Be Ready to Give An Answer
I'm straying from my crosses this weekend to share a story about
a young man and these feet.
April 13-14
The day had been long and varied in activities. Counseling, Bible Study, errand running with my mother in law, a meeting with a nursing home director to resolve conflict, helping my husband who hates to shop find a suit, church preparation for a wedding, and a major tree sawing project on the water waited ahead. It was five o'clock, my car was full of groceries and I realized I was wearing open toed shoes to a wedding the next day and my toenails looked terrible. I called a nail salon to see if I could run in for a pedicure.
Plopping down in the chair I said to the gentleman attending me, "I'm glad to have a place to hide out for a while." A younger man who worked in the shop said, "Are you hiding from God?" My reply, "No, just a lot of church members. I'm a new pastor's wife." Clicking off my phone I realized, "The world" was probably the more correct answer after the day I'd had.
With purple polished toes, in honor of my granddaughter coming for Easter, I went to sit under the fan/dryer before heading home. The young man asked if he could sit and talk to me. "Absolutely," I said. He asked what denomination of church my husband worked for. Then he proceeded to share he didn't follow any religion and he didn't pray, because if God was all knowing and all powerful, why would he need to talk to any of us.
My mind flashed back to BSF this morning and a friend sharing how she was not prepared to give an answer to a group of friends the night before questioning the Bible. I could have easily made an exit at this time, but was convicted to stand up for Jesus.
I asked the young man if he talked to his parents. They both worked in the salon. He said, "Yes." I said, "You are a creation of God and as your Father, he wants to communicate with you. That brings Him delight and if you learn how to listen in prayer He will reveal so much to you." He agreed people talk to much and should listen in general.
He asked me what I thought about the Christian belief of an eye for an eye. I explained that was an Old Testament teaching related to judges and court cases and Jesus changed that.
He just smiled. Next week, I'm going to take him the Crosswalk.com article below.
He asked me to look at his feet and expounded, "I'm for love and peace and against hatred." I simply said, "Me too. It helps me to have the moral absolutes in the Bible to understand those practices."
He then asked me to read something on his phone that was basically, goobaldy gook, saying all religions are right and everyone dies and is reincarnated into someone else and you continue in this cycle. I prayed before I took the phone into my hands, asking God to protect me. After the first paragraph the background light on the phone went out. (Darkness, I thought.) He said it was because his battery was dying.
I asked him, "So, you believe you will be reincarnated?" "Absolutely," he answered. My response, "Well, because of what Jesus did for me on the cross, I don't believe I will ever die, but will live forever in heaven." That caught him off guard for a moment.
He proceeded to say that everything and anything can be heaven. At that point his mother came up and asked me to pay for the pedicure. I asked this 26 year old what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. He said he had no clue. I said, "I hope you will come visit me at church some Sunday." His reply, "I've got to work." We smiled and I let him know I'd see him soon.
"...but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always be prepared to make a defense to
anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you;
yet do it with gentleness and respect."
1 Peter 3:15
"'Eye for an Eye' originates from the Code
of Hammurabi and is found in the Old Testament books of Exodus and Leviticus.
It is also referenced in the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus, found in the New
Testament. Its meaning in the Bible was simply, the punishment or
sentencing should equally match the crime.
From scripture, Exodus
21:23-25 states,
"But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye,
tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound,
stripe for stripe." Leviticus
24:19-21 echoes
this assertion, "Anyone who injures their neighbor is to be injured in the
same manner: fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. The one who
has inflicted the injury must suffer the same injury."
For both passages, the phrase is used in the
circumstance of a court case before a civil authority such as a judge. “An eye
for an eye” was thus intended to be a guiding ethic for legislators and judges;
it was not meant to advocate personal vengeance.
Furthermore, Jesus condemns the practice of
personal retaliation in the Sermon on the Mount saying, “You have heard that it
was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you do not resist an
evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other
cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your
coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give
to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow
from you” Mt 5:38-42
Crosswalk.com
