“But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.””
Luke 14:13-14 ESV
Strange how the scriptures set a different standard than what we are used to.
Isn’t it interesting that the Biblical standard, the standard that God gave to His people isn’t being followed and people are complaining that there are problems with the world around us. This isn’t just about those who don’t believe in Jesus, in reality the world is happening just as they believe, it is those who do believe who should know better. These are the people that are really struggling because they have God’s word which they hold in high esteem but don’t know it as well as they think and definitely don’t know how to live it out.
When we read it and are challenged by our Holy Scriptures, we see instructions about loving our enemy, not expecting people to invite you to their party or be able to feed you at their gathering. We see verses about erasing debt which gets many people up in arms until they realize that is what Jesus has done for each of us. In that instance the people who aren’t willing to forgive are struggling to reconcile what they love about Jesus but aren’t willing to do themselves.
Interestingly one of the more common words in the New Testament is luo which means loose and is translated into various English words with similar but diverse meanings but basically loose is appropriate. If God is loosening you from your sin through Jesus, should you not learn to loosen the debt that others owe you also?
The Bible challenges our way of looking at ourselves, at others, and how we live in the world around us. God is calling us to a higher standard than the world is giving to us. It isn’t about following the free wheeling of the world around us because the standard that the world gives us is many times more constricting than the freedom that God gives to us in Jesus. Since God’s standard is not about pleasing others but about freeing and giving life and hope, He has given us His word to guide us and His Holy Spirit to strengthen us. God doesn’t give us a guessing game to play but a guide book to Holy living in a broken world in the process of being redeemed.