they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"—so that they might accuse him (Matthew 12:10).
And the Pharisees were saying to him, "Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" (Mark 2:24).
But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, "There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day" (Luke 13:14).
And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath (John 5:16).
[3] Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1992), 809.
[4] Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1992), 806.
[5] Luke 3:13.
[6] For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him (Matthew 21:32).
And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him (Mark 2:15).
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them" (Luke 15:1–2).
[7] Luke 18:9.
[8] Luke 18:10.
[9] Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 346.
[10] Luke 18:11–12.
[11] Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 347.
[12] Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 348.
[13] The basic meaning of propitiation is an offering that turns away wrath. This concept has to do with the wrath of God, in that due to His holiness and righteousness, God must judge and punish sin. However, the sacrificial offering of Jesus’ death, like the sacrifices made in the Old Testament, propitiates or satisfies God’s wrath. In His love for us, God made a way to pardon our sin, while remaining true to His nature. (See "The Heart of It All: Salvation.")
[14] Kenneth E. Bailey, Poet & Peasant, and Through Peasant Eyes, combined edition (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1985), 154.
[15] Kenneth E. Bailey, Poet & Peasant, and Through Peasant Eyes, combined edition (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1985), 154.
[16] Luke 18:14.
[17] Ephesians 2:8–9.
[18] Judgmental (adj.): Inclined to make moral judgements about the behavior of people; contrasted with an inclination not to judge the moral qualities of others. Opposite of nonjudgmental (Webster's 1913 Dictionary).
[19] 1 Samuel 16:7.
[20] And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37–39).
[21] Klyne Snodgrass, Stories With Intent (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2008), 474.
The Bread of Life
A compilation
Download Audio (11MB)
I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.—John 6:511
*
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”—John 6:352
*
Christ compares the needs of men to hungering and thirsting. Now hungering is no sham. Those who have ever felt it know what a real need it indicates and what bitter pangs it brings. Thirst, also, is not a sentimental matter; it is a trial, indeed. What pain can be worse beneath the skies than thirst?
Jesus has come to meet the deep, real, pressing, vital needs and pains of your nature. Your fear of Hell, your terror of death, your sense of sin—all these Jesus has come to meet and all these He does meet in the case of all who come to Him—as everyone who has tried Him will bear witness. Jesus Christ meets the hungering of conscience. Every man with an awakened conscience feels that God must punish him for sin, but as soon as he perceives that the Son of God was punished instead of him, his conscience is perfectly appeased and will never hunger again. Until men know the Truth of the Substitution of Jesus you may preach to them what you will and they may go through all the sacraments, and they may suffer many bodily mortifications—but their conscience will still hunger.
The heart, also, has its hunger, for almost unknown to itself it cries, “O that someone loved me and that I could love someone whose love would fill my nature to the brim.” Men’s hearts are gluttons after love. Yes, like death and the grave, they are insatiable. They hunt here and there, but are bitterly disappointed, for earth holds not an object worthy of all the love of a human heart. But when they hear that Jesus Christ loved them before the world was, and died for them, their roving affections find rest. Like as Ruth found rest in the house of a husband, do we come to peace in Jesus. The love of Jesus casts out all hankering for other loves and fills the soul! He becomes the Bridegroom of our heart, our best Beloved, and we bid the [more common] things depart.—Charles Spurgeon
*
“I am the Bread of Life”3 is one of the seven “I Am” statements of Jesus.
Bread is considered a staple food—[that is,] a basic dietary item. A person can survive a long time on only bread and water. Bread is such a basic food item that it becomes synonymous for food in general. We even use the phrase “breaking bread together” to indicate the sharing of a meal with someone. Bread also plays an integral part of the Jewish Passover meal. The Jews were to eat unleavened bread during the Passover feast and then for seven days following as a celebration of the exodus from Egypt. Finally, when the Jews were wandering in the desert for 40 years, God rained down “bread from heaven” to sustain the nation.4
All of this plays into the scene being described in John 6. Jesus was trying to get away from the crowds to no avail. He had crossed the Sea of Galilee, and the crowd followed Him. After some time, Jesus inquires of Philip how they’re going to feed the crowd. Philip’s answer displays his “little faith” when he says they don’t have enough money to give each of them the smallest morsel of food. Finally Andrew brings up a small boy who had five small loaves of bread and two fish. With that small amount, Jesus miraculously fed the throng with … food to spare.
Afterward, Jesus and His disciples cross back to the other side of Galilee. When the crowd sees that Jesus has left, they follow Him again. He accuses the crowd of ignoring His miraculous signs and only following Him for the “free meal.” Jesus tells them in John 6:27, “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” In other words, they were so enthralled with the food, they were missing out on the fact that their Messiah had come. So the Jews ask Jesus for a sign that He was sent from God. They tell Jesus that God gave them manna during the desert wandering. Jesus responds by telling them that they need to ask for the true bread from heaven that gives life. When they ask Jesus for this bread, Jesus startles them by saying, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
This is a phenomenal statement! First, by equating Himself with bread, Jesus is saying He is essential for life. Second, the life Jesus is referring to is not physical life but eternal life. He is contrasting what He brings as their Messiah with the bread He miraculously created the day before. That was physical bread that perishes. He is spiritual bread that brings eternal life.
[T]here are the words “hunger and thirst.” Again, it must be noted that Jesus isn’t talking about alleviating physical hunger and thirst. The key is found in another statement Jesus made, this time during His Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5:6, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” When Jesus says those who come to Him will never hunger and those who believe in Him will never thirst, He is saying He will satisfy our hunger and thirst to be made righteous in the sight of God.
If there is anything the history of human religion tells us, it is that people seek to earn their way to heaven. This is such a basic human desire, because God created us with eternity in mind. The Bible says God has placed [the desire for] eternity in our hearts.5 The Bible also tells us that there is nothing we can do to earn our way to heaven because we’ve all sinned6 and the only thing our sin earns us is death.7 When Christ died on the cross, He took the sins of mankind upon Himself and made atonement for them. When we place our faith in Him, our sins are imputed to Jesus and His righteousness is imputed to us. Jesus satisfies our hunger and thirst for righteousness. He is our Bread of Life.—Got Questions website8
*
If we were to enumerate all our hungers, we might be surprised at how many legitimate hungers there are. The hunger for truth, the hunger for love, the hunger for knowledge, the hunger to belong, the hunger to express, the hunger for justice, the hunger of the imagination, the hunger of the mind, and the hunger for significance. We could name more. Vast psychological theories have emerged in recognition of these hungers, or needs.
Some of our individual pursuits may meet some of these hungers. Education may bring knowledge. Romance may bring a sense of belonging. Accomplishments may bring significance. Wealth brings some things within reach. The message of Jesus affirms that no one thing will meet all of these hungers. And furthermore, none can help us know whether the way we fulfill them is legitimate or illegitimate until we feed on the bread of life that Jesus offers. That nourishment defines the legitimacy of all else.
Not only do we remain unfulfilled when we pursue these hungers, but in their very pursuit comes a disorientation that misrepresents and misunderstands where the real satisfaction comes from. This is very, very important to know.
What oxygen is to the body, the Bread of Life is to the soul. Without that bread, all other hungers will be improperly perceived. In fact, in like manner, the absence of that bread over a prolonged period makes the bread itself seem worthless. Life is meant to be lived with the fulfillment of the one need that defines all other means of fulfillment and the one love that defines all other loves.—Ravi Zacharias9
*
Jesus is the Word, He is the spirit and the life, and you should have a dose of Him every day, a good feeding and feasting and drinking. Just like you have to eat in order to have physical strength, you have to eat of the Word, drink of the Word, to have spiritual strength.
The Word is all of these things: The Word is Jesus, the Word is God, the Word is spirit, the Word is life!
The secret of power and victory and overcoming and fruitfulness and fire and life and warmth and light and leadership, everything, is the Word! And the lack of it is the secret of failure and coldness and darkness and weakness and dying spiritually.—David Brandt Berg
*
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.—Matthew 4:410
*
Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.—Jeremiah 15:1611
Published on Anchor June 2013. Read by Jon Marc.
Music by Daniel Sozzi.
1 KJV.
2 ESV.
3 John 6:35.
4 Exodus 16:4.
5 Ecclesiastes 3:11.
6 Romans 3:23.
7 Romans 6:23.
8 http://www.gotquestions.org/bread-of-life.html.
9 Jesus Among Other Gods (W Publishing Group, 2000).
10 KJV.
11 KJV.
Download Audio (11MB)
I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.—John 6:511
*
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”—John 6:352
*
Christ compares the needs of men to hungering and thirsting. Now hungering is no sham. Those who have ever felt it know what a real need it indicates and what bitter pangs it brings. Thirst, also, is not a sentimental matter; it is a trial, indeed. What pain can be worse beneath the skies than thirst?
Jesus has come to meet the deep, real, pressing, vital needs and pains of your nature. Your fear of Hell, your terror of death, your sense of sin—all these Jesus has come to meet and all these He does meet in the case of all who come to Him—as everyone who has tried Him will bear witness. Jesus Christ meets the hungering of conscience. Every man with an awakened conscience feels that God must punish him for sin, but as soon as he perceives that the Son of God was punished instead of him, his conscience is perfectly appeased and will never hunger again. Until men know the Truth of the Substitution of Jesus you may preach to them what you will and they may go through all the sacraments, and they may suffer many bodily mortifications—but their conscience will still hunger.
The heart, also, has its hunger, for almost unknown to itself it cries, “O that someone loved me and that I could love someone whose love would fill my nature to the brim.” Men’s hearts are gluttons after love. Yes, like death and the grave, they are insatiable. They hunt here and there, but are bitterly disappointed, for earth holds not an object worthy of all the love of a human heart. But when they hear that Jesus Christ loved them before the world was, and died for them, their roving affections find rest. Like as Ruth found rest in the house of a husband, do we come to peace in Jesus. The love of Jesus casts out all hankering for other loves and fills the soul! He becomes the Bridegroom of our heart, our best Beloved, and we bid the [more common] things depart.—Charles Spurgeon
*
“I am the Bread of Life”3 is one of the seven “I Am” statements of Jesus.
Bread is considered a staple food—[that is,] a basic dietary item. A person can survive a long time on only bread and water. Bread is such a basic food item that it becomes synonymous for food in general. We even use the phrase “breaking bread together” to indicate the sharing of a meal with someone. Bread also plays an integral part of the Jewish Passover meal. The Jews were to eat unleavened bread during the Passover feast and then for seven days following as a celebration of the exodus from Egypt. Finally, when the Jews were wandering in the desert for 40 years, God rained down “bread from heaven” to sustain the nation.4
All of this plays into the scene being described in John 6. Jesus was trying to get away from the crowds to no avail. He had crossed the Sea of Galilee, and the crowd followed Him. After some time, Jesus inquires of Philip how they’re going to feed the crowd. Philip’s answer displays his “little faith” when he says they don’t have enough money to give each of them the smallest morsel of food. Finally Andrew brings up a small boy who had five small loaves of bread and two fish. With that small amount, Jesus miraculously fed the throng with … food to spare.
Afterward, Jesus and His disciples cross back to the other side of Galilee. When the crowd sees that Jesus has left, they follow Him again. He accuses the crowd of ignoring His miraculous signs and only following Him for the “free meal.” Jesus tells them in John 6:27, “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” In other words, they were so enthralled with the food, they were missing out on the fact that their Messiah had come. So the Jews ask Jesus for a sign that He was sent from God. They tell Jesus that God gave them manna during the desert wandering. Jesus responds by telling them that they need to ask for the true bread from heaven that gives life. When they ask Jesus for this bread, Jesus startles them by saying, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
This is a phenomenal statement! First, by equating Himself with bread, Jesus is saying He is essential for life. Second, the life Jesus is referring to is not physical life but eternal life. He is contrasting what He brings as their Messiah with the bread He miraculously created the day before. That was physical bread that perishes. He is spiritual bread that brings eternal life.
[T]here are the words “hunger and thirst.” Again, it must be noted that Jesus isn’t talking about alleviating physical hunger and thirst. The key is found in another statement Jesus made, this time during His Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5:6, Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” When Jesus says those who come to Him will never hunger and those who believe in Him will never thirst, He is saying He will satisfy our hunger and thirst to be made righteous in the sight of God.
If there is anything the history of human religion tells us, it is that people seek to earn their way to heaven. This is such a basic human desire, because God created us with eternity in mind. The Bible says God has placed [the desire for] eternity in our hearts.5 The Bible also tells us that there is nothing we can do to earn our way to heaven because we’ve all sinned6 and the only thing our sin earns us is death.7 When Christ died on the cross, He took the sins of mankind upon Himself and made atonement for them. When we place our faith in Him, our sins are imputed to Jesus and His righteousness is imputed to us. Jesus satisfies our hunger and thirst for righteousness. He is our Bread of Life.—Got Questions website8
*
If we were to enumerate all our hungers, we might be surprised at how many legitimate hungers there are. The hunger for truth, the hunger for love, the hunger for knowledge, the hunger to belong, the hunger to express, the hunger for justice, the hunger of the imagination, the hunger of the mind, and the hunger for significance. We could name more. Vast psychological theories have emerged in recognition of these hungers, or needs.
Some of our individual pursuits may meet some of these hungers. Education may bring knowledge. Romance may bring a sense of belonging. Accomplishments may bring significance. Wealth brings some things within reach. The message of Jesus affirms that no one thing will meet all of these hungers. And furthermore, none can help us know whether the way we fulfill them is legitimate or illegitimate until we feed on the bread of life that Jesus offers. That nourishment defines the legitimacy of all else.
Not only do we remain unfulfilled when we pursue these hungers, but in their very pursuit comes a disorientation that misrepresents and misunderstands where the real satisfaction comes from. This is very, very important to know.
What oxygen is to the body, the Bread of Life is to the soul. Without that bread, all other hungers will be improperly perceived. In fact, in like manner, the absence of that bread over a prolonged period makes the bread itself seem worthless. Life is meant to be lived with the fulfillment of the one need that defines all other means of fulfillment and the one love that defines all other loves.—Ravi Zacharias9
*
Jesus is the Word, He is the spirit and the life, and you should have a dose of Him every day, a good feeding and feasting and drinking. Just like you have to eat in order to have physical strength, you have to eat of the Word, drink of the Word, to have spiritual strength.
The Word is all of these things: The Word is Jesus, the Word is God, the Word is spirit, the Word is life!
The secret of power and victory and overcoming and fruitfulness and fire and life and warmth and light and leadership, everything, is the Word! And the lack of it is the secret of failure and coldness and darkness and weakness and dying spiritually.—David Brandt Berg
*
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.—Matthew 4:410
*
Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.—Jeremiah 15:1611
Published on Anchor June 2013. Read by Jon Marc.
Music by Daniel Sozzi.
1 KJV.
2 ESV.
3 John 6:35.
4 Exodus 16:4.
5 Ecclesiastes 3:11.
6 Romans 3:23.
7 Romans 6:23.
8 http://www.gotquestions.org/bread-of-life.html.
9 Jesus Among Other Gods (W Publishing Group, 2000).
10 KJV.
11 KJV.
Monday, June 24, 2013
Faith and Circumstances
By M. Fontaine
Download Audio (10.9MB)
Different people often view situations in different ways, ranging from pessimistic to overly optimistic, and everything in between. There are many situations in which it really helps to have an abundance of faith and a good deal of positiveness and optimism. Realistically, we all have to continually deal with and handle problems, and if we don’t approach them with persevering faith, it’s easy to get dragged down and become negative.—Particularly when they’re difficult or serious problems.
So unless you take on an attitude of faith and try to see the bright side and the victories the Lord has available, even out of the seeming defeats, it can get you down. It’s not good for you spiritually to allow the problems of life to overwhelm your faith and get you discouraged and pull you down.
Some people have enough faith and natural optimism to do well when they’re in a positive situation. But when they’re often surrounded by difficult or seemingly impossible situations, they can end up getting dragged down. If they have a negative or pessimistic streak or attitude, the negative circumstances can play on that and tempt them to get on a negative channel.
When people have had a tendency to be negative or pessimistic all their life, it’s not usually the kind of thing where they can get a quick victory and suddenly become happy, full-of-faith people overnight. If that’s the way you are, the way you’ve been all your life, then those tendencies are usually pretty deeply ingrained in you, and it takes time to overcome them.
Our goal, as mature Christians, is not to be dragged down by circumstances or the problem situations others face, but to manifest faith and help to influence others with our faith. Being full of faith is what helps keep us from being constantly burdened and worried about the problems we or others face. It really takes faith to be able to rise out of the morass or abyss of our negative situations and help others do the same.
That’s another characteristic of having a lot of faith: you don’t worry so much about things. Some people seem to always be trusting the Lord. They hardly ever worry about things, but just figure that everything’s going to come out all right in the end, and it usually does! Because that’s the principle of faith. “If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes.”1
I think people who deal with problems all the time, as do missionaries on difficult fields or those spiritually counseling others, or those involved in working with the very poor and needy people in underdeveloped countries, have to be strong in faith. The people who actually have to take care of the nitty-gritty of the problems and emergencies and all the difficult situations that come up have to be pretty stable.
They can’t let things affect them too much. Unless you have strong faith and depend on the strength of the Lord, I don’t think too many people can take a barrage of negative circumstances and problems like that without being adversely affected by it. Problem situations need people who can be positive, inspirational, and full of faith.
If you show faith in people that they can handle their own problems, or that the Lord’s going to take care of them, and help them to overcome their discouragement, that will probably do more for them than anything else. People are responsible to try to resolve a lot of their personal problems themselves, with the Lord’s help; but they do need encouragement, and they often simply need to have their faith rekindled to just get up and try again.2
Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.―Nelson Mandela
You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.―Helen Keller
Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.—Noam Chomsky
The Lord Is Greater than Our Circumstances
Everybody has something in their life that could seriously hinder and even cripple them if they allowed it to get them down and didn’t rise above it. But the wonderful thing about it is that the Lord has made a way for us to overcome those things, and in fact, He intends for us to! Because His help is available to us, circumstances—past or present—do not have to dictate our lives.
Look at all the men in history who rose above seemingly insurmountable odds to become great—overcoming poverty, physical handicaps, poor family backgrounds, etc. I’m sure we could each name a few examples of great men and women who had experiences or events in their lives that they could have easily become bitter about or allowed to overwhelm them, but they didn’t! They just fought harder to overcome those obstacles, and in so doing they became strengthened. Instead of complaining that life had given them a “lemon” or a bad deal, they made lemonade out of their lemons.
Because of their handicaps, these people rose higher than they might have otherwise risen. George Bernard Shaw, for example, was terribly shy, but because he was determined to overcome his timidity, he forced himself to speak publicly, joining debate societies and speaking at public meetings—in an effort to overcome the difficulty he had in speaking publicly. His weakness eventually became his strength as he became a brilliant and witty speaker and prominent writer.
Some people were born into great poverty, but fought to overcome it and to be able to do something in life in spite of it. Often because they’d had these problems, they turned around and were able to have sympathy and compassion on others who were poor, and worked toward making life better for them. For example, Booker T. Washington was born a poor slave, but after working hard in coal mines and salt mines, he became an educator and spokesman for African Americans, establishing a school so others could improve their lives.
Often people who have experienced difficulties in life and have overcome them are in turn able to be a great influence in helping others to have the courage and faith to overcome their difficulties. Their example is a proof to those who see and hear of their struggles and victories that it is possible to overcome great difficulties in life, and rise above seemingly impossible situations to triumph in the face of despair. Their victories are a testimony to us all that difficult circumstances do not have to overcome us, but we can rise above them if our heart and our attitude is right.
Jerome K. Jerome was a British writer whose father died when he was 12, and at 14 he had to go to work to support his mother and sister. His life got even harder when his mother died, but after many different jobs, the end result was that he became a writer—not of sad stories, but a famous humorist, writing humorous stories to encourage others. After such a hard beginning in life, he said, “It is from the struggle, not the victory, that we gain strength.”
This reminds me of a story of a young man who had grown up with a very severe case of stammering. He had been prayed for repeatedly, but the Lord had not seen fit to deliver him. Finally, this young Christian concluded, “I guess the Lord wants me to use my stammering for His glory, because when I witness to others, they feel so sorry for me, they always listen!” Even though he couldn’t get rid of the problem, he didn’t let it overcome him. He didn’t let it cause him to sink into withdrawal from others. Instead, he learned to use it for his advantage for God’s glory. He got to the point where he could even thank God for his affliction and see the good in it.
We who walk by faith certainly do not have to be confined or limited emotionally, mentally, or spiritually by the weights of our circumstances or our past. In fact, the Lord often allows those things so we will fight to get the victory over them, and the Lord intends for the difficulties we face in life to make us stronger. Instead of looking at obstacles or mishaps or bad experiences as terrible and drawbacks or handicaps, we can use those things to make our life better. We can see them as stepping stones for climbing upward. Then they don’t hold us back and pull us down, but we can actually use them to improve our lives and the lives of others.
Through this process, we can learn to fight with the Lord’s help and become stronger because of the struggle. If we didn’t have any problems to fight, we could be tempted to become complacent and meander along, which doesn’t generally build the strength of character that comes from fighting to overcome problems. We could miss out on seeing the beauty blossom in our lives that suffering often results in, or finding true friends in those who come to our side to help in our time of need. We wouldn’t experience the same compassion for others who have gone through the same thing or be able to “comfort them with the same comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God,”3 and understand what they are going through and be able to help them to overcome.
God uses our trials and difficulties to teach us patience, trust, and faith in the Lord, and to help us to be more merciful on others.4
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.—Hebrews 12:1–3 NIV
Published on Anchor June 2013. Read by Bethany Kelly.
1 Mark 9:23.
2 Originally published June 1989.
3 2 Corinthians 1:4.
4 Originally published December 1992.
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Different people often view situations in different ways, ranging from pessimistic to overly optimistic, and everything in between. There are many situations in which it really helps to have an abundance of faith and a good deal of positiveness and optimism. Realistically, we all have to continually deal with and handle problems, and if we don’t approach them with persevering faith, it’s easy to get dragged down and become negative.—Particularly when they’re difficult or serious problems.
So unless you take on an attitude of faith and try to see the bright side and the victories the Lord has available, even out of the seeming defeats, it can get you down. It’s not good for you spiritually to allow the problems of life to overwhelm your faith and get you discouraged and pull you down.
Some people have enough faith and natural optimism to do well when they’re in a positive situation. But when they’re often surrounded by difficult or seemingly impossible situations, they can end up getting dragged down. If they have a negative or pessimistic streak or attitude, the negative circumstances can play on that and tempt them to get on a negative channel.
When people have had a tendency to be negative or pessimistic all their life, it’s not usually the kind of thing where they can get a quick victory and suddenly become happy, full-of-faith people overnight. If that’s the way you are, the way you’ve been all your life, then those tendencies are usually pretty deeply ingrained in you, and it takes time to overcome them.
Our goal, as mature Christians, is not to be dragged down by circumstances or the problem situations others face, but to manifest faith and help to influence others with our faith. Being full of faith is what helps keep us from being constantly burdened and worried about the problems we or others face. It really takes faith to be able to rise out of the morass or abyss of our negative situations and help others do the same.
That’s another characteristic of having a lot of faith: you don’t worry so much about things. Some people seem to always be trusting the Lord. They hardly ever worry about things, but just figure that everything’s going to come out all right in the end, and it usually does! Because that’s the principle of faith. “If you can believe, all things are possible to him that believes.”1
I think people who deal with problems all the time, as do missionaries on difficult fields or those spiritually counseling others, or those involved in working with the very poor and needy people in underdeveloped countries, have to be strong in faith. The people who actually have to take care of the nitty-gritty of the problems and emergencies and all the difficult situations that come up have to be pretty stable.
They can’t let things affect them too much. Unless you have strong faith and depend on the strength of the Lord, I don’t think too many people can take a barrage of negative circumstances and problems like that without being adversely affected by it. Problem situations need people who can be positive, inspirational, and full of faith.
If you show faith in people that they can handle their own problems, or that the Lord’s going to take care of them, and help them to overcome their discouragement, that will probably do more for them than anything else. People are responsible to try to resolve a lot of their personal problems themselves, with the Lord’s help; but they do need encouragement, and they often simply need to have their faith rekindled to just get up and try again.2
Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.―Nelson Mandela
You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost.―Helen Keller
Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.—Noam Chomsky
The Lord Is Greater than Our Circumstances
Everybody has something in their life that could seriously hinder and even cripple them if they allowed it to get them down and didn’t rise above it. But the wonderful thing about it is that the Lord has made a way for us to overcome those things, and in fact, He intends for us to! Because His help is available to us, circumstances—past or present—do not have to dictate our lives.
Look at all the men in history who rose above seemingly insurmountable odds to become great—overcoming poverty, physical handicaps, poor family backgrounds, etc. I’m sure we could each name a few examples of great men and women who had experiences or events in their lives that they could have easily become bitter about or allowed to overwhelm them, but they didn’t! They just fought harder to overcome those obstacles, and in so doing they became strengthened. Instead of complaining that life had given them a “lemon” or a bad deal, they made lemonade out of their lemons.
Because of their handicaps, these people rose higher than they might have otherwise risen. George Bernard Shaw, for example, was terribly shy, but because he was determined to overcome his timidity, he forced himself to speak publicly, joining debate societies and speaking at public meetings—in an effort to overcome the difficulty he had in speaking publicly. His weakness eventually became his strength as he became a brilliant and witty speaker and prominent writer.
Some people were born into great poverty, but fought to overcome it and to be able to do something in life in spite of it. Often because they’d had these problems, they turned around and were able to have sympathy and compassion on others who were poor, and worked toward making life better for them. For example, Booker T. Washington was born a poor slave, but after working hard in coal mines and salt mines, he became an educator and spokesman for African Americans, establishing a school so others could improve their lives.
Often people who have experienced difficulties in life and have overcome them are in turn able to be a great influence in helping others to have the courage and faith to overcome their difficulties. Their example is a proof to those who see and hear of their struggles and victories that it is possible to overcome great difficulties in life, and rise above seemingly impossible situations to triumph in the face of despair. Their victories are a testimony to us all that difficult circumstances do not have to overcome us, but we can rise above them if our heart and our attitude is right.
Jerome K. Jerome was a British writer whose father died when he was 12, and at 14 he had to go to work to support his mother and sister. His life got even harder when his mother died, but after many different jobs, the end result was that he became a writer—not of sad stories, but a famous humorist, writing humorous stories to encourage others. After such a hard beginning in life, he said, “It is from the struggle, not the victory, that we gain strength.”
This reminds me of a story of a young man who had grown up with a very severe case of stammering. He had been prayed for repeatedly, but the Lord had not seen fit to deliver him. Finally, this young Christian concluded, “I guess the Lord wants me to use my stammering for His glory, because when I witness to others, they feel so sorry for me, they always listen!” Even though he couldn’t get rid of the problem, he didn’t let it overcome him. He didn’t let it cause him to sink into withdrawal from others. Instead, he learned to use it for his advantage for God’s glory. He got to the point where he could even thank God for his affliction and see the good in it.
We who walk by faith certainly do not have to be confined or limited emotionally, mentally, or spiritually by the weights of our circumstances or our past. In fact, the Lord often allows those things so we will fight to get the victory over them, and the Lord intends for the difficulties we face in life to make us stronger. Instead of looking at obstacles or mishaps or bad experiences as terrible and drawbacks or handicaps, we can use those things to make our life better. We can see them as stepping stones for climbing upward. Then they don’t hold us back and pull us down, but we can actually use them to improve our lives and the lives of others.
Through this process, we can learn to fight with the Lord’s help and become stronger because of the struggle. If we didn’t have any problems to fight, we could be tempted to become complacent and meander along, which doesn’t generally build the strength of character that comes from fighting to overcome problems. We could miss out on seeing the beauty blossom in our lives that suffering often results in, or finding true friends in those who come to our side to help in our time of need. We wouldn’t experience the same compassion for others who have gone through the same thing or be able to “comfort them with the same comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God,”3 and understand what they are going through and be able to help them to overcome.
God uses our trials and difficulties to teach us patience, trust, and faith in the Lord, and to help us to be more merciful on others.4
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.—Hebrews 12:1–3 NIV
Published on Anchor June 2013. Read by Bethany Kelly.
1 Mark 9:23.
2 Originally published June 1989.
3 2 Corinthians 1:4.
4 Originally published December 1992.
