It is not fair, he has more than me.

June 16 2020

Good afternoon,

" Do to others as you would have them do to you  "  Matthew 7:12 ( NIV )

" Do not covet your neighbor's house,,, "  The 10th  Commandment from Exodus 20:17

 "  If reading the Bible causes me to scrutinize others more than I scrutinize myself, then I am not                  reading the Bible correctly . "  Scott Sauls

Some people do not like the stories in the Bible. They say that a loving God would never threaten to kill a father's son ( Abraham and Isaac story ). Some other people have told me that a great God will never have the Israelite people slaughter all the enemies at the end of the book of Esther. And even more people say that God hates women and loves slavery. God does not uphold women enough, and no writer condemns slavery. The Bible is a book of wisdom, and it takes lifelong wisdom to know how to answer some of these people. I am not there yet.

But, the Bible has those universal themes of justice. We should treat the world like we want to be treated. We should love all people in the same way, without judgment. I think it is a good thing not to want what you do not have. You should not covet anything that our neighbour has in their front or back yard. The Exodus passage goes on to say that you should not covet your neighbour's wife. That should never happen. We should be happy with what we have, and not want more. This is a tough thing to not do. I want a six week vacation like other people. I want to eat ice cream and Boston creme donuts like other people. I covet that in a big way. I am very rich, but I rush to judgment of the super rich. They are more sinful than me because they accumulate more than me . " Get behind me Satan !!! " ( words from Jesus ), to keep me from judging other people.

I forget who gave me the following advice, " When you are preparing to preach, make sure that you have struggled with passage for yourself before thinking about preaching about it " It might have been Lori Willms, a friend of my mom, or my New Testament professor, or it might have been a guy I know from the Netherlands, or it might have been a farmer on the 8th of Peel in Wellington County. No matter,  I think it is great wisdom. I try to do it.

How do you keep away from judging others ? How do you speak to God about it ?

Salaam and peace to all on our journeys of life and faith.

Prayer   ( thanks to apostle Paul in Romans 2 )

Therefore,

      we have no excuse

           when we want other's stuff

                 we do not need more stuff

to complicate our life

and , especially, our life of faith

Too many things,

       and too much stuff

get in the way of worship and devotion

to you,

the Lord and Heaven and Earth.

And never, never ever, and ever  

judge one another.

It is not right, is it Lord ?

AMEN.

Fred

Tread on bold new paths !

Fireflies flash the direction

Hope springs eternal           Monica Pieper Landoni 2020

Fred Redekop

Pastor

Poole Mennonite Church