"Obstinate Infidelity"

 "But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done." (John 11:46 KJV)

  "Again and again they tested God's patience and provoked the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember his power and how he rescued them from their enemies." (Psalm 78:41-42 NLT)

 We don't need to look that far in order to see how this all works, because there are surely some parts of this same deception and envy in each and every one of us, whether we can see it or not, it is within us all! Try as I may, I still sometimes find myself speaking about others behind their backs. I always need to stop myself, wondering why I needed to open my mouth like that in the first place. 

 My mother always told me, "If you don't have anything nice to say about someone, don't say anything at all." There are two ways to interpret that, what you might say to someone in their face, and what you might say to someone behind their back. But in reality, there is really only one to way to see how it is represented, because the word, "about," means that you are not actually talking in their face! 

 God sees you, at all times! Don't we really understand that by now? I know, it is sometimes hard to get that simple understanding when we are in the midst of committing a sin. It's almost as if we somehow think that God's not looking, maybe because He doesn't look at sin, or maybe because we are so caught up in what we are doing, we forget that He is even there. 

 Texting while driving is a really good example of what that might look like. We think we have such a control over what we are doing, until we focus upon what we shouldn't be doing; then we totally forget about that which we should be doing, like watching the road!

 These, "some of them," are the ones that are full of themselves and were only there for obligation or for the money. It was not for the love of Mary, Martha, or Lazarus that they were there, but to fulfill their own needs to be rewarded. Having been in that state, they were quick to react as they did, by running off to tell the Pharisees what Jesus had done. 

 Something that we should know, but even if we do know, we can easily forget. David is such a great example of what takes place within our hearts. Having sinned with Bathsheba, he did all that he could to cover his sin, without even thinking about the consequences or the wrong that he was doing. For the moments of passion, his compassion left! 

 I know, this might seem dreary and somewhat melancholy, but it is life! No matter how hard we might try, the same sin creeps into all of us, to put ourselves above someone else. Even if you don't think that you do that, putting yourself above someone else, you most certainly do, you just don't realize that you do. It might just be such a habit or so normalized in your life, you just don't see that it is there.

 Again, anywho! We need to start loving others more, much more than we think that we do! Love does not tear down or try and rule over someone else! We are all brothers and sisters in Christ, there is none that is greater than another, because there is only One over us, and that is Christ Jesus! 

 Think about what might have been going through the minds of these, 'some of them,' because they obviously were not thinking about God or how mighty what they witnessed proved who Jesus was! It was all about me, myself, and I; how this thing that was done, might somehow, make me look better...

 "If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and I understood all of God's secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn't love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I had to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing.

 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." (1 Corinthians 13:1-7 NLT)