Ha got ya there. Now lets talk:
What is it that influences you in your life? How do you identify yourself in this world? What do you measure yourself up against? I have recently been very troubled by these questions, not so much for myself but in response to what I see in our world today. I know that many of you will say, "Chris, that is just the reality of life," but I disagree. We who call ourselves Christians are held to a different standard. There is this little verse in John 17:16 that reads, "They do not belong to this world any more than I do." To not take this verse out of context I want you to understand that Jesus is praying to God, his father, that the disciples will not fall into influences the world, and that just has he [Jesus] was sent into the world they [12 disciples] too will be sent into the world to continue his work. Another thing to understand about this passage, it is not a teaching, it is a prayer. A conversation that Jesus Christ is having with his Father.
Now, after saying that I want to bring up a passage that appears in Matthew 16:6 and again in Mark 8:15: "'Watch out!' Jesus warned them. 'Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.'" Now you will probably say, "Chris, what does bread and Pharisees have to do with being a Christian in the 21 century?" And I will tell you, "Everything." To understand better let me explain the idea of what this meant to the Jews of Jesus' time. Your average Jewish male in that time was illiterate, poor, and had one goal in mind, fallow the Torah and live out the laws of Moses. Being illiterate meant that Jews in Jesus' day relied on the Religious leaders (aka the Pharisees/Sadducees) for instructions on how to live out the Torah. The problem lies in the Pharisees/Sadducees and the picture they used to paint to the rest of the Jewish community. They had all these laws that protected Jews from breaking the Torah kind of like fences. Some of these laws contradicted the laws of God ex. Matthew 15:3-7. Understand how the Jews fallowed/obeyed every move that the Pharisees made and how this presents a problem? Now, back to the passage, Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees. Here the word yeast=influence. The Pharasees' influence was huge in their world, and Jesus was telling his disciples to beware of their yeast/influence.
Now today. What is it that influences the way we speak, act, think, and shape our life goals? The media!!! What kind of ideas does the media put in our head? How does even the American Dream influence our choice of college career and how we measure our success in life? All ideas to think about.
Jesus clearly states that we are not of this world if we are a follower of his. He also tells us to beware of the influences of OUR culture. I think we all need to take a step back from our lives and look at what influence us and how these influences are shaping our identity and even our life goals.
Until next time...
-laterDays
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