ONE THING
by
Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (August 9
"And he came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judea and Jerusalem, and from the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, which came to hear him, to be healed of their diseases; And they that were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed. And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all" (St. Luke 6: 17-19, King James Version [Sermon on the Plain]).
Greetings In The Holy Name Of Jesus,
My brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus I asked, Lord just one thing---just do one thing for me in my life. In seeking the good of man my faith led me to feed the sheep of Christ Jesus as he asked us to but not only as I perceived but also in reflection of the perceptions of others in faith, as the one body received great revelations of light. I contemplated the thoughts of others in Bible Class---their choices of Christ Jesus' words---the one thing that spoke to the whole of their lives---that represented the whole of each of their journeys---where God brought them to, where they wanted God to walk with them to---where they are right now in their life. When I thought about Christ Jesus and my relationship with him, oftentimes, true to form, the most recent experience in my life pushed my past memories out of sight but not out of mind, nevertheless, I seemingly reflected on a far better understanding of judging the words and actions of my brothers and sisters, in Christ; I did not want to be hypocritically-inclined, in my nature with one standard of behavior for myself and a separate standard of behavior for others:
"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in your brother's eye, but perceivest
not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to thy brother,
Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest
not the beam in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine
own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's
eye. For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree
bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do
not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. A good man out of the
good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of
the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of
the heart his mouth speaketh"(St. Luke 6: 41-45, KJV [Christ Jesus is a good tree]).
Most importantly, my thoughts in reflection of the verses read in Bible Class took me to a day in my past when I journeyed to visit my brother in Christ---I asked him for money to purchase gas but he refused me. I recalled my younger brother in Christ , God bless his soul said he could not understand why he refused me when he gave to the women who came along their way. This story is about raising the consciousness to the spiritual plane of reasoning. I guess he reasoned his thoughts to gain the advantage in competition for the same reason the man who wanted to cut others out of the bread line did. It made me think about that man and how he said to everyone he witnessed to on the streets, in church, in the neighborhoods to give only to the poor, not to anyone with any means of taking care of themselves, especially if they had family and even to make their wives pay them for everything they could possibly get out of them [Was he targeting women more than men but those with jobs and resources remained in the bread line needing more than they could afford?].
I think Job's experience illustrated this struggle to dwell in a strong conscious to bridge over troubled waters. Is it possible to hold on to your brothers and sisters when you hit hard times when they have only known you to always be highly blessed and highly favored and never saw you in the hands of God---God using you to teach others mercy and kindness, to be ever vigilant in long-suffering and patience waiting for God's love to pull you through when others failed to receive you in good faith or failed to anticipate your needs and supply your needs? As I reflected, all of a sudden I knew I had to thank Christ Jesus for standing for me in the valley of the shadow of doubt. To climb up the mountain of faith is hard while you practiced good faith believing you are what you hope to become when the refrigerator did not remain as full as you wanted it to be and guests were at the door, you were too busy working hard to keep the lights on and the bills paid to give to the needy, your raise in pay was caught up in paperwork, you did not have the money you needed to pay for the test you needed to get a higher paying job, the car you picked out was still at the dealership waiting for you to purchase it, and you did not have the money you needed to enjoy your holidays as you wanted or you did not have the money you needed to give to receive. For me, the revelation of light was a constant respect for love.
Moses lost wealth and leadership status as the favored prince but he came back as the chosen one of God and led Israel out of bondage [Did not Israel go in and out of slavery: Egypt, Babylon, Persia, and Rome, each time going back to wealth?]. Did not Christ Jesus suffer and die for the sins of man and return to heaven? Job was restored back to the wealth he had---even more children and another wife. The sent one---Apostle Luke's witness of the Sermon on the Plain, like Apostle Matthew's Sermon on the Mount expressly showed us Jesus' respect for we do not know from where a man and woman truly came from as they sought the good in man escaping all the pitfalls along their course---we do not know how hard it was for them to get to where they find themselves today. How up for the challenge are we of getting pressed over and over again, since we dealt with the evils of society in a hate-feeled and loveless world of selfish intentions and bygone beliefs that there is nothing common to man but to live and die---denying the love of God and the saving grace of Christ Jesus?
Moreover, the inspired scripture choice of a woman in Bible Class St. Luke 6: 39- 40 KJV lets us see the revelation of light that the blindness we think that is in question here of lack of knowledge was truly lack of faith: "Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master" [death of sight---to see where your faith in Christ Jesus will take you]. Where are you today? This inquiry into your growth in faith makes you examine your conscious to see your daily sins when you stay in the presence of God---to deny self and purposefully run the course God chose for you. I know it is truly a rude awakening for some as it is the quiet of the storm for others---the eye that tip- toes into our spirituality to awaken us to the weakness of our flesh, the temptations that we keep going through to seek deliverance for again and again, that stands in our way to seek the goodness of man, as an afterthought, in light of present needs, instead of a straight path with a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.
Another woman, chose the inspired scripture of St. Luke 6: 37-38 KJV whose revelation of light would not let her deny love to her brother who God loved when she only wanted to love herself---she had to deny self and would not let her brother not love her when he only wanted to love God---he must deny his self especially when he thought the world was how he sees it---rather our perceptions are our reality but what if our reality was false, "Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again."
In the revelation of light of the last inspired scripture, we come to the choice of inspired scripture of yet another woman that found truth in those who were harder to love, harder for her to be around, harder for her to accept what they said to her than those who were easier to love because the fault she saw in them lied in her, the understanding of, helped her overcome vice and see virtue. I clearly understood this truth because no one wanted to see their own truth as evil so in order to see the good in themselves they must accept the good in others---for St. Augustine said, "seek the virtues you believe are missing in others in order to no longer see the virtues lacking in them." "But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful" (St. Luke 6: 35-36 KJV). This woman never loved and failed to understand the person---she worked at the situations of unbelief until she felt enlightened---in a revelation of light---receiving the light from her holy ghost spirit---guiding her to the truth of her being---her wholeness. God is a great God!
In closing, in life we find one thing truly is always one thing holding us back from true love, truth in our belief of Christ Jesus, but it is also the one thing that denied us the love of God. We can not possibly consider another thing---not anything else until we conquer the flesh---keep checking back---to sort through and break-down the one thing to the smallest inkling of thought that binds us to unbelief---until it ceases to be a hindering block or a wall of contention that we cannot climb---that keeps us bound. In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. The Lord be with you.
Amen.
