THE AXE IS AT THE ROOT

What if Jesus’ first coming to earth was today in 2014?  What expectations would our world have of him?  I suspect they would be the same as the expectations those folks years ago had.  They expected him to overpower and correct the Roman Empire; to ease the suffering those tyrants were inflicting on them; to take charge and be King.  He didn’t do that then so I suspect he wouldn’t do that today.

The problems of the world are not the evil deeds done by tyrants.  It is the roots of pride, arrogance, and perverse speech that produce the deeds of evil, and those roots are in all people of all persuasions and positions; rulers of nations, of religious systems, of political systems, of educational systems, and of social systems.  They are in individuals; rich and poor, men and women, of every culture and background.  Every one of us had the roots and the potential for evil, as God sees evil, within them.  That is why Jesus came; not to fix the world systems, but to fix us, everyone of us in this world.

         

“No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that created

it.”  Albert Einstein.

“Watch your thoughts; they become words; words become actions;

actions become habits; habits become character; character becomes

destiny.”  Lao Tse

Jesus came to fix us by transforming us and the way we think.  There are thoughts all around us and within us, and we often grab onto them and absorb them unconsciously, without much thought.  Thoughts run free range, the good with the bad, the creative with the destructive, and the right with the wrong.  The world’s problems all began with human thoughts, thoughts that may have looked good but were bad, looked creative but were destructive, looked right but were wrong.

Jesus came to set us in our thinking and that thinking is not rooted in pride, arrogance, or perverse speech.  It is rooted in, “But, I say to you” just as in the beginning, and “God said.”  To live our lives well, creative, and right human beings need to listen to, and obey what God says; listen to and obey His Word.  Until we do, we will all continue to be wicked and capable of evil.

“Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.

And let him return to the Lord…”For My thoughts are not your

thoughts, nor my ways your ways”, declares the Lord.  “For as the

heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your

ways and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8).

It was human pride and arrogance and perverse speech that Jesus spoke to and condemned.  He didn’t look to the actions he went right to the roots.  “The axe is laid unto the root.”  Let’s accept the work Jesus does to our pride and in humility look to God to lead and direct our thoughts, our words, and our actions.  It’s the only Way.