Walking The Talk
Many times it seems that teachers are better at talking the talk than walking the walk. "Those that can, do and those that can't, teach!" I was a high school and college teacher for more than a decade and like all teachers, I did not like that saying one bit. As they say, the truth hurts!
The older I have gotten and the more experience I have had in careers outside of teaching the more I believe that there is much truth to that saying. How many famous ministers and evangelists have we seen take a very public fall from grace while exhorting us to "sin no more"? Too many to count! People often teach what they need to learn and I am no exception. I have been a minister since 1989 and I still learn each time I write a message or teach a class.
This is all preamble to my saying that its time to talk about living our lives according to the principles taught by Jesus The Christ and learning to "walk the talk" of the Christian Life. You notice I do not call Him Jesus Christ; his name was Yeshua Ben Joseph (Joshua, son of Joseph). We call him Jesus from the Latin form of Joshua which is Jehu. Christ was his honorarium or title of great honor and respect. It means, the anointed one, the one who has come to bring Light. He earned this title by years of study and preparation and by being an exalted soul, a great being of Light and Love; yet still fully human. You see, that is the greatness of Jesus, that He was fully a man just like you and I and yet able to transcend his human fear, pettiness, anger and ego and rise to a level of Godliness never attained before and not since.
His teachings and the teachings of most Christian Churches have little in common. He taught of a loving and merciful God. The Church at the corner teaches about Sodom and Gomorrah and about the wrath of an angry God of Judgement. Jesus taught us to disarm our foes with a smile and an open hand, even when struck. Nothing disarms a foe more than love and charity. The Church around the corner teaches "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" which has NO place in Christian doctrine or teaching. Jesus taught us to love one another unconditionally as a brother or a sister in the most literal sense. The Church down the street teaches us to judge our neighbor, cast him or her out as a sinner and one who is unworthy. Jesus' best friends were very shady characters including the great villains of His time - the tax collectors and the ladies of the evening. He judged no one and taught in no uncertain terms that to judge any human was to judge God and to call righteous judgement down upon oneself.
Yes, I said that when we judge others we sit in judgement of the Most High God! After all, God knows what and who we are and has known us before the beginning of this World. God made us, weaknesses and error, foolishness and all. God never makes mistakes so not one of us is a mistake! Who are we to question the handiwork of the Great Architect of the Universe? Does that mean we go through life like Popeye, saying I am what I am? No, we spend our lives improving ourselves from the soul out, being more worthy and more perfect every day. God does not care where you have been, only that you constantly improve and grow and bloom.
God's Grace is the Ultimate Most Improved Player Award if you look at it in the right way. Grace is not a reward for good behavior or payment for good work. Grace is freely given to each of us as our birthright, only we can stop its constant flow into our lives. Grace is an expression of the undying and unconditional love of the Almighty God. Grace is always there, awaiting the opening of our hearts, minds and hands to receive God's favor and love - what we call Grace.
Many of us "talk the talk" by quoting Scripture, studying the life and works of Jesus, going to church loudly and often. How many of us "walk the walk" of the Godly Life, of the life of the true follower of Jesus? What must we all do to be a true Son of Man, as Jesus was?
Here it is; for those of you with eyes to see and ears to hear, pay heed.
1. Put God first in your life. Make God your best friend. Cultivate and nurture a great relationship with God. Talk to God, not in King James language but just as you would talk to a friend. Don't just ask favors, have a conversation with your Creator, of whom you are part and parcel. Put nothing ahead of God in your life. God is your power; as electricity powers our world, God powers you. Love God with all your heart and all your soul.
2. Love your fellow human as much as you love yourself. If you don't love yourself you are in error (old timers call it sin) because who are you to not love what God created? Learn to love yourself, smile when you look at that face in the mirror - that is the face of God dressed as you looking back. Truly, God and you are One. God lives in you, around you and everywhere that exists. There is no place in all creation where God is not. You are not a mistake, an error, you are a Divine Creation becoming a Divine Human. You are not finished yet, you are a work in progress and that is just fine. Make progress every day, look back only to learn from mistakes, then move on.
3. Do nothing in your daily life that violates number 1 or 2. If you do act as less than you Higher Self, ask for forgiveness immediately and it is done. Be grateful for blessings that are already manifest in your life and those in creation and yet to appear. Gratitude is the most important habit you can cultivate. You are blessed each day you see the grandeur of God's wonderful Earth, created just for us.
4. Be peaceful and know that whatever ripples there are in your personal pond, you are safe and sound in the arms of God. Remember the lilies of the field and the birds of the sky. They are provided for in abundance, would God do less for you? Since you have never really been born and will never really die, what can possibly hurt you and what is to fear. The you in YOU will live forever and ever. Consciousness never dies, only the vehicle we call our body wears out and must be replaced.
5. Trust in the Law. Know that we have been given a Great Owner's Manual by which to live our lives and that is God's Law. Learn it, use it and teach it to others. It is truly your salvation and your greatest tool. Jesus taught the Law in everything he spoke and did but few understood the real lesson, they just took the words literally and missed the real meaning.
Here is the Great Lesson: You are what you believe, what you speak and what you think. Nothing more and nothing less. You attract good or ill into your life by who you are - inside.
6. To change your life and your results, change what you believe, what you dwell on in your thoughts and what you speak to yourself and to others. There is no other way to change your life. Period.
May God Bless your coming and your going, your laughing and your weeping and keep you safe.
Rev. Dore' Jacaques Patlian
The older I have gotten and the more experience I have had in careers outside of teaching the more I believe that there is much truth to that saying. How many famous ministers and evangelists have we seen take a very public fall from grace while exhorting us to "sin no more"? Too many to count! People often teach what they need to learn and I am no exception. I have been a minister since 1989 and I still learn each time I write a message or teach a class.
This is all preamble to my saying that its time to talk about living our lives according to the principles taught by Jesus The Christ and learning to "walk the talk" of the Christian Life. You notice I do not call Him Jesus Christ; his name was Yeshua Ben Joseph (Joshua, son of Joseph). We call him Jesus from the Latin form of Joshua which is Jehu. Christ was his honorarium or title of great honor and respect. It means, the anointed one, the one who has come to bring Light. He earned this title by years of study and preparation and by being an exalted soul, a great being of Light and Love; yet still fully human. You see, that is the greatness of Jesus, that He was fully a man just like you and I and yet able to transcend his human fear, pettiness, anger and ego and rise to a level of Godliness never attained before and not since.
His teachings and the teachings of most Christian Churches have little in common. He taught of a loving and merciful God. The Church at the corner teaches about Sodom and Gomorrah and about the wrath of an angry God of Judgement. Jesus taught us to disarm our foes with a smile and an open hand, even when struck. Nothing disarms a foe more than love and charity. The Church around the corner teaches "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" which has NO place in Christian doctrine or teaching. Jesus taught us to love one another unconditionally as a brother or a sister in the most literal sense. The Church down the street teaches us to judge our neighbor, cast him or her out as a sinner and one who is unworthy. Jesus' best friends were very shady characters including the great villains of His time - the tax collectors and the ladies of the evening. He judged no one and taught in no uncertain terms that to judge any human was to judge God and to call righteous judgement down upon oneself.
Yes, I said that when we judge others we sit in judgement of the Most High God! After all, God knows what and who we are and has known us before the beginning of this World. God made us, weaknesses and error, foolishness and all. God never makes mistakes so not one of us is a mistake! Who are we to question the handiwork of the Great Architect of the Universe? Does that mean we go through life like Popeye, saying I am what I am? No, we spend our lives improving ourselves from the soul out, being more worthy and more perfect every day. God does not care where you have been, only that you constantly improve and grow and bloom.
God's Grace is the Ultimate Most Improved Player Award if you look at it in the right way. Grace is not a reward for good behavior or payment for good work. Grace is freely given to each of us as our birthright, only we can stop its constant flow into our lives. Grace is an expression of the undying and unconditional love of the Almighty God. Grace is always there, awaiting the opening of our hearts, minds and hands to receive God's favor and love - what we call Grace.
Many of us "talk the talk" by quoting Scripture, studying the life and works of Jesus, going to church loudly and often. How many of us "walk the walk" of the Godly Life, of the life of the true follower of Jesus? What must we all do to be a true Son of Man, as Jesus was?
Here it is; for those of you with eyes to see and ears to hear, pay heed.
1. Put God first in your life. Make God your best friend. Cultivate and nurture a great relationship with God. Talk to God, not in King James language but just as you would talk to a friend. Don't just ask favors, have a conversation with your Creator, of whom you are part and parcel. Put nothing ahead of God in your life. God is your power; as electricity powers our world, God powers you. Love God with all your heart and all your soul.
2. Love your fellow human as much as you love yourself. If you don't love yourself you are in error (old timers call it sin) because who are you to not love what God created? Learn to love yourself, smile when you look at that face in the mirror - that is the face of God dressed as you looking back. Truly, God and you are One. God lives in you, around you and everywhere that exists. There is no place in all creation where God is not. You are not a mistake, an error, you are a Divine Creation becoming a Divine Human. You are not finished yet, you are a work in progress and that is just fine. Make progress every day, look back only to learn from mistakes, then move on.
3. Do nothing in your daily life that violates number 1 or 2. If you do act as less than you Higher Self, ask for forgiveness immediately and it is done. Be grateful for blessings that are already manifest in your life and those in creation and yet to appear. Gratitude is the most important habit you can cultivate. You are blessed each day you see the grandeur of God's wonderful Earth, created just for us.
4. Be peaceful and know that whatever ripples there are in your personal pond, you are safe and sound in the arms of God. Remember the lilies of the field and the birds of the sky. They are provided for in abundance, would God do less for you? Since you have never really been born and will never really die, what can possibly hurt you and what is to fear. The you in YOU will live forever and ever. Consciousness never dies, only the vehicle we call our body wears out and must be replaced.
5. Trust in the Law. Know that we have been given a Great Owner's Manual by which to live our lives and that is God's Law. Learn it, use it and teach it to others. It is truly your salvation and your greatest tool. Jesus taught the Law in everything he spoke and did but few understood the real lesson, they just took the words literally and missed the real meaning.
Here is the Great Lesson: You are what you believe, what you speak and what you think. Nothing more and nothing less. You attract good or ill into your life by who you are - inside.
6. To change your life and your results, change what you believe, what you dwell on in your thoughts and what you speak to yourself and to others. There is no other way to change your life. Period.
May God Bless your coming and your going, your laughing and your weeping and keep you safe.
Rev. Dore' Jacaques Patlian
posted by Rev. Dore' Jacques Patlian at
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