.
I want to start by saying, that regardless of how lily-livered,
judgmental, and boring some folks portray Jesus in modern America, that
is not at all my experience of him. For me, to put it bluntly, Jesus is
kick-ass! For me, and many folks I know, Jesus is fun, he is laid-back
and easy to be with, he is incredibly validating, he is powerful, and
he is a wonderful guide & role-model to living in: present-time,
alignment with God, filled with delightful and delicious spiritual gifts
& abilities.
I come from a Christian background, and I have a great appreciation for some of the Christian scriptures. I wrote to my Christian students and friends as encouragement about a year ago, in my excitement about a particular scripture. Meanwhile, I was talking to a spiritual friend of mine who knows very little about Christian scripture the other day, and sharing about this particular scripture. He was really interested and excited about this message. So I thought I would post here in the hopes that some might find this information useful and hopefully inspiring in a general spiritual context…
I am addressing Matthew 6:19-34, which is attached below if you are interested. I am putting my commentary up front, so you don’t have to wade through the whole passage if you aren’t so inclined. I am basically utilizing Christian language and paradigms in this post – please do the translation to your own tradition, for yourself or ask me to translate for you ; )
1)
Jesus hammers on not being careful - take a chance on God - throw caution to the wind!
What Jesus says (which is very often the case) flies in the face of *what everyone knows*, very often what our parents teach us and want for us to do in our lives... and what we teach our children...
in this case:
* BE CAREFUL, SAFE
* LIVE YOUR LIFE TO TAKE CARE OF BASIC NEEDS - FOR NOW AND FOR THE FUTURE…
* BE RESPONSIBLE!!!!!
and here Jesus is strongly exhorting the opposite:
* let go, let God;
* be here now, today;
* focus on your spiritual path and relationship with God and everything else will come into line…
.
2)
The bible says that righteousness is being in ‘right relationship’ with God, being in alignment with God. (“Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”- Galatians 3:6; also see Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:9; Romans 4:22; James 2:23)
Abraham was righteous in that he heard the direct voice of God and (generally) kept faith in what God told him, in the face of much contrary physical evidence, over a long period of time… And was very blessed in the process: physically and spiritually. Yes, he was also challenged: he lived a very exciting life. So do we, on our own unique spiritual journey.
.
3)
One of the practices in my tradition is: focusing ourselves spiritually into the center of our head – behind the “3rd eye” – this invites spiritual light into our physical body.
From this spiritually-focused place, we enjoy our spiritual sight (that Jesus so often referred to). We can more easily behold and reflect the glory of the Lord. (“And we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” - 2 Corinthians 3:16-18)
This shines the Light of God into and through our body. This changes our perception as well as our experience of everything inside and outside of us: switches it to a spiritual Point of View. It helps us find our way - our unique spiritual path deeper and deeper in God, as well as our unique path in this world.
I find it wonderful, in the middle of a section on HOW to LIVE in this world, this verse may seem tangential... but I think it is central! HOW do we live? We live as spirit, from our spiritual information, in focused connection with God: directed from Spiritual insight, not from the outside, from the inside... From there, and only from that place of experiential alignment with God and God's Light, Way, Truth, Life... we live in righteousness, abundance, peace, ease...
blessings on your hopefully un-careful journey,
as well as hopefully un-care-full journey
; ) wendy
Matthew 6:19-34
This is Darby Translation (with random reiterations from Young’s Literal Translation)
{and a couple insertions from me, when I couldn’t help myself ; }
.
I come from a Christian background, and I have a great appreciation for some of the Christian scriptures. I wrote to my Christian students and friends as encouragement about a year ago, in my excitement about a particular scripture. Meanwhile, I was talking to a spiritual friend of mine who knows very little about Christian scripture the other day, and sharing about this particular scripture. He was really interested and excited about this message. So I thought I would post here in the hopes that some might find this information useful and hopefully inspiring in a general spiritual context…
I am addressing Matthew 6:19-34, which is attached below if you are interested. I am putting my commentary up front, so you don’t have to wade through the whole passage if you aren’t so inclined. I am basically utilizing Christian language and paradigms in this post – please do the translation to your own tradition, for yourself or ask me to translate for you ; )
1)
"Be not therefore careful (anxious), saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we put on?"
Jesus hammers on not being careful - take a chance on God - throw caution to the wind!
What Jesus says (which is very often the case) flies in the face of *what everyone knows*, very often what our parents teach us and want for us to do in our lives... and what we teach our children...
in this case:
* BE CAREFUL, SAFE
* LIVE YOUR LIFE TO TAKE CARE OF BASIC NEEDS - FOR NOW AND FOR THE FUTURE…
* BE RESPONSIBLE!!!!!
and here Jesus is strongly exhorting the opposite:
* let go, let God;
* be here now, today;
* focus on your spiritual path and relationship with God and everything else will come into line…
.
2)
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God (the reign of God) and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."
The bible says that righteousness is being in ‘right relationship’ with God, being in alignment with God. (“Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”- Galatians 3:6; also see Genesis 15:6; Romans 4:9; Romans 4:22; James 2:23)
Abraham was righteous in that he heard the direct voice of God and (generally) kept faith in what God told him, in the face of much contrary physical evidence, over a long period of time… And was very blessed in the process: physically and spiritually. Yes, he was also challenged: he lived a very exciting life. So do we, on our own unique spiritual journey.
.
3)
"The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single (perfect), thy whole body will be light (enlightened)"
One of the practices in my tradition is: focusing ourselves spiritually into the center of our head – behind the “3rd eye” – this invites spiritual light into our physical body.
From this spiritually-focused place, we enjoy our spiritual sight (that Jesus so often referred to). We can more easily behold and reflect the glory of the Lord. (“And we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory.” - 2 Corinthians 3:16-18)
This shines the Light of God into and through our body. This changes our perception as well as our experience of everything inside and outside of us: switches it to a spiritual Point of View. It helps us find our way - our unique spiritual path deeper and deeper in God, as well as our unique path in this world.
I find it wonderful, in the middle of a section on HOW to LIVE in this world, this verse may seem tangential... but I think it is central! HOW do we live? We live as spirit, from our spiritual information, in focused connection with God: directed from Spiritual insight, not from the outside, from the inside... From there, and only from that place of experiential alignment with God and God's Light, Way, Truth, Life... we live in righteousness, abundance, peace, ease...
blessings on your hopefully un-careful journey,
as well as hopefully un-care-full journey
; ) wendy
Matthew 6:19-34
This is Darby Translation (with random reiterations from Young’s Literal Translation)
{and a couple insertions from me, when I couldn’t help myself ; }
.
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust spoils, and where thieves dig through and steal;
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust spoils, and where thieves do not dig through nor steal;
{I see heaven is the spiritual realm, as opposed to physical realm}
for where thy treasure is, there will be also thy heart.
The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single (perfect), thy whole body will be light (enlightened):
{perfect may point to whole or mature}
but if thine eye be wicked (evil), thy whole body will be dark. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great the darkness!
{wicked or evil may point to being out of alignment with God}
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and will love the other, or he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Ye are not able to serve God and Mammon).
{Mammon refers to wealth or money – but it is treated like an idol or a god - i.e. the god of money, worshiping wealth…}
For this cause I say unto you, Do not be careful about (anxious for) your life, what ye should eat and what ye should drink; nor for your body what ye should put on. Is not the life more than food, and the body than raiment?
Look at the birds of the heaven, that they sow not, nor reap, nor gather into granaries, and your heavenly Father nourishes them. Are *ye* not much more excellent than they?
But which of you by carefulness (being anxious) can add to his growth one cubit?
And why are ye careful (anxious) about clothing? Observe with attention the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil (labor) not, neither do they spin;
but I say unto you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed (arrayed) as one of these.
But if God so clothe the herbage of the field, which is to-day, and to-morrow is cast into [the] oven (furnace), will he not much rather you, O [ye] of little faith?
Be not therefore careful (anxious), saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we put on?
for all these things the nations seek after; for your heavenly Father knows that ye have need of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God (the reign of God) and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
{Kingdom or reign reminds me of seniority, I certainly read it as referring to the spiritual realm.}
Be not careful (anxious) therefore for the morrow, for the morrow shall be careful (anxious) about itself. Sufficient to the day [is] its own evil (the evil of it).
