How Do You Cook Crow?

Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.  Ephesians 4:2-3 NLT

What are the expectations of Christ?  How does the Lord expect of you and the body of believers to treat one another?  One word sums up his expectation of us; that one word determines if our witness as a Christ follower is true or not—we will either gather or scatter believers, and we will bring in or ward off unbelievers.  Being one in Christ is readily recognizable by a spirit that displays a gentle, humble effort to live by and within the essence of God’s nature—love (1 John 4:16).

You might say, “Owen, that’s hard, you haven’t met the Christians I have to deal with.”  That may be, but you need ask, “Am I ignoring God’s will, am I living differently than what Jesus expects of me?”  If you are within Christ’s expectations, then you’re in God’s will.  What does Jesus expect?  Jesus expects nothing less than our obeying what he has commanded us to do.  Jesus didn’t ask, he said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34, emphasis mine).  Simply, “Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another,” (2 John 6). 

You might say, “Oh, I’ll have to eat a lot of crow to do that.”  If that’s the case, then it’s time you changed your diet, and what you serve your guests.

Woefully Not Meeting Expectations,

Owen <><

A pot of crow cooks as well as pheasant under glass.  The words of a recipe are meaningless without a presentation that transforms slop into a delicacy.

   

Surpassing All Knowledge

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.  Mark 12:30

Kenneth Boa writes, “The great prayers of Ephesians 1, Philippians 1, and Colossians 1 reveal that Paul’s deepest desire for his readers was that they grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.”  Paul’s desire was for Jesus’ disciples to have a deep knowledge of Christ, that they experience God personally, beyond a mere belief Jesus was savior, for discipleship is more than belief, it is living within the fullness of Christ (John 15:1-17).  To this very moment a follower of Christ is to be experiencing the Lord’s presence, so that, as you pray God fills you with wisdom and revelation of the completeness of His will through the love of Christ—beyond anything that could be imagined, indeed, surpassing all knowledge (see Eph 1:17-19; 3:17b-19).  The same desire Paul had for early believers, is the same desire to hold for yourself and for whom you share Christian community with.    

Your place in God has a meaning you or I may never be able to explain, for it is surrounded and kept by the love of Christ, who fills us with the Holy presence of Himself, His Spirit.  From out of tradition we have passed down to us a story about Thomas Aquinas.  As Aquinas worked on writing his great work, the Summa Theologica, he, one day, simply stopped working on it.  When asked why he had stopped, he said, “All that I have written seems like straw compared to what has now been revealed to me.”  This was birthed from a vision he had had, in which the Lord asked, “Thomas, you have written well of me; what shall be your reward?”  With that Thomas could only pour from his heart an answer that was the fruit of the Spirit, the reflection of experiencing Christ’s humble love, by saying, “No reward but yourself, Lord.”  Likewise Thomas Aquinas understood and embraced the same heart as Paul, who wrote, “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ” (Philippians 3:7). 

Allow the below prayer to resonate within your heart, take it into your prayer and meditation, in hope that you open fully to Christ and gain for His love the filling that surpasses all knowledge.

            Prayer of St. Richard of Chichester (1197-1253):

Thanks be to thee, my Lord Jesus Christ,
For all the benefits thou hast won for me,
For all the pains and insults thou hast borne for me.

O most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother,
May I know thee more clearly,
Love thee more dearly,
And follow thee more nearly:
For ever and ever.

            Amen

Surpassing all knowledge, through God’s glory,

Owen <><

Bearing Burdens

Carry each other's burdens,

and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.    Galatians 6:2

Carrying the burdens of each other is to suffer in the problems of fellow disciples.  This taking burdens onto yourself is how you will fulfill the law of Christ—the law, command; not merely doing something nice when convenient.  What is the “law” of Christ?  It is, as Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34; see also, 13:25, 15:12, 17).

How do we bear another’s burdens?  It is tough, as “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me’” (Matt 16:24 NLT).  Selfish ways, all variations of pride, is an expectancy of Christ followers.  However, Christ followers are to “take up your cross.”  What does that mean in your life?  It is to have an attitude like Christ, who humbly went to the cross (Phil 2:4-8).  Jesus carried or “took up his cross” (John 19:14), and by doing so, Jesus was the atonement for our sin (Rom 3:25, Heb 2:17)—He carried our burdens, which are our sins, by the strength of His mercy and grace. 

Jesus took our burdens, took our sins, and fulfilled them by his command, the Law of Christ.  Only by grace that comes out of love can there be the atonement, and yes, the forgiving of sin.  When we bear the burden, carry the sin of each other as Christ—sincerely forgive—we fulfill Christ’s law.  All sin against us, perceived or inflicted, by someone toward us must be forgiven—only then can a burden be carried, carried away from the offender and the offended alike.  When we forgive offences, hate, abuses, harmful words, or many difficult burdens, it is not easy, but nonetheless the “law of Christ.”  Love forgives.

If you are selfish and cannot forgive, but only seek vengeance, or selfishly desire to an atonement, compensation, penance, by an offender, then you are not a follower who is obedient to the Law of Christ—a true disciple of Christ will obey His command.  What did Jesus command?  For you to, “Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). And, Jesus says, “If you love me, you will obey what I command” (John 14:15).

to God’s glory,

Owen <><