Jesus spends a surprising amount of his time being annoyed. He regularly seems to be rolling his eyes and biting his tongue, along the line of my reactions to one of my adult daughters. Admittedly, she has struggles, legitimate struggles. I know she is seriously ill; but when she asks me to make her popcorn–something normal people do for themselves–it is hard not to let my eyes roll and to sigh with resignation and almost despair. Like, how hard is it to make popcorn? Take the bag out of the box, remove the plastic wrapper, stick it in the microwave on the right side, and then hit the button that says \u201cPopcorn\u201d. Terribly hard. Admittedly, she wants me to add some melted butter and some salt and to put it in a bowl. But really, that\u2019s so hard that only I can do it? She tells me I do it better than her. How, because I \u201cmake it with love?\u201d Or am I making it with \u201chate?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus isn\u2019t like me at all. That\u2019s an important point, really, that we get wrong all the time. Our perspective rarely lines up with God\u2019s. Our opinions are not God\u2019s opinions. Most of what we think is important, most of our views, God probably doesn\u2019t agree with us. If he were like our so-called friends on Facebook, he would have unfriended us long ago, justifying it like the meme I\u2019ve seen: \u201cI\u2019m not unfriending you because your opinion is different than mine, I\u2019m unfriending you because what you believe is evil. It\u2019s an issue of morality. That\u2019s different!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Uh, yeah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No, we do not hold God\u2019s opinions. The best illustration of this is from an event in the Old Testament during the time of Joshua. After forty years of wandering in the wilderness, God has finally brought his people to the promised land, let Moses see it and appointed Joshua to lead God\u2019s people into the land that he had promised to give them, that he had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He had blocked the Jordan River so they could cross over, fed them mana, protected them, helped them. And now they are on the verge of beginning the conquest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then you get this incident (Joshua 5:13-14):<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, \u201cAre you for us or for our enemies?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNeither,\u201d he replied, \u201cbut as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.\u201d Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, \u201cWhat message does my Lord have for his servant?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even in the middle of doing precisely what God wanted them to do, the answer to the question, \u201care you on our side or the side of our enemies\u201d is \u201cneither.\u201d That tells us an enormous amount about the gap between us and God, getting at attitude, opinion, motivation, our hearts and minds verses his. God told Isaiah:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSeek the Lord while he may be found;
call on him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake their ways
and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
\u201cFor my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,\u201d
declares the Lord.
\u201cAs the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.\u201d (Isaiah 55:6-9)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We look at the world through the lens of morality, of what is right and what is wrong, which seems like a good thing. God looks at the world through the lens of Matthew 7:12, which comes at the end of these words beginning at verse 7:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAsk and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhich of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We live by Matthew 7:12, “do to others what you would have them do to you” very rarely, in very narrow circumstances. God sends rain on the just and the unjust: those who deserve it and those who don\u2019t. He loved us so much that he died for us when we were his enemy. Not just when we were stupid, not just when we were making bad choices, but when we were actively fighting against him. Because he did for us what he would wish us to do for him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even when we are doing what God wants us to do, even when we say what God wants us to say, we\u2019re still not holding God\u2019s opinions. Even when our intentions are good, we are not in agreement with God and the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s why Paul could write in Philippians 1:15-18:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our motivations are impure, our attitudes are off, we are selfish. This is why Proverbs 3:5 is so critical to keep in mind at all times:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTrust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because our own understanding is mostly wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the American Civil War President Abraham Lincoln met with a group of clergy. Toward the end of the meeting one of them asked, \u201cMr. President, would you like to join us in prayer that God would be on our side?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Abraham Lincoln\u2019s response was, \u201cI won\u2019t join you in that prayer, but I\u2019ll join you in a prayer that we would be on God\u2019s side.\u201d <\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-content\/plugins\/send-to-kindle\/media\/white-15.png\")
Send to Kindle<\/span><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jesus spends a surprising amount of his time being annoyed. He regularly seems to be rolling his eyes and biting his tongue, along the line of my reactions to one of my adult daughters. Admittedly, she has struggles, legitimate struggles. … Continue reading