Skip to main content

Luke 9:20-25: Journey

Luke 9:25: “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:26, Matthew 16:26). Do the ends justify the means?

Recently I read an anthology of sermons by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. There was one point he kept coming back to that really resonates with me. His opponents accused him of being a communist. When people pointed out to him that, as far as the USA was concerned, many of his causes were communist ones; MLK would reply that he differs from the communists in one key way. “Lenin”, he said, “believed that the end justified the means.” As a Christian I can never believe that the ends justify the means because God reminds us that the means are the end – what you do on the journey reveals who you are in the end. This is true. 

For example if we want to end violent oppression by violently throwing off our oppressors then in the process we will find that we provide the violent oppression for someone else to throw off. Violence breeds violence. The ends do not justify the means. As Gandhi, whom MLK loved to quote, said, ‘an eye for and eye makes the whole world blind.’ If we want the world to see the truth then we need to help our adversary see, not pluck out his eye. If we pluck out his eye he may do the same to us and we will both be left a couple of blind bullies. Gandhi, like Tutu and Mandela after him, is a great example of helping our adversary to see. A society at peace with its former oppressors was created in a way it never would have been through violence. The means of violence always brings the result of violence. The means of peace is what brings the result of peace. And Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

Do the ends justify the means? No, the means are the end. Oswald Chamber says, ‘God is not working toward a particular finish - His purpose is the process itself.’

If we walk along the path of sin hoping to reach holiness we will be sadly disappointed. Conversely if we never walk towards sin, we will never arrive at sin.

He who walks in the darkness does not see the light and she who walks in the light does not get lost in the darkness.

This is true in our relationships with each other and it is true with our relationship with God. Jesus and Salvation isn’t about a destination, an end of going to heaven when we die; Salvation is how we live with God from today unto eternity; it is a means, a way of life. So, can we do evil as a way to try to enter heaven? No. Do the ends ever justify the means? No. The means, which is ultimately our very relationship with our neighbour and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, is all that matters. He is with us and He wants us to journey with Him both now and forever. And that is the means by which we can each live the most blessed life both for now and forever.


More daily blogs at
More articles, sermons, and papers at
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Beware: Christian Junk Food

THIS IS AN INTERESTING ARTICLE WE STUMBLED ACROSS BY ANNE GRAHAM LOTZ Why the average believer is starving for something more. By Anne Graham Lotz I love junk food—McDonald's french fries, Auntie Anne's pretzels, and almost any kind of pizza! If I'm not careful, though, I will gain unwanted pounds while getting zero nutrition. Many Christians seem to eat spiritually the way I am tempted to eat physically. They fill up on "junk food"—Christian books, CDs, TV programs, seminars, and all sorts of church activities—none of these are bad, really, but they lead to a sickly spiritual state if consumed apart from the true Bread of Life. We need the real nutritional "food" that will be served one day at the Wedding Supper referred to in Revelation 19:9, food that we can partake of right now as we dig into God's Living Word. For the past 17 years, as I have crisscrossed America, speaking at various conferences and churches, I have become convinced of
Post a Comment
Read more

The Lourdes' Lessons (John 7, 4 & 5)

John 7:37-38: On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” We went to  Sanctuaire de Notre-Dame de Lourdes . They have healing water in a spring there under the church that you can walk right up to. The story of the healing spring and the cathedral goes a little like this: Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl, on 11 February 1858 saw a vision of Mary, the mother of Jesus and was told to go and drink water from a spring which was to appear inside the grotto and wash herself with it. She did and she kept going there and by mid-July had seen Mary 18 times. She was also told to tell the priests to build a chapel at the grotto site. They did. The Cathedral was built over the spring and people – like us - still visit today.  God is a God of miracles even today. There is a whole community built up
Post a Comment
Read more

Ephesians 5:8-20: Jet Lag

The other day the whole family flew from Toronto to Victoria. Flying can be an adventure – especially when you are travelling with young children. This most recent trip was probably the first one from which we all experienced Jet Lag. Jet Lag is an awful feeling. It wastes your whole day. We have only one week’s holiday and during that time I have some work to do as well and the whole first day or even two are wasted. Jet Lag is when you feel so tired you can’t really enjoy your day or be productive. It is only when you get over this that you can do what you need to do and experience life. Are there times we suffer from Spiritual Jet Lag? We want to pray and read our Scriptures and associate with other Christians in a Christian context, we want to even sing praises to the Lord and thank Him for everything but we just seem to be lethargic instead. God really will get us where we are going a lot faster than any jet but sometimes our strength will lag behind us. This is why t
Post a Comment
Read more