2 Words in 1

Apples

We are all trees.  And we either produce fruit, or no fruit at all.  It is within our choices, to bring forth good fruit, or bad fruit.  You know, the Lord cursed a fig tree one time, for not producing any figs.  I don’t think we truly understood what that was all about; but, it makes a lot more sense today.  I say this in the most humble way I can; many of us need to get out of Paul’s letters, and go back to the basics.  That is, study the Gospels; study again, the things our Lord Jesus Christ said; or, what He did not say.

Some of us, are not what we appear to be.  As it was told to us by the Lord himself, we speak things with our lips, but our heart is not right.  This time we are in, is bringing forth more division and strife among many of us.  It’s always been said, what is really in our heart, will come out, sooner or later.  Some of us who claim to be Christians and even Spirit-filled, are saying some of the most awful, unkind and nasty things about others.  End times.

How would you say this?  I can’t stand some of it anymore.  There is a new button to press on my Facebook newsfeed, that says, “I don’t want to see this.”  I’ve learned to use it.  I agree with something someone said just today.  I have not unfriended anyone in several years now.  And I have only blocked one person from responding to something I’ve posted.  An elder on here, said a long time ago now, that clicking “like,” doesn’t mean that he agrees with everything the person has said.  It can mean, I appreciate that you took the time to respond to my post.  But, some folk, have become a bit too bold.

I can’t go on other people’s page, and rant about something they have posted.  I am doing my very best to follow the Spirit, and to manifest the fruit that goes with it.  There’s no need in calling people’s names or talking down their religion or denomination.  Some of us have been around awhile, and we observed clearly, that it doesn’t help.  It doesn’t win anyone to the Lord; truthfully, it pushes people further away from us.  We all come from different walks of life; we don’t have the same interpretation or anyway close to the same understanding; about life, church or even the scriptures.

See, I’m concerned that this note, may appear to call too much attention to myself; and I don’t want that.  When I first came to this FB, I was told just what I needed to do.  Oh, you can believe, that in the beginning, I went off on tangents and had too much to say; I was told to delete it.  Other times, and even now, I am told to “soften up” what I’m trying to say; not a watered down thing, but a bit more of the fruit of the Spirit.  I was instructed, that I was to let people try my spirit; allowing them to discern, if they could feel the Holy Ghost. Without this, it doesn’t matter who we are, or what we say.

Can We Love As He Loved?

A thought came to me the other day, and I was hesitant to mention it.  It was simply this: Are some people not going to Heaven, for not loving all of God’s children.  Why would God want those kind of people there.  Why would He have mansions waiting for those, who only pick and choose people they feel are deserving of their love.  Has it ever occurred to some of us, what if Jesus had felt that way; if He still did.

We can’t love everybody, in our own fleshly selves.  The Spirit that resides in us, is the only thing that gives us that ability.  We can talk all of the talk we want; it’s easy to say it, but another to actually act it out.  Years back, I used to tell people outside my fellowship circle, people in the world as we say it, that I loved them.  I may have even been offended that they seemed not to believe that.  It took a long time of my own faults and failures, before I clearly understood.  They did not feel, or see, any love coming from me.  It was only when people did not truly love me, that I experienced the truth.

Honestly, I don’t think many of us ever really knew what this comment was even about; how did Jesus love; and how does He love even now.  Today, I don’t understand it.  How could we claim so much, and not even see that, in reality, we were nothing like Jesus at all.  If we ever knew, how were we not able to see that we had changed.  There’s been a lot of good folk on here, in the past few years, talking about the church, that “left their first love.”  If we did that, we could not possibly being loving the way He did.

The “Ole Time Religion,” was not just about do’s and don’ts.  It was more about loving people; letting the joy of the Lord truly shine on our faces.  It was a true fact, that people in the world and in our community, could see that kind of love in us.  It radiated from our people like a ray of sunshine; they could tell, we had something they did not have; and they wanted it.  I never thought there would be a time, when we would not love each other as we once did.  People can argue that’s not true, all they want.  There is that old adage we all can remember; “actions, speak louder than words.”

Jesus did not agree or condone what many people did in His time; and He still doesn’t.  But it did not keep Him from fellowshipping with them; even going to their homes and spending time with them.  He went where the hurting people were, and those who needed help the most; and He still does that.  He went looking for people, others had not even bothered to look for.  How did His actions, compare with the religious folk of that time, and those in our time.

Love is one of the greatest possessions we have today.  If I cannot feel that people love me, it could be, they don’t, or not as much as they profess.  I’m sorry, but you can tell, when someone loves you.  Will I ever love as He did and does; likely not.  But I won’t stop trying to.

~ Robert Blackburn

Robert Blackburn