PEOPLE DON'T CARE HOW MUCH YOU KNOW...

NOW, OUR VIEWS: 

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PEOPLE DON'T CARE HOW MUCH YOU KNOW...
UNTIL THEY KNOW HOW MUCH YOU CARE!

 

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"The Medium is the Message" – an expression made famous by Marshall McLuhan – revolves around the idea of the form that a message is in is the most important part of the message rather than its actual written message. Cramped or sloppy formatting, clumsy wording, or clashing colors can all nullify the message you want to communicate.

So it is with the Gospel: if the preacher is shouting and yelling in a harsh tone, it's hardly Good News to hear. In contrast, the Lord Jesus is "God's love with skin on" – God in the flesh, Who ministered to "the lame, blind, mute, and maimed" (Mat. 15:30). Our job as followers of Jesus the Messiah is to figure out how to put skin on the Gospel message of God's love, to show how much we care, not just how much we know.

Many think that when someone becomes disabled, that person just goes from the hospital to a nursing home, but there's a much wider spectrum of care. Several kinds of caring facilities exist: home care, respite care for family caregivers, independent living, assisted living, nursing homes, rehab facilities, and hospice care. And several aspects of care exist:

  * Hiring a senior caregiver on your own can be cheaper than using an agency – save the overhead of paying an agency's fees
  * 9 Caregiver Support Groups that Help Caregivers in Need – CaringBridge: caring for the caregivers
  * 2023 Guide to Home Care for Seniors... and Get Paid – search for assisted living and memory care for a loved one
  * How To Earn Your Home Health Aide (HHA) Certification – become a certified Home Health Aide
  * How Long Does It Take To Become a CNA? (With Other FAQs): short answer – 4 to 8 weeks, but there's more...
  * How to Become a Certified Nursing Assistant – What Is a CNA and what do they do?

And we must not forget that "The Medium is the Message" – the type of a home's or a healthcare building's architecture greatly affects how and what kind of people can use it. Our son, an architect, included this phrase in his master's thesis: "We shape our buildings, and then they shape us" – a quote by Winston Churchill who was not only a statesman but also an artist and amateur architect.

There are many ways to make homes and commercial buildings accessible for all, or inclusive – for both able-bodied and disabled people: see the article 20 DESIGN TIPS FOR A WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE HOME. We need to rethink how both exterior and interior design, including sloped sidewalks or ramps into buildings for ground floor and second floor, elevators with at least 30-inch-wide doors, 36-inch-wide doorways without thresholds, door handles instead of doorknobs, electrical outlets 24 inches from floor, enough knee space under tables, sinks, and countertops for someone in a wheelchair, and much more!

These are just a few ways we can incarnate Christ's Good News – "God's love with skin on" – God in the flesh, in the Body of Christ!

 

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THE GLORY OF GOD

 

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The majority of the poor living in U.S. inner cities are Afro-Americans, trapped in the bondage of inter-generational poverty. We love to share with them – "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope for your future. You shall call on me, and you shall go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart. I will be found of you, says the Lord, and I will return you from captivity" (Jer. 29:11-14). God is good, and wants to share His goodness with us!

We love to tell them that God didn't create them to live in poverty, He created them to share in His glory! This isn't some phony "health and wealth gospel" scam that promises people riches and health if they would tithe just 10% of their meager income to a diamond-studded televangelist. No, the glory of God isn't anything material; in fact, the glory of God is His uncreated Energy that radiates from God's unknowable, unfathomable Essence. This is genuine Good News that can help them Get Their Life On Track!

Some bad habits may be keeping us from experiencing God's glory – "Or don't you know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don't be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor extortioners, will inherit the Kingdom of God. Such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor. 6:9-11). "Such were some of you" – put the past behind you! "But" shows a change taking place: being "washed" refers to baptism into Christ, and being "sanctified" refers to receiving the Holy Spirit at chrismation, right after baptism.

We shouldn't set our hearts on becoming super-rich, but it's alright to ask the Lord for enough to live in moderation: "Two things I have asked of you; Don't deny me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me; Lest I be full, deny you, and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or lest I be poor, and steal, And so dishonor the name of my God" (Prov. 30:7-9). We've seen times in Russia when good people were driven to stealing just to survive, which dishonors God's name.

It takes 6-8 weeks to replace bad habits with good habits, so we show them how they can build the habit of daily prayers using their smartphone or a printed copy on one sheet of paper.

God calls us to true freedom: "For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don't use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you don't consume one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you won't fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, that you may not do the things that you desire. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law" (Gal. 5:13-18). We can only do this by walking the walk, not just talking the talk.

Here's a whole laundry list of bad habits to replace – "Now the works of the flesh are obvious, which are: adultery, sexual immorality, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, strife, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the Kingdom of God" (Gal. 5:19-21).

And here's what to replace them with – "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. If we live by the Spirit, let's also walk by the Spirit" (Gal. 5:22-25). Walking in the Spirit means living in constant contact with the Holy Spirit.

We can do this by committing our whole life – body, soul and spirit – to Christ, refusing to conform to the world around us and its destructive lifestyles – "Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Rom. 12:1-2). The word "transformed" is the same word that's used for Christ's Transfiguration, when the brightness of His glory was revealed to His disciples. We can share in His glory!

Finally, God promises to liberate us and share His glory with us – "Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:17-18). This glory is what God wants to pour out on us. We can experience His uncreated Energy... if we replace those bad habits with good habits, and keep walking in the Spirit.