Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, "Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:"
Acts 10:34
I spent a lot of time during my spiritual life trying to get a fuller understanding about what this passage meant, for I felt that there was something deep and profound which might help explain to me why so many good, religious people may have so many trying experiences, especially when there are so many Bible promises to the contrary. This question also applied to the society that these good, religious people were a part of, including families, businesses, and even governments and nations. Then it began to dawn on me, just what this passage meant:
Since God is no respecter of persons, that would include all that the "persons" make up, which would include families, businesses, organizations, nations, churches, and, yes, even religions. No, if the individual wants the Grace of God to operate in their human affairs, it is up to them to invite God in to run things; and it is the further responsibility of the individual to let go of any human fears, judgments and condemnations of others that would stand in the way of the Grace of God from flowing. Even if we are not humanly in a place where we can do what is required to "get our human selves out of the way," we can turn such matters over to God, and let God do the forgiving through us. To put it simply, we Allow God in by sacrificing our negative traits and characteristics on the Alter of Spirit, and God does the rest in proportion to how much we are able to do this.
One of my favorite Bible passages when dealing with difficulties has been the 91st Psalm:
"He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."
We are told here that the secret is to dwell in the secret place of the Most High, which is the key. When we start doing this our lives will change for the better, as will the lives of those with whom we come in contact, without our attempting to change them in any way. When enough people take up this practice, the transformation will expand to include not only our immediate circle of family and friends, but our organizations, businesses, governments, churches, religions, environment, and, ultimately, the rest of the world. But this cannot be done by our human efforts; there have been many Utopian attempts to make this a better world, and, unfortunately, all of them have failed, and some of them quite miserably.
Acts 10:34
I spent a lot of time during my spiritual life trying to get a fuller understanding about what this passage meant, for I felt that there was something deep and profound which might help explain to me why so many good, religious people may have so many trying experiences, especially when there are so many Bible promises to the contrary. This question also applied to the society that these good, religious people were a part of, including families, businesses, and even governments and nations. Then it began to dawn on me, just what this passage meant:
Since God is no respecter of persons, that would include all that the "persons" make up, which would include families, businesses, organizations, nations, churches, and, yes, even religions. No, if the individual wants the Grace of God to operate in their human affairs, it is up to them to invite God in to run things; and it is the further responsibility of the individual to let go of any human fears, judgments and condemnations of others that would stand in the way of the Grace of God from flowing. Even if we are not humanly in a place where we can do what is required to "get our human selves out of the way," we can turn such matters over to God, and let God do the forgiving through us. To put it simply, we Allow God in by sacrificing our negative traits and characteristics on the Alter of Spirit, and God does the rest in proportion to how much we are able to do this.
One of my favorite Bible passages when dealing with difficulties has been the 91st Psalm:
"He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty."
We are told here that the secret is to dwell in the secret place of the Most High, which is the key. When we start doing this our lives will change for the better, as will the lives of those with whom we come in contact, without our attempting to change them in any way. When enough people take up this practice, the transformation will expand to include not only our immediate circle of family and friends, but our organizations, businesses, governments, churches, religions, environment, and, ultimately, the rest of the world. But this cannot be done by our human efforts; there have been many Utopian attempts to make this a better world, and, unfortunately, all of them have failed, and some of them quite miserably.
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