"Others Over Self"

 "For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." (Hebrews 12:3 KJV)

  "Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing." And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice. The crowd watched and the leaders scoffed, "He saved others," they said, "let him save himself if he is really God's Messiah, the Chosen One."" (Luke 23:34-35 NLT)

 As you might have noted, the Scriptures I used for yesterday's post were both brothers of Jesus, James and Jude. They really didn't believe He was the One, growing up and during His ministry; but they sure did change their hearts after He rose from the grave! 

 This verse from Luke, where Jesus is nailed to the cross, saying, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing," is a prime example of the way things can be, when the heart is hard and the mind cannot see the truth. A prime example of that would be King David, who after what he did to try and clear himself, Nathan came to him with the tale of two men, 'The rich man and the poor man.' After hearing what transpired, David was furious and said, "As surely as the LORD lives, and man who would do such a thing deserves to die!" 

 We all should know what happened next, because Nathan replied, "You are that man!" It's really not that those who scoffed and somewhat rejoiced over Jesus hanging on the cross, as if they knew what they were doing, because had they truly known who Jesus really was, they would have done all that they could do to save Him. The thing that makes it all the more mysterious, is that this was the way things needed to be, just as the Scriptures said, over and over, just as it happened to be!

 Sorry for the exclamation marks, but it can't be helped. There are just some things that we do, which we have really have idea what we are doing; not that we don't know what we are doing, because we do: it's just that what we do, we are driven by self, and self only cares about self...

"What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don't have what you want because you don't ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don't get it because your motives are all wrong - you want only what gives you pleasure." (James 4:1-3 NLT)