Stepping Out With God - Pasir Panjang Church of Christ Singapore

altogether!
I know for a fact, that there is nothing that I would not do for God. No one
that I would not give up. Nothing that I would not sacrifice.
And if Jesus were to come today, my response would be "even so come Lord
Jesus!"
But all these would be too easy.
You see, for us to truly love God, John says in 1 John 4:20, "If a man say, I
love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his
brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his
brother also."
To love God we must love His creatures. We must accord them the love and
respect due. On no occasion should we wish for anything other than heaven's
blessing to be among our fellow men.
This is a hard saying because people don't always treat us right. Sometimes
we are mistreated and people often do not take the time or trouble to see
our point of view.
And at times we are just dismissed as of little or no importance.
As I am thinking of following-up my series on the Beatitudes with the Sermon
on the Mount, I have been making some notes and reading on the side. One
of the verses that has given me new insight was Matthew 5:22 in which our
Lord Jesus teaches, "But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his
brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever
shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever
shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."
First, notice the progression: angry without a cause - judgement; call Raca
- council and then worst : fool - eternal consequences.
Why would it be so terrible to call a person a fool? If you are in military
service, you probably hear this every day. I won't be surprised if it has been
applied to you more than a few times! And too often, we spew these out in
rapid fire like a machine gun!
Driving a car, we may call the inconsiderate driver, a numbskull. In discussing
98