I have found these past few years extremely troubling, as I'm sure many of you have as well. Although I grew up Roman Catholic, I have not found solace in religion for many years; I do not know if I truly believe in an omnipresent God, nor Heaven and Hell. However, given the times we have been experiencing, I decided to reread the Bible. I am specifically looking for passages in regards to the End Times; the signs to watch for, before the second coming of Jesus.
Not but a day after telling my boyfriend that I wanted to read the Bible, I ended up finding a copy of the New Testament in a Little Library in our neighborhood; what luck! 😃 Speaking of luck, upon opening the book, I was greeted with a 4-leaf clover! (If you are unfamiliar, clovers typically have 3 leaves, so a 4-leaf clover is considered very rare and lucky!)
Anyway, before getting to the End Times, I did decide to take another look at the Gospels. I read through all four, picking out passages that resonated with me, things that I never realized when I was young. In this post, all passages will be related to the Gospel of Matthew.
For example, as someone who is riddled with anxiety, this is one that I would really like to live by! 😄
I am constantly worrying about current things, future things, my children's futures, things that are out of my control--I am a worry wart! 🐸 It is especially difficult not to worry about every day survival, like food and shelter, worrying about acquiring the funds to purchase these essentials. It is even more difficult to try not to worry by putting faith in someone that cannot be seen. If the animals have faith that the earth will always provide for them, can I not have faith in God?
This one resonates with me because I constantly reassure myself that life is not meant to be easy.
Life is meant to be full of suffering in order to bring meaning to the experience. People who experience an "easy" life, who have everything handed to them and do not experience suffering, often take life for granted. According to Jesus' teachings, it is unwise to live life blindly...
I found this teaching surprising.
Although I am aware that Jesus will judge all of us during Judgement Day, I am confused by this lesson. If God wants us to honor thy father and mother, why then would family members betray one another? Or does it mean that the "temptation" of family will make it difficult to devote one's life to God? Feel free to leave your own interpretations!
Reading the New Testament as a child, I failed to realize how snappy Jesus could be 😄
Here, Jesus explains that the reason he uses parables to teach people is because they are too dense to understand otherwise!
Peter's Declaration about Jesus is an interesting one.
While I was always aware that Jesus gave Peter the "keys" to the Kingdom of God, I did not realize he also gave Peter the power to dictate "right" and "wrong."
This passage could be open to a lot of interpretation. The world is constantly involving, new inventions coming into play, and with it, more moral dilemmas to take into account. For example, the people of Jesus' time could not predict the internet, yet look at all of the scenarios the people of today deal with because of it: cyberbullying, child p*rn, misinformation, blackmailing, scams... As a society, we must consistently choose what we will put up with, what behaviors we will permit and prohibit amongst ourselves. God gave us the guidelines (The Ten Commandments), but it is up to us to choose to act and live by them.
This is another passage that speaks to me differently now that I am an adult.
As a child, I was taught that we must constantly be forgiving others, even the ones who hurt us. However, I understand now that you only need to forgive those who truly repent for it; they recognize their behaviour and the harm it caused. If they do not ask for forgiveness, you do not have to forgive.
A passage that I need to learn from...
Jesus was trying to tell his followers that so long as someone is faithful to God, it does not matter when they do so. Because of this, some could worship God their entire lives, while some may only start today; regardless of the years, they are both equal in the eyes of God.
For us, this can be difficult to accept. After all, many of us live by the concept of "first come, first served." This is not the case with God! We must take care not to let jealousy blind us to our fellow brothers and sisters.
In this parable, Jesus told his followers of a king who was throwing a feast.
He invited everyone, good and bad, to his manor. However, one of his guests (whether good or bad, we do not know) does not dress appropriately for the occasion, so the king throws him out. This is a humble reminder that although everyone is invited to the Kingdom of Heaven, very few get in.
This is one of the very first passages where Jesus mentions something explicitly about the End Times. Again, please feel free to leave interpretations!
While the people were convicting Jesus, to nail him onto the cross, this is what they shouted at Pontius Pilate. Again, another thing I failed to realize reading the New Testament the first time...
Of course we need to end things off on a more positive note! 😄 A gentle reminder that Jesus--God--is watching over every one of us.
I know some people can interpret that rather negatively--they compare God to an overprotective parent, just waiting for His child to "mess up" so that He can chastise them. However, we cannot look at it this way. God put us on earth with freewill, the ability to do whatever we please! He recognizes that there is a heavy burden that comes with it though, to constantly differentiate between right and wrong. God always hopes that we will make good decisions, He tries to guide us in the right direction, and He gives us the freedom to do so.