Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, For they shall be filled. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:6,10 y 20
This morning the Lord put the word right on my mind. And then began to teach me about what is right. Nothing new to speak of but in a little different twist. The word right appears often in the bible, normally a version of it like righteousness. You could change the word righteousness for what’s right. But here is the point of God, using past experiences to help understand.
Many times I have used sports both playing and coaching as examples of what God expects. He reminded me this morning of a few plays I made which were amazing. And some I screwed up on. Keep in mind my athletic abilities were not because of being the best natural athlete ever. On the contrary, for college football I was below in weight, strength and speed or quickness to be a defensive end. But I made up for it with wisdom of how to play. Being around my dad for many years as a football coach, I learned a lot, he was a good coach as was our defensive coordinator in high school. I also was smart enough to know what worked for me and what did not, and then use the tools which worked.
As an example I remember watching a guy named Reggie White in the pros with Green Bay, he was one of the best, extremely strong. He would literally throw the offensive blocker out of the way on a bull rush. So I adopted his technique for one play. I tried it and for me it did not work, the offensive guy’s were too strong for me to throw around like Reggie did. So I had to use other techniques to have success. Most of it was based on doing my film work and seeing what the other teams offense was doing and then reading my keys to be in the “right” place to make the play. God reminded me of one play I made which was a highlight play where the other team ran a counter play to my end, the whole defense was sucked into the play action to the other side, and two offensive line men pulled and were in front of me and the running back behind. Somehow I not only strung the play out but there was a moment when the two linemen separated just enough for me to shoot that gap and tackle the running back for a loss. I was able to make that play which is maybe a 1 in 100 result, only because I understood how to do things “right.”
But God also reminded me of another play where I made the right read, was in the right position, but missed the tackle and the running back made a big gain.
The same can be said with basketball, many great palsy I made over the years, and many screwed up. It does not matter the sport or the sports hero, we all mess up. The best shooters are great if they can make half their shots. That means the fall short half the time. The opposition is too good for anyone to score every time. I looked up Michael Jordan’s career and he made 49.7% of his shoots. Lebron James is actually a little higher at 51.3% The highest ever was a guy named Rudy Gobert at 67.3%.
And so it is with us and God. He expects us to do things the “right way” but when we fall short and we miss the goal or shot. It is OK, he knows if we do things “right” we will have success. God knows the devil is extreme competition for us, he knows he can crush us. But with the “right” way of doing things we are equipped to overcome. And the Lord will walk with us and strengthen us to overcome. It is not immediate, it is like with sports again, you cannot expect a 6 year old like my son to beat Mike in basketball. But if my son will learn the game at the highest level, there would come a day when he would perform at that level. The main word being “IF.” Most of us give up before even starting, we do not put in the work, we are too proud to listen to people who know more than us and do what the best do. And more than nothing, in our working out of our salvation. We refuse to let the good teacher teach us. The Lord, the son of God.
Unli9ke what he tells us in Matthew 23:10 it is written “And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.” Yet instead of listening to the words of the son, we choose to heap up men teachers who tell us what we want to hear, instead of the truth which would set you free.
This is where we are created equal, all of us. We all have the same ability and right to come to know God, hear him and obey him. And let him be our teacher and show us all righteousness (the right way to do the good works you were created to do, and not the evil ones we do in our flesh). Now do not be fooled, anyone who does his works on his own thoughts, no matter if it is from a bible verse or what a man teacher says to do. He is still doing things according to the flesh. The only way to do things in the Spirit is to know God, hear him and obey him. No man can help himself to overcome the evil one, but God is more than capable of helping anyone, even the weakest man ever to overcome the devil.
The reason why the majority of the religious people believe they will never be perfect and without sin is they do not know God and are trying to do it on their own with the bible as their word, and men as their teachers. It is not possible to be pleasing to God doing it this way, and you will always fall short and sin. There is a difference in falling short and not sinning and falling short and sinning. Perfection in the son is doing it his way, the right way. The results are not material, the son knows you will fall short at times and that is what Paul was speaking of about grace. But the son also expects us to get up and do it again, and keep pushing forward to win the prize, to finish the race, to get set free. If a man will listen and obey and push himself to achieve perfection in Yeshua, the Lord will help him to overcome. No other way can you overcome.
This is what God expects, he expects you humble yourself to spend time with him, learning for him and his Holy Spirit the “way” to overcome in his “truth and light.” Men cannot teach you his way, I know his way from following it, but I cannot teach it to you, I cannot help you overcome. You have to work that out with him directly and by yourself. My job as a disciple is only to lead you to him, tell you what he tells me. Share stories of failures and victories and how he works so you also have the desire to seek him and his righteousness and then overcome in him.
Most believe because of men teachers it is easy, just say the sinner’s prayer, or become catholic and go to confession and eat the holy eucharist or some other nonsense teaching. All of which keep you from knowing Yeshua and obeying him. I know why it will never work to follow men teachers, they cannot teach you the things of God, it is not possible. You must be taught the things of God by God himself, because he is to be your teacher and we are all brothers in him.
When you meet your judge you will immediately know you are not worthy of consideration into his Kingdom. I came to meet my judge because I seeked him and found him. He showed me who I am in the flesh, and he showed me why it was not worthy. But he also showed me how to do things his “WAY” so I could grow and become worthy. This is grace, doing things his way and working it out so eventually you do not sin anymore, because if the seed of God is in you, then you will not sin because you cannot sin because you have the seed of God.
Most never come to understand this because they never come to understand God and what he wants and his power. God is all powerful, no one or nothing else can defeat him. Even satan and the demons fear at his presences. They do not see themselves at his level of power and know he can destroy them immediately. They know they have to have permission to do anything to you, and so “if the son sets you free you will be free in deed.” So why does the son not set you free? Because you do not seek his truth, you heap up other men instead to tell you what your lying ears want to hear. And the few who do come to know Yeshua and hear him, many still decide which things of Yeshua to listen to and obey, and which not to. And why Yeshua said “he who is guilty of the least of these is guilty of them all.” If you stop and ignore something he is trying to tell you because it goes against your religion as the old saying goes. You will be held guilty, and he cannot set you free. And there will be things he tells you and shows you which will go against your religion and your ways in ways which will make no sense. And God does not stop and explain to you why, he instead expects you to walk with him into the truth in faith. Faith never understands why it is like that, faith only understands the one leading you knows the best “way” to do things to defeat the evil one. God expects us to walk in faith not sight. And when it seems it was the wrong path because it all comes against you in the short term and everyone is telling you that you are wrong. You must keep going in faith. And once the dust settles you will see you have victory in Him!