Where are the Articles About Being a Servant?
Posted: Thursday, November 13, 2008
by Eugene Redstone
Question: What is the ratio of the number of passages in the New Testament of the Bible which command Christians to love one another, verses the number of passages which command us to be politically active? Sorry, it's a trick question. A computer programmer would tell you the answer would throw a "division by zero" error if entered into an equation. Even if you find a verse or two which might be able to be construed as endorsing political activism, they would certainly be outweighed by the dozens and dozens of commands to love and serve one another.
Jesus said that He came for the sick, not the healthy.
After a morning of searching the Bible, I haven't been able to find anything indicating Christians should tell non-Christians how to live their lives. I have found many verses about serving, giving, loving, clothing, and caring, yet I don't see anyone writing about such things on SearchWarp.
I find this alarming. It seems to me that this is a perfect example of "straining out the gnat but swallowing the camel." (Matthew 23:24)
Anyone care to explain this to me?
This Article has been viewed 457 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
More commentsBruce, there is a saying, “people who have been to war don’t talk about war”. Many people I know who work behind the scenes of humanity with true compassion and kindness, don’t usually talk about it. While many articles on politics are mostly about people showing their grasp of the subject, people telling others the “right way” to live their lives, people analyzing what’s so wrong with government, and offering their two cent solutions, acts of kindness and compassion are very personal -- something between one and one’s God.
When writing about acts of love, kindness or compassion, it so easy to cross the line between doing it for self validation or reassurance, and doing it to inspire others to kindness and compassion. I’ve written a few articles in which I did something because it was the right thing to do, and felt guilty reading comments that said what a loving, kind, strong, compassionate, good, etc person I am. I tried to make it clear that the article is not about me but about the opportunity the other person offered me to show love... but the applause and praises just kept coming. Someone even said "I do not know how to receive compliments". I had to apologize for my "insensitivity". A few times I've regretted writing the article because it became about me and my "good-ness'.
I think that it’s great for people to share their faith as a way of strengthening each other, I just wish there was more of being our brother’s keepers than our brother’s accusers, judges, and executioners all rolled in one.
We were never given a mandate from God to force our beliefs and faith down people's throats. I don’t believe Jesus wants anybody to be forced to love Him or for me to threaten people with hell if they don’t embrace my beliefs and faith. I’ve found that I am more effective in “spreading the gospel” when how I live my life causes others to wonder what “cool aid’ I am drinking, and want some of it.
Oh! "socially compassionate" has been made into a bad thing among many Christian groups lately. How can this be?Me, I and myself is the twin brother of money, power and influence. Christians are not immune.
Jesus said it best, "Give unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."
hi bruce,good article.i think people, such as myself, get so intwined with their work, and families, and bills, that they forget about the most important things, such as serving, living, loving, clothing, caring, and God's presence in our lives. it's not right, but it's true.then when things get really bad, we remember, we turn to God, and remember that there are loving, caring people of which we can write about.thanks for the reminder,sue
Great article. I have often wondered if there were other voices that cared to speak of religion from this perspective. I enjoyed reading this.
In John 13:35 it says, "This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."The world will recognize the followers of Christ by the love they have for one another. It's not, "Oh, your a Christian. You are the guys that hate gays." It's not, "Oh you're a Christian. You guys are the ones that hate abortion and some of you even murder abortion doctors." The way I read it, Christians are recognized as Christians, not by their theological positions, not by what they condemn, not for their intolerance, but by the love the have for one another. Apparently the love Jesus is suggesting is not private love in the heart, but love that is obvious and visible to those that are around, in the area, passing acantances.As GB Shaw has said, "Christianity might be a good thing if anyone ever tried it." Of course some have, and do, and sometimes the love among some believers is easily detected. Wish it happened more often.Great article. Thanks.Hi Tex, thanks for echoing my thoughts.... I was starting to think that I am such a poor communicator that readers just weren't understanding what I was saying with this article. Because I'm a numbers guy and a programmer, I tend to try to break things down into numbers and patterns, so I that is why I often think about how much time Jesus spent telling His followers to love verses to be judgmental. You have explained it much better than I did.
I also think that if you've ever been the one whom the pharisees wanted to stone, like the woman at the well, or the one who was declared "unclean" and then isolated by religious people, you will look at the Gospels completely differently. At least I know I do, and I guess that's why I believe it is important to understand this "ratio".
Thanks again for your comments.
I don't think you are necessarily a poor communicator, but maybe you are a poor listener? I don't think that any of the comments above are off the mark. We are simply taking excerpts that grab our attention, and perhaps taking them one step further. I hope you will consider this.
Bruce, maybe we don't focus on servanthood because of our religious leaders. When was the last time you turned on the television and saw a televangelist preaching on how to better serve our fellow man? These days it's more about "God wants you to prosper and all you have to do is claim it by faith." While we are taught to discover the truths of Scripture for ourselves, many take their religious mentors at their word and accept that what they say is Scripturally correct, and move on from there. Until these leaders move away from their name-it-claim-it "gospel" and start preaching about servanthood, I don't believe we're going to see much of a change.
Hi Bruce,Thanks for the reminder on servanthood. I have to think that it is human nature for us to look out for ourselves. That is why we spent so much time on politics(what is in it for us). It is no different with us christians. When we were save God did not see fit to take away these bodies we live in. Oh how many times I wish He had. No, we still sin and still look out only for ourselves. I am going to make an effort today to serve someone in need. Thanks Bruce
I fully agree and find also too many articles written on polital mundane topics,
making money, business, etc and less about compassion, love and trust.
But what is lacking the most is love, and freedom.
I don't believe in the bible because any god who is loving wouldnt be using
their ego to guide others to serve them, worship them and believe in them or they're judged.
Spiritually we should never serve anyone, serving and placing your belief in anothers beliefs when they judge is to me being fooled. Their negative in my books.
Love never places judgement upon another. Live and let live.
Love never threatens the fate of ones journey because of misbelief or choice to live differently.
I literally wrote a small e-book dedicated to the entire World on these things
and how money affects the entire World, its oxygen, its balance and all life on it.
Money controls and many foolishly believe in it and allow it to control them in
every way possible. Which to me means affecting our hearts, our love and our
human compassion because money is a system of negative beliefs and systems are for machines not life.
I have seen so few interested in reading anything in these areas.
If we can't balance our world as nature can,,then something is very very wrong.
Balance our world,,not our money and bank accounts.
Living in freedom there's no such thing as money
Living in money there's no such thing as Freedom
A toast to a Free and Balanced World
More comments
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.