Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

I preached a message the other Sunday evening about learning to judge from God’s perspective and not as the world judges (Isaiah 11:3-4) “He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears, but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.”

So many of us judge by our ‘natural’ eyes, we judge by what we see and hear and not judge according to what we see and hear ‘in the spirit’, or out of a ‘pure’ heart. Our judgement is often coloured by the lens that we are wearing of our life experiences, our life hurts etc instead of seeing and judging as God sees.

But something that struck me as I preached and was like a ‘bomb’ in the spirit was out of 1 Corinthians 6:7-8 and it reverberated the following day with the power of the revelation that came with it. Take the time to read from the beginning of 1 Cor 6 as it will bring context, but verses 7-8 are these;

“The very fact that you have lawsuits alongs you means you have been completely defeated already. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead, you yourselves cheat and do wrong and you do this to your brothers.”

What struck me was the fact that if we have right and wrong between each other, if we have disputes, if we are seeking justification or justice for being wronged etc. we have been defeated already, we have missed the whole point of the gospel already and stepped back into law. We have missed what Christ did on the cross as he lay on a cross that he deserved not to be there, that he was innocent of and yet allowed himself to be put on a cross and judged. We have missed what he did for us on that cross setting us free from the law of sin and death. When we have lawsuits or fights among one another, we are setting in motion ‘law’ again, right and wrong, and it it continues in verses 7&8 “Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? Instead we are justifying ourselves, or perhaps wanting justice for being accused or treated wrongly and yet that is what Jesus did on the cross. We are picking up ‘law’ again instead of allowing the Lord to speak to that person, or trusting in Jesus to bring justice to a situation, instead of trusting that God sees everything and he is more than able to speak to someone, to right the wrong that has been done if we were to wait and trust in Him. It is so easy to pick up law and it was a challenge for me the next day as I bought some food and it was cold - do I say something, or do I leave it - Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? And the next day when someone didn’t do what they said they would do - Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated? And the next day when someone comes with the pointing of finger at my faults - Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

Obviously this is a continuing work in each one of us as we learn and grow in the Lord but boy was it like a bomb as the Lord brought revelation on how easily we enter into things that take us from the cross. How easily we pick up things that the Lord is not asking us to pick up and in so doing we enter a battle we didn’t need to enter in.

Obedience and Commitment are big things in Gods Kingdom

Reading in Acts 7 this morning the story through Stephen of Abraham being told by God to " Leave your country and your people and go the the land I will show you" So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child." As I reflected on this and the journey of Abraham stepping out in faith into a land that he received no inheritance in but a promise of what was to come for his descendants of which we live in the fruit of that, I thought of todays generations in which often is only doing things that we want to do or that will benefit us personally as we live for 'today' not worrying about tomorrow. A sense of if it feels good then do it, if it doesn't then we will move on - perhap

6 legged sheep???

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Last night I had this dream and there were a bunch of people at my house and we all decided to go somewhere by bus. Because we had to lock up the house, Jim and I missed the bus, while the others managed to make it. I found myself getting a little frustrated with Jim as he seemed to be so slow in locking everything up. Jim & I got there just in time to see their bus drive away. We were left standing in the rain. But then the thinking came, its alright, we will just catch the next bus. Some of us may feel at times like we have missed our opportunity. That we have missed what The Lord would have us do, and in that we can get a little frustrated by people around us and even perhaps blame people for where things are at, at least I know I do at times. :) But I believe The Lord wants to encourage people today, including myself, that you don't need to worry, just rest and be at peace and you will soon get another opportunity. Like waiting for a bus at a bus stop, they come

Do you feel like you are being tossed around in the wind?

I believe there are some out there who feel like they are being tossed about from one thing to the other, not sure where they are heading or what they are believing for and this is a time when you just want to give up and walk away from the promises God has put inside of you. I want to encourage you to keep going and as it says in James 1:2 " Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." I know that sometimes you don't consider it all joy when you go through trials but believe me, it develops things in you that you will be grateful for if you don't give up and you will see fruit in your life and those around you should you learn to walk in patience and perseverance. These are times you don't want to be a lone sheep but instead get yourself around people of faith wh

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I was greatly encouraged this morning as I read 2 Timothy chapter 4. This chapter outlines some of Paul’s struggles and how people loved the world and followed their ways and in so doing caused much harm towards Paul and his ministry, but his hope remained in the Lord and His reward comes from Christ alone. Verse 10 “Demas has forsaken me” Verse 14 “Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm” People can come and go out of your life. People can cause trouble, but we are called as Christians to endure hardship as it says in 2 Timothy 2:3 “Endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a solider”. 2:10 “Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.’ We go through many things in life, many challenges and it is easy to look to man, to get discouraged b

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