Marione John C.

Seto August 15, 2017

Christian Ethics 3

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,

for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”

Life is short. We are beings which are in many ways slaved by time. We often think that
what we are dealing now is much more important than anything else in the world. We poured
our time on the things that we think will gain us here in the world, things which we think will
make us satisfied if we got our hands on it: more money or being wealthy, luxurious cars and
jewelries, big houses, great status, beautiful women, admiration, awe, respect and power and
delicious foods. We rarely think of things which are spiritual and moral development.

When I sometimes plague with the thoughts of worldly desires and the spiritual aspect
of the world, I always had been reminded of Matthew 22:21; Jesus said "Render to Caesar the
things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's." So does Romans 13:1; "Let
every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from
God and those which exist are established by God." When I think about the words of God, I
realized how difficult it is to follow Him, the One who is merciful and full of love. How difficult it
is for me to follow the words of Wisdom when She shouts in the crowd to stop sneering and
laughing at knowledge, and to learn, and not to refused to respect the Lord God (Proverbs
1:20-33).

I am a sinner and a dust in the wind, that I know is true, a fool and vain. I knew that
without Him, I am nothing; and nothing in the world would exist without Him. I am dependent
on Him for all the blessings and good things in my life were given by Him. All my sufferings are,
too, though not from Him, the results of my transgression and acts against His word. But even if
I know of the goodness of the Lord, I still failed to heed on His words; to do what is good and to
be faithful on Him. My mistake then is that in the times when all is good and all the things that I
wanted come to me, I forgot Him; I abandon Him. Yes, it is the truth that I, many times,
commits and never learn. Perhaps you might say that my desire for Him really does not matter;
yes it must right, however, in times of trouble, of great danger and hardship, He’s all that I am
thinking. It is shameful indeed and even disgraceful. But then what should I do? When I am lost
He is the only one I know to turn on to. But you can’t blame me if I did so. I failed Him, I betray
Him, I acted against all His teaching, and yet when I am about to give up He raise me up again.
When I am down or suffering, just praying and calling His name, He put me up and helped me
with my problems. I do not understand the Lord. Even though He should punish me for my
wrong, He forgives me instead. When He should leave me be, He comes before me again. The
Lord is a mystery to me; His will is different from that of the world. Jesus said, in the Parable of
the Lost Sheep, that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner
who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

I know I am of the Lord, His servant; and He is to me the righteous hand that guides me.
He is all the good and righteous. He wants me to repent and be righteous, not because of the
world but because of the glory that is on to the heaven. He wants me to be patience, loving,
kind, persevere and to learn to think about Him not only in times of trouble but also in times of
peace and happiness. He indeed is the Father of all, the source of life. But He is against the
world. He is in enmity with the world. Thus in James 4:4, it is written that, “You adulterous
people, don't you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore,
anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” And in 1
Corinthians 3:19, “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say, ‘He
traps the wise in the snare of their own cleverness.’” And so does when you do what is good in
the ways of the Lord, the world will mocked you. The world will treat you as a strange and walk
away at you. People will speak ill in your back, often call you a fool and weak will. For the world,
it stirs conflict and dissention, makes people compete, stirs anger and resentment, and
advocates violence. That is why the Lord rejoices to the one who is righteous and the one who
follow His ways.

In the way of the Lord, life is nothing but an empty word. Faith in Him is the most
important. The author of Hebrews wrote in Hebrew 11:1-3, “Now faith is the assurance of
things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their
commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so
that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.” For Moses, as written in Hebrews
11:27, “By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him
who is unseen;” This shows the reason of Moses’ fearlessness and endurance, that in faith he
kept the one who is invisible continually before his eyes. Thus we must always remember what
was written in Hebrews 12:1-2, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with
endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith,
who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at
the right hand of the throne of God.”