He Did It Anyway

Greetings in passion and peace, to you the Beloved of God!

Luke 6:6-11 (BSB)
On another Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, the scribes and Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and stand among us.” So he got up and stood there.

Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?” And after looking around at all of them, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and it was restored. But the scribes and Pharisees were filled with rage and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.

In this above account of Jesus being intentional about people over legalism, notice the difference in the attitude of Jesus and that of the religious leaders. Jesus was filled with compassionate virtue, while the religious leaders were filled with rage. These wicked men were OK with sickness, pain, misery, and a diminished quality of life for their church-going “neighbor.” Jesus says that sickness, disease, and handicaps are, “evil,” and, “destroys life.” He then demonstrates that healing is equivalent to, “doing good,” and, “saving life.” That still irritates religious folks today! A lesser man in this situation would have avoided this conflict with these powerful government officials on their turf… but Jesus is the Greatest Man ever.

• Cowardice is driven by feelings, Heroes are driven by virtue.

There are similarities of this scenario playing out in our society today. Just like in Jesus’ day, the heroes are few and far between… lesser men are the massive majority. This is why I am deeply passionate and fervently resolved to raise up a people and a generation of authentic, Godly heroes!

• Our public schools have turned into groomer factories where the innocent children are just fresh prey to devour
• Our workplaces have turned into woke activism classrooms where the employees are just social security numbers to be indoctrinated or terminated
• Innocent babies have been turned into inconvenient enemies to be chopped up and sold like so much poultry
• Gender has turned into an emotional weapon to be fired at science and logic with no regard for the eventual carnage
• Media has been converted into good little comrades who will increase their lie with the increase of their bribe
• Feelings are now of greater worship value than God, and that false-idol is growing rapidly attractive
• Cheating at any cost is the avenue for financial success and political control, and the cheaters are glorified

This is a short, non-exhaustive list of cowards operating in cowardice being energized by manipulated feelings who refuse to embrace their divine calling to heroic truth. If we were to reflect on the many times that we have failed, fallen short, or rebelled at God in raw self-centeredness… nearly everyone of those circumstances will be saturated in the stench of emotional nausea and uncontrolled feelings dragging us from the righteous, virtuous, and Godly response to something dark that creates shame and pain. Then, to add longevity and brokenness to the temporal wrong choices… we, in cowardice, cover up the sins with a cloak of deception, a mask of “virtue signaling”, or a tirade of self-justification for the failures that become exposed. Our first reaction, like Adam, is to hide. If that does not succeed, we move on to blaming others and embracing the victim status. If that still has not brought emotional relief (which it NEVER does), we move on into establishing a nature, or lifestyle, of brokenness that dilutes the issues in a sheer flood of character destruction. These folks also become professionals at lashing out at anyone who dares to try and bring loving correction to their destructive path. See Jesus, in the above scriptures…

This is the way of our social-engineered culture to enslave the masses to a life of slow death.

Jesus shows us the divine and instantaneous resolution to these tyrants and their narratives. Bravery energized by virtue. A Hero driven by justice.

Our wise Master knew exactly what He was doing in this synagogue. He knew there would be emotional rage fired upon Him from the faux spiritual leaders. He knew He was initiating offense and anger in the souls of His enemies. He knew that their response would be planning His first degree murder. He knew that these arrogant cowards would succumb to emotionally driven sin. He knew that He was expelling Himself from their idolatrous “place of worship”. He knew that He was positioning Himself to be tossed from their “cool kids club” and ruining His popularity among the so-called popular. He knew He was sacrificing Himself for the righteous benefit of truth, justice, and the Kingdom Way.

But, He healed this hurting man anyway. He saved a life anyway. He rescued a lost soul anyway.

Bravery is doing right no matter what the pressure says. Saving a life no matter what the culture of death demands. The right thing seldom looks profitable when the wrong thing is seemingly more profitable. Bravery always aligns with Godly virtue, not human opinion. Heroes are people who are compelled by bravery, the villains are those fearfully led by fleshly feelings.

Jesus is brave. Jesus is our Hero. Jesus is well pleasing to the Father.

Beloved, be like Jesus.

Be brave today. Reject the emotions of deception and the fearful feelings. Stand firm against the lies and enemies of righteousness. Be a light-bearer… a truth-bearer… in a world filled with darkness and deception.

I will always stand with you in bravery!
I will always stand with you in love…

Steve