Attitude Adjustment

 

Thanksgiving has passed and many people probably found it to be contentious. There was even politics pervading over it. However, I would argue the original Thanksgiving was all about having people who probably did not get along come together to give thanks. The Native Americans had different gods than the Pilgrims and the One True God. Sqauinto who was crucial to being a bridge between the peoples and helping them survive was raised by Catholic Monks, and so he would have little in common with Pilgrim's Protestantism. The point of Thanksgiving was not a gathering of people who would get along, but rather people who had plenty to make feel petulance. Instead however, they saw Providence at work, that The Lord Trinity had used pagans to save Pilgrims with their corn, and sent a Native who knew English as well as local dialect to translate. All of this was a case of having to bury differences to benefit each other. It did not mean to hide the True God Jesus, no that is not the point here, but rather that "God works in mysterious ways," and just as Hagar who was Canaan Pagan who saved the two Israeli Spies and had her household spared, and she ended up even being in line of our Lord Jesus Christ humanity! Yes, we must not begrudge who God chooses to use to help us and we must not shirk from helping infidels (out side the faith), because they may become fidelis like Saul who turned to becoming the Apostle Paul! 

That is what I want to draw attention to at this time of year, that the boxes we place, the clubs we make to keep out the heathens can destroy us! For God calls those who do not fit are neat boxes, just like Hagar, The Samaritan Woman, remember the Samaritans were considered dogs and pagan devils by Jews at the time, and Jesus reveals He is the Messiah to a Samaritan Woman (John Chapter Four). That did not fit was even the apostles expected, worse He was talking to a woman as a Rabbi, another big no no. We must be careful as Christians trying to guard our ivory towers, that we forget our Master and Savior not only spent time with the pagan and those not squeaky clean in apologetics, but He wanted their hearts to. If you were a Pagan, and someone had the Light, the Message of Eternal Life to save you from the Inferno of the after life, and had The True God who saves you from all sin who died on a cross so you do not have to ever merit heaven, would you want them to recoil from you and not love you and even witness to you? And beyond witnessing, we need to give people time to shift from goats to lambs, from feral lions to kingdom lions; in this world we want people to say "I do" the moment we present the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ, but sometimes we are just the seeder in the Harvest of God, someone else gets to be a reaper or closer, the one who prayers the Sinner's Prayer with them and they accept Jesus as their Lord and God. 

We are navigating a very strange and brave new world. Our problem is we tend to tackle what we know as not Scriptural as scholars winning a debate, when w are speaking to a person, a soul, and would you want to be treated as argument or human being? I am not saying debates do not have their place, I am saying we need to have the right attitude, people need to be treated with grace, and kindness, not steam rolled, not treated as some conquest for Christendom. No, see them with Jesus' eyes, with love and that you want them to be with you at Great Party of the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, to know a God who is love (1 John 4:8), and to know that Jesus came for sinners not righteous pricks, "I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent." (Luke 5:32), and " The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’I tell you that this man (Tax Collector), rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted." (Luke 18:11-14). There is a place for sinners at the Lord's Table, not the cruel religious caste who he says make sons of hell, "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are." (Matthew 23:13-15). 

We need an attitude adjustment in the church. People are not Pokemon we are collecting in a gospel hunt, and they are not to be argued at like people do online with usernames and profile pics. We need to treat people with dignity, because Christ treated even those who were pagans with such dignity that He revealed Who he was to them! He did not say, "well you arn't a Good Jew who goes to synagogue on Saturdays, and does all the Feasts Right." No he sat with The Samaritan Woman and told her He was The Christ, something He did not outright say to even Jews or even some of His Disciples. We need to be like our God and Savior, willingly to sit down at the well, like the Spies in Canaan who trusted a woman of ill repute who saved their lives, and like the Pilgrims who trusted in Natives who had beliefs that were not Pilgrim nor Protestant. We have to be careful, yes we do not lower our Christian beliefs and compromise them, but we also do not judge Pagans, and refuse their help! For remember Hagar! I am sure she converted and became an honorary Israelite, but at the time she was not one of them and did a good deed unto them and The Lord. So let us be careful not to jump to conclusions. Yes, keep your faith pure, but love the impure, because you are need to be washed by Christ's blood constantly for the sins you commit. Amen.