There are many who
think that Jesus gave His blessing and help to everyone, no matter what,
because "Jesus is love". Those
would be the Kumbaya Christians that I have written about so many times. Scripture however says otherwise.
Matthew 10:5-15(NKJV)
These twelve Jesus
sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city
of the Samaritans.
But go rather to the lost sheep of
the house of Israel.
And as you go,
preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
Heal the sick,
cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have
received, freely give.
Provide neither gold
nor silver nor copper in your money belts,
nor bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor
staffs; for a worker is worthy of his food.
“Now whatever city or town you
enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out.
And when you go into a
household, greet it.
If the household is worthy, let your
peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to
you.
And whoever will not receive you nor
hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust
from your feet.
Assuredly, I say to
you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of
judgment than for that city!
I see two things
here. First Jesus was very specific in
telling His disciples not to preach to the Gentiles and the Samaritans. In today's world Jesus would be accused of
being racist, but was he?
I don't believe
so. He was simply directing His
resources to reach God's chosen people first.
He knew God's plan and that was to send Paul to reach the Gentiles
later. There is nothing racist about
that just like there is nothing racist about many of the things people today
call racist. The latest one I read is
that the material felt is now considered to be racist by some. :)
But notice the
second part. Even among God's chosen
people, Jesus instructed His disciples to withhold their favor from any of
God's people who are not supportive of God's mission. God's favor isn't automatic. It is earned by following God and doing all
you can to support God's mission.
That's is the part that Kumbaya Christians have a hard time understanding. How could a loving God deny His blessings to
anyone?
I don't know why
that is so hard to understand. As a
parent you sometimes withhold your blessings from your kids because they
misbehaved. It doesn't mean you love
them any less. To me it shows that you
actually love them more. You love them
enough to discipline them and help correct the error in their ways. Where do you think we learned that from? God!!!
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