Anger

Anger

One of my problems is to avoid rejection at maximum, mainly, from unknown people I have just met for the first time. It is very illogical.
As a teacher, I am very used to rejection. Why, then, in some cases, just the appearance of rejection hurts me and in other cases not? Even when preaching, I am also used to rejection.
I have just found out one way to avoid this kind of feeling: look to Lord's sovereignty.
Let us suppose someone is angry with me, but I hardly know him.
Everything is under God's will, so this anger too.
Instead of thinking too much about rejection, I just have to pray to the Lord that is above everything, He is sovereign, so he is above some anger against me.
The problem is that I forget this as if someone's anger is totally detached from the Lord.

Natural way

I have just talked to Mr. DH - the brother in Jesus who had 3 strokes. He decided to visit S who had a recent stroke, to give him a hope message. The Lord is being merciful to Mr S, despite his suffering, because he provided this meeting with Mr. DH. 

Mr S saw the stroke as something worse than death. He is still in a wheel chair.

DH told me that just after the stroke he could not command his limbs. He had to relearn everything again, inclusive, walking. It required a lot of effort. He had to decide to crawl instead of using a wheel chair. It was not the natural way because he had to fight laziness everyday. 

He showed Mr S that it is possible to regain control of one's body but it requires some faith that it is possible. Now, Mr S believes that it is possible.

Mr DH saw that the Lord is a father that wants his son to grow, to have dominion over nature.

Rubik's Cube

My daughter was talking about Chinese students at our children's school. They are famously known as nerds. I told to my children that they must succeed in life. My son told us:
- I can not believe that the Chinese from my class will succeed.
- Why?
- Our class was forbidden to play Rubik's cube, however a group of Chinese disrespects these orders and plays it in front of the teacher but he pretends that nothing is happening and allows them playing.
- Ah... but this does not mean they will not succeed... I told him.
- Last year, the teacher decided to finish the year with a Rubik's cube tournament. Dad, no one of these Chinese won!
- Well... Perhaps you are right.
It was very funny to me.
There are many first immigrants from China that are very courageous and make business without knowing Portuguese. They do not think that even the language is a barrier to work. They are prone to be entrepreneurs instead of working to others. Many Chinese students must also learn Portuguese besides other normal subjects to succeed in class.  Many Chinese immigrants face the unknown with some kind of faith that they will succeed.
Christians have a foundation that enables them to overcome barriers as the Chinese immigrants do.

Authority and love

I tried to persuade the new brother I met yesterday that he should teach, even in Sunday School.
A teacher learns a lot about authority and love.
A teacher that does not exercise authority when needed, is sinning.
It is a sin of omission not to interfere in cases of bullying.
A bad student does not have the right to disturb the class, blocking others from learning. Thus the teacher must exercise his authority and, in some cases, expel the bad student. Isn't it love? Yes, for the students that are there to learn. It is also love for the bad student that must be guided to repentance.
However, a professor that loves his students in this way receives not only love from some, but also anger from many.
Jesus does not transform anyone in a coward, but in a brave soldier that fights for love and justice.

A new brother

Today, we took our daughter to a birthday party. There I met a guy who is an engineer and a brother in Jesus. I was amazed about our similarities.

It took a long time for me and for him to realize that we have found a new identity in Jesus despite attending to church services for many decades. It is just after this new identity that we really found rest in Jesus.

I learned one thing with him. He was telling me:

- If Jesus loves me despite what I do, I really can rest in Him. Thus, I see no need to please another person. Even though, I really go and talk to someone because I am pleased to do so. 

He was telling me that he spreads the gospel in a more natural way to him. He is not the kind of guy that meets a stranger and begins to evangelize. However, he waits for the Holly Ghost to show him that he should pray for someone in needy. Whenever he hears about someone sick, he is eager to pray for him, even, for non Christians. He told me that in one case, the person was not healed but he found Jesus, what was much better.

It amazed me how the Spirit guided me today and taught me through him.

Priorities after Suffering

Today, I asked my brother in Christ, DH, about a lesson that he had learned from his 3 strokes.

He told me that before the strokes he was always making plans for 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years ahead. These plans did not work, but they stressed him.

Today, he is very happy for his day, paying attention on God keeping him alive.

He told me that there are very few things really necessary: air, water, food and a shelter. 

He decided to enjoy each day as a gift from the Lord.

In other word, he decided to enjoy God's grace over him.

Even with some sequels from the strokes, he is much happier than before. The Lord changed his priorities. Now he focus on what is important: life.

Certainly I must think as him.
For instance, this morning I was watching videos in youtube about the next financial crisis in US. Interestingly, the video was talking about how comfortable the Jews were in Nazi Germany urging the watcher to escape the next US crisis that should happen this year (an election year). Focusing on life today does not fit to watching this kind of videos. For instance:  talking to my children is much more important. Even walking is more important.

Job

I am meditating on Job 1.

Job1:1 This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.

Job1:8 There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God  and shuns evil.

Job2:3 There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.

The question is:

In what circumstance Job would sin? Job was not sinning in good times. Would he sin in bad times?

After a lot of suffering:

Job1:22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. 

After more suffering: 

Job2:9-10 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”.  In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

His suffering was a temptation to curse God, to see Him as unfair, to charge God with wrongdoing.

Is it possible that the Lord treats badly a blameless creature?

Yes. It is.

How is it possible to see Him as a just and good Lord despite suffering?

The answer is looking to his grace:

Job2:10 Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?

Job1:21 The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.

The losses are not real losses because everything came from him, so Job did not loose anything. He accepted the good and the bad things from the Lord. Everything was from Him: his prosperity, many serves, wealth but also, poorness and even his children killed. 

Although the text talks about Satan, Job ultimately sees the evil upon him coming from the Lord. 

I must learn with Job, to see the good and bad things that happens daily in my life, ultimately coming from the Lord.