En välsignad dag och Guds rika välsignelse till er alla.
Today text from Matthew 7:15-20 is a tough one, in fact the whole chapter is a challenge to us all. It warns us about the false prophets, but the chapter starts off with warning us not to judge each other, and finishes with reminding us to build our lives on firm ground.
As I am human, my first feeling, to be honest, is that this text encourages me and provides me a moral “higher ground”. It gives me ammunition to fire at those who do not agree with me, the false prophets, the judgmental. It talks to me saying that as I am in the right I do not need to listen to those who are wrong, because I have God on my side. With God on my side how could I be wrong?
But therein lies the temptation of this text. Being a follower of Christ is not about being right, it is not about having the higher moral ground. I can never become complacent, trusting that I have built my house on firm ground, that I have spotted the “false prophets”. As soon as I do this I have fallen, I have become proud and thus given in to another of the “great sins” that Jesus speaks of, although one that is rarely mentioned these days, pride.
As humans we tend to choose a world view, a religion, a political standpoint, and from that point we try to make the world fit. If it doesn’t we try to force it to fit, make laws and rules, try to persuade the others that this or that should change. I think this is true when it comes to religion, faith, churches and even God. I make up my mind about how things should be and forces my own view on the world, even trying to make God fit my mold, regardless of what the actual reality might look like. The problem is that the world rarely fits my mold, even less so God.
I try and fail, but try again, to look at God and rid myself of all the “truths” that the world, the church, my fellow Christians and my own flawed “understandings” have imposed on me and see Him not as the world tries to present Him, but as what He actually is. Because a lot of what I “know” about God is not based on any fact or even on the Bible, but rather on human attempts to try to make sense of the world, forcing God into my own set of rules. Which is like trying to get a cat to relax while you are giving it a bath, I recently tried and that exercise gives you a lot of scars, I can tell you. And scars is what I get AND what I, more importantly, CAUSE when I try to make the world and the people around me fit into my understanding of God and what the world should be.
With my Father’s help I hope that I could look at Him, the world and my fellow humans with curiosity, awe and understanding, exploring how we fit together, rather than with fear and anxiety, forcing the round peg into the square hole.
God bless you, sisters and brothers, and may He keep your mind open to His point of view.
Isak – Vaasa, Finland