blog-maryBlog - Joyful Curmudgeon - Blog
A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org

 

"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful.  At the same time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.

 


Temporal and Eternal Life – 31 January 2008
By Mary T. Hoffman

In Matthew 16:25-26 of the Bible, Jesus says to His disciples:

25 “For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it.

26 “For what will a man be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” ~New American Standard Bible

25 For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here], shall lose [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake, shall find [life everlasting].

26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life – his [blessed] life in the kingdom of God? Or what would a man give as an exchange for his [blessed] life – in the kingdom of God?
~ The Amplified Bible

Jesus said this after He had been making it clear to His disciples that “He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders and the high priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised from death.” (Matthew 16:21)

We can live a self-indulgent existence, ignoring the suffering that we cause directly or indirectly; or we can choose to learn how to cause as little pain and suffering as possible and to encourage others to do the same.

God cannot be fooled; He sees the heart. So anyone who thinks that they can pretend not to know that they are complicit in the suffering of the “least” among us, and spend eternity in the kingdom of God anyway, is in for a rude awakening. Matthew 25:45:

45 "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'

46 "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
~New American Standard Bible

Our journey on earth should be a blessing to those who cannot speak for themselves, whether human or nonhuman, not for selfish reasons, but as a response to the Holy Spirit’s prompting. Our conscience will let us know if we are truly among those who will be welcomed by God in our eternal life.

TTo learn more, visit:
http://www.all-creatures.org/anex/index.html
http://www.all-creatures.org/recipes.html

Go on to: Well Said! – 1 February 2008
Return to: Society of Sociopaths – 30 January 2008
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