Flight Paths

“I've been so disheartened lately by the "hot mess" mentality. The "I-just-can't-it's-too-hard-I-don't-have-time-Oh-well-I'm-just-a-hot-mess" lifestyle that so many of us are adopting under the guise of being "real." It makes us feel good to be a part of that club, but the problem is that we aren't called to be a hot mess. We aren't called to get by. We aren't called to just do the minimum. We aren't called to just keep the kids alive. We are called to work...to be "workers at home." To go to bed tired from working hard at the end of each day, like our Savior did throughout his earthly ministry. Like she [a blogger being referred to] says...we are called to "do the next right thing." This is how we redeem the time. DOING your next right thing, whatever that looks like in your world. Don't let today happen to you. DO today.”*
            The above post showed up on my newsfeed a couple of months ago and I wanted to stand up and cheer.  If there is anything disheartening about Facebook it’s how many young women whine about having so much to do for their families and how impossible it is to get it all done.  As this young mom said, it’s almost like a badge of honor to say about such things, “Well, this is what real life is like.”  Real life is evidently having your family live in disorder and chaos and bragging about it.
            Now let me tell you that this young mother I applauded has not one but two children, and one of them is a chronically ill child who requires many times more doctor appointments than yours do, including emergency room runs for things you give your child a couple of Tylenol for and hope they won’t run around too much for the neighbors or church folks or schoolmates to think they really are sick.  This young mother has excuses for a house in disarray and an overflowing laundry hamper but refuses to use them. 
            Since I had never heard of this “hot mess” phenomenon, I did a little research.  Evidently it is applied in several different areas, some that have no business in a Christian’s life at all, but the common denominator in them all is never managing to complete the tasks at hand.  I also found several lists, some meant to be humorous, others helpful in straightening out those who have this mentality, and other lists helping people to recognize that personality and keep their distance!  Here are three things that I think we can all work on.
            1.  For people who are “hot messes,” clutter and disarray seem to be second nature.  We aren’t talking about the toys being all over the floor because the kids have been playing hard this morning, or the counters covered with pots and pans because you are in the middle of an elaborate meal for guests.  We are talking about people who don’t have the maturity to organize and compartmentalize their lives, making sure that important papers like birth certificates and car titles are kept in a safe place, that the receipt you need to return that defective whatever can easily be found, or not needing to worry about what your little one might pick up and eat off your floor.  These things matter, and they are part of your job as a homemaker.
            2.  Another characteristic of a “hot mess” is that she never takes responsibility for her own actions.  “I would have but…” becomes a staple of her conversation.  After a while you get so tired of hearing the excuses, you simply turn them off.  Bottom line:  what needed doing did not get done.   And if there is not a reason, there is always another person to blame—even one who not only does not live in the same house but whose name she doesn’t even know.  That person just had the misfortune to cross paths with her that morning and so is awarded the dubious distinction of being today’s scapegoat.
            3.  And the last one I saw that really made sense was that a “hot mess” is always a talker and never a doer.  She makes lists but it is rare she ever marks one off.  She makes plans but never follows through.  Why?  Because she is always talking.  Or posting.  Or looking at her phone to check on likes and comments and shares.  I knew a woman once who literally could not work and talk at the same time.  I went to her home to help her cook a meal for company.  Every time she opened her mouth her hands stopped moving.  I worked circles around her and cooked three dishes to her one.
            I am not unsympathetic to young mothers.  I used to be one, and not so long ago that I cannot remember it.  Not long after my first child was born something happened—I am not sure what—but suddenly I burst into tears.  “What’s wrong?” my alarmed husband asked.  I could not even answer him.  Now I know what it was—I was simply overwhelmed. 
            I had not had a good night’s sleep for several months.  I could not get anything done until nap time.  All that advice about resting when your baby does is nonsense.  It cannot be done unless you want to literally wade through laundry, toys, mail, bills, newspapers, and magazines for a year. 
            I looked at my weeping self and thought, “What in the world is wrong with you?  This should be the happiest time of your life.”  But I, too, grew up on TV shows where babies magically go to sleep when you lay them down and stay that way until you have time to play with them or feed them or show them off to your friends—another piece of nonsense.  Babies require more of you than you thought it was possible to give.  They demand your time and your attention, not out of malice but because they cannot survive any other way. 
            Every first time mother needs to know that it’s okay to cry.  Sometime in the first few months you will stand there like an idiot and bawl your eyeballs out.  It’s okay.  What’s not okay is to keep on doing it.  As my young friend said in her post, you’re supposed to be tired.  You’re supposed to feel inundated.  You’re supposed to fall into bed every night utterly exhausted.  That’s your job now, but you can’t just quit, and you certainly shouldn’t glory in being “a hot mess.”  You grow up.  You get better.  Maybe we will talk about that tomorrow.
 
*The post I quoted in the beginning was written by Miranda Nerland.

Dene Ward

Believe it or not, fifty or more years ago it wasn't considered rude.  In fact, after we finished our evening meal, all of us sitting at the same table discussing our day (another rare thing these days), we quickly cleaned things up "just in case."  As my sister and I played in our room and as our parents read the paper or watched the evening news, we all kept one ear for an engine, car doors slamming, and footsteps on the front stoop.  At least one night a week, often more, we were rewarded with friends or family dropping by for an unannounced visit.
            At least one night every other week we were the friends or family who made that visit.  Often it was a visit with cousins who lived in another school district or were in different grades.  Or maybe it was an elderly family member, great-aunts and uncles we only saw a few times a year.  Even more often we visited church members, and they in turn visited us.  We shored up our faith with the fellowship of good conversation and laughter, and usually a healthy dose of Biblical discussion.  Even when there were no children our age, I enjoyed sitting quietly in the corner, listening.  I doubt we ever spent a week without seeing another Christian sometime or other.
            All of that has gone the way of the manual typewriter and cassette tape recorder.  It is old-fashioned, "unfeasible," and yes, even rude.  I understand the change in a culture and the times we live in.  What I do not understand is Christians who no longer make it a point to be together any time except Sunday morning in a building where the after-services conversation is anything but deep because we all have to get somewhere else as soon as possible.
            And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2:46-47).  One of the reasons the first church grew was that they made it a priority to be together as often as possible—"day by day."  One of the prime benefits of going to a one service Sunday that I have seen is those groups who then schedule regular times of special study, group meetings, or simple socializing.  Others use the time to visit shut-ins and the elderly, many taking their children along so they can learn how to serve this way as well.  Trust me, there are still old-timers who remember people "dropping by," who would not mind if you did so, though the first time might be a shock after the lack of such things in our culture lately.
            And maybe we should get used to the idea again.  After all, one of these days, the Lord is going to "just drop by."  Make sure you are prepared for it.
 
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness (1Thess 5:1-5).
 
Dene Ward

I was raised that way and I bet you were too.  I imagine my boys remember that when guests were present we used different dishes, different towels, different manners, even different tones of voice.  We were more careful in our personal habits and ate not only “fancier” food, but more of it.  A meat and two sides was fine for a weeknight family meal, but when guests came Mom added more sides and a dessert, sometimes two.  Instead of the plastic pitcher, we used the glass one.  Instead of everyone’s favorite glass that didn’t match another, we got out the good set that did.  The meat was sliced neater and the mashed potatoes piled higher, and we put a tablecloth on the table.  We always treated guests as more important than ourselves. 
             It is not an un-Biblical way of thinking, not only in how guests should be treated, but especially in how God should be approached.
            Our culture has become far more casual than ever before.  Even in the days when everyone in the neighborhood was poor, they all had one pair of overalls that was saved for special occasions.  They may have been denim.  They may have been patched.  But they were cleaner and the holes were all mended.  Nowadays you buy them with the holes already in them and leave them that way.
            And in all this casualness I wonder if we haven’t lost something, especially our sense of reverence and respect.  Ezekiel said it this way of the priests who had neglected their duties:  Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. Ezek 22:26.
            Can we even comprehend the meaning of this passage?  Are there really things that are holy and things that are not?  Under our new covenant it may no longer be a matter of a holy building, but on the other hand it is a matter of a holy spiritual edifice.  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Eph 2:19-22.
            So as part of that spiritual and holy building I must be aware of keeping it holy.  When God’s people profaned his physical Temple, he left it.  Do you think He won’t do the same to us if we cannot even define holiness, much less recognize it?  So how do we keep it holy, how do we make a distinction between the holy and the common?
            Peter tells us that our conduct can keep us from being holy.  As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 1Pet 1:14-16.  That ought to be obvious.  But how about things not quite so obvious?
            Ezekiel tells us that it is possible to profane the name of God by the gifts that we offer (20:39).  In his day the people were guilty of worshipping God on the Sabbath and then worshipping the idols the rest of the time.  That made their Sabbath service “unholy.”  What do we worship?  On what do we spend far more time, money, and energy than we do serving God?  When God is neglected, the things that fill our time, even things that might not be wrong things, make our service profane.
            Here is another example:  You shall not bring the hire of a harlot, or the wages of a dog [a male prostitute], into the house of Jehovah your God for any vow: for even both these are an abomination unto Jehovah your God. Deut 23:18.  If the gift I give comes from an unholy place or method, God will not accept it.  It matters what we do for a living.  It matters where our offerings come from. 
            Consider all the things that God designates as holy—His Temple the church, the offices in that church, the commandments, the Word, the scriptures, the Law, the priesthood and nation (also the church), our greeting to one another, and I could go on and on.  Just run a search on the word “holy” with a Bible program as I did and you will find all these and more.  We are to show somehow that we understand the difference between these sacred things and the ordinary things of the world. 
            So what does that mean in daily life?  I think it might mean something different in each culture.  It might not mean that I must put on a three piece suit to bring my offering, but it certainly means I must clean up my heart before I even attempt to offer it.  Didn’t Jesus say to leave one’s gift at the altar and first make amends with a brother?  Surely the state of my heart affects my gifts in several ways. 
            As for the gifts of worship themselves, it may not mean we must sing four part harmony in straight quadruple rhythm at a constant adagio (slow and somber) pace, but maybe it means I must be careful about singing the Holy Word of God to something that sounds like it came out of a jukebox on the “Happy Days” set.  Here is what worries me the most:  can we even see that some things might be inappropriate?  If Ezekiel told us we were no longer making a distinction between the holy and the common, would we have any idea what he was talking about?  Do we make the arrogant and presumptuous mistake of saying to God, “Your thoughts are my thoughts and I’d like this gift, so surely you would?”  Did that work when you bought your wife a vacuum cleaner for your anniversary?
            When I bring my sacrifices to God, whether it is a life lived in holiness or my songs of praise or the gift of my increase, I must realize that this is something special in the eyes of God, that He expects me to bring it with holy hands and a holy heart and the seriousness that speaks of recognizing my obligations before a holy God.  Moses was told to take off his shoes because he was standing on Holy ground.  What are we willing to shed to show God the reverence He has always required of His people?
 
There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God. 1Sam 2:2
 
Dene Ward

Did you read The DaVinci Code, or watch the movie starring Tom Hanks?  If so, you owe it to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John to read this book!  The sub-title says it all:  Probing the Great Gospel Conspiracy, and that is exactly what the author does in what we will call a playful, rather than sarcastic, tone.  He quotes Dan Brown's book at the top of his introduction:  "The Bible, as we know it today, was collated by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great."  In that vein, he sets out to introduce us to all the witnesses in this so-called conspiracy, even going so far as to call them conspirators and co-conspirators, and systematically tears down not only Dan Brown's statement, but several well-known modern scholars' conspiracy theories as well.  By the time you get to the last chapter you are absolutely sure that this conspiracy theory is just like most others—a bunch of hooie.
            Here is the best thing about this book:  Professor Hill, evidently at the behest of his wife, has set out to write an "accessible" book, that is, one that the layman can read without too much difficulty.  You do not have to be a scholar to understand it.  If you can follow all the characters in one of those thousand page fictional sagas so many read, or pick up the clues in a complex murder mystery, you can follow this list of characters, moving from one to another in a logical way, each chapter building upon the previous ones.  You do need a brain in your head, but it does not have to be a particularly astounding one.
            And when you can finally answer the question in the title of this book, it will build your faith in that much more important Book.
            Who Chose the Gospels? is published by Oxford University Press.
 
Dene Ward

God did not write a loose-leaf book.  (Darlene Craig, The Worthy Woman) 

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2Tim 3:16-17).

In this part of Florida we have a little bit of winter.  In fact, we have several spells each year with two or three days of gray, wet, cold that seeps into your bones and makes you wonder why anyone would ever nickname this place “The Sunshine State.”
            Then a morning dawns as clear a blue as you could ever imagine and the sun comes out in a blaze you would swear was even brighter than in summer.  The dog’s fur is warm from lying out in the field instead of burrowing under the porch, and you wish you could lie out there with her.  Now you know why it’s called “The Sunshine State,” and you also know no one up north has these respites, certainly not this degree of warmth in the middle of December, January, or February.  They also don’t have bright yellow jessamine cascading from the tops of trees, and camellias treating you to a mid-winter pink blossom that can withstand even a quick morning’s frost.
            Life is like that for Christians.  God never promised a life without trials any more than He promised a year without winter.  We do our neighbors a disservice when we tell them all their problems will go away if they just hand them over to the Lord.  Casting your burdens on him doesn’t mean they won’t affect you any longer—it means you have all the help you need to handle them.  Why would the help be promised if those problems were going to disappear?
            Paul said he served “the Lord with all tears, and humility, and trials” (Acts 20:19).  James tells us to “count it all joy when you meet trials of various kinds” (1:2).  Peter goes so far as to tell us it is necessary for us to be “grieved by various trials” (1 Pet 1:6) and not to think it “strange” when we are (4:12).
            But God does give us reminders of what is to come, things we might call a taste of Heaven here on earth.  He sends it in a strong, godly marriage with two people working together, laughing together, crying together, and growing together as they help each other toward that final Home.  He gives it in that first lusty cry from your child as he enters the world.  He reminds us of that first place we lost in the spring when the azaleas explode in all their color, when the dogwoods shine through the woods like a beacon, and when the birds sing in a cacophony of trills, tweets, chirps, and twitters as they fly back and forth building their nests.  He shows us what He has in store for us as we gather with our sanctified brothers and sisters and raise our hearts in song and encourage one another with love, with advice, and with edification to sustain us during those times not quite so Heavenly tasting.
            We cannot have Heaven now.  We wouldn’t want to give up this world if we did.  So we have troubles, we have tragedies, we grow old and ache and become aggravatingly forgetful and finally learn to long for our true abode instead of being satisfied with second best.  But God does remind us occasionally of how it will be, a little nudge in the right direction so we will eventually make it Home.
 
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, Col 3:1-2.
 
Dene Ward
           

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

One wonders how many times David said to himself, “That is why God gave me a neck.  Oh why did I look instead of turning my head?”

First, note that David was the one on the roof, not Bathsheba.  According to the practice of the time, she would have been in an enclosed courtyard, but from his rooftop, David could look over her wall.  And that word “saw”  is the same one used when Eve saw that the tree was good for food, when the sons of God saw the daughters of men, when Shechem saw Dinah and took her, et al., (Gen 3:6, 6:2, 34:2).  It implies more than inadvertently seeing and then averting one’s gaze, which can happen to anyone.  Bathsheba may be blameless.  Given the relative position of women in those days, against a king she was helpless.  Today, we would call a CEO vs a clerical worker, “Rape.”

How many times have we said, “But it was just a little thing, surely God will not care.” From David’s little failure to turn his head came adultery, then murder.  Little sins are stones sending ripples through our whole lives.

Then, his son Amnon emulated David’s unbridled lust by raping his half-sister Tamar.  How could David pretend moral high ground?  So when justice was not done according to the Law, Tamar’s full brother Absalom took the position of avenger of blood and slew Amnon and fled David’s wrath.  So David lost two sons.  But, he reconciled with Absalom after five years.  Then Absalom rebelled, aided by Ahithophel, Bathsheba’s grandfather.  Do you suppose David’s sin against her had something to do with the side he chose?  The revolution failed and Absalom was killed.  Some think Ahithophel may be the “familiar friend in whom I trusted, who did eat my bread, has lifted up his heel against me” that David referred to in Psa 41:9.  This seems unlikely in that David’s sin first betrayed Ahithophel.  Finally, imagine the leverage Joab now had over David.  David had bewailed Joab’s ambitious violence more than once.  Now, they are bound by it.
 
We have no idea what we set in motion when we commit a “little sin” like “looking.” The drug-addict did not choose that; he just had a desire to experience a high, to feel good.  Just this once.  The pornography-addict did not choose that, he/she just thought he would stimulate herself by watching pornography this once to be able to satisfy his mate (pronouns scrambled to indicate the ubiquitous nature of this sin). The thief intended only to “borrow” for a time and replace it later. The gossip did not intend to betray a friend.  Our lives may be destroyed, jobs lost, finances ruined, relationships demolished, futures forever altered. But, it is so unfair, it was just one mistake. Tell it to Uriah! Ahithophel! Tamar! Absalom! David.
 
And, “God has a better plan for you” is a lying solace. Where did God say he would do better with a person who chose to sin than with one who chose to be holy? Contrast David’s life ever after with Joseph’s who resisted stronger temptation and the same sin (Gen 39).
 
So, whatever the temptation, the sin is not a small thing.  TURN YOUR HEAD.  It is why God gave you a neck (made the way of escape from every temptation, 1Cor 10:13).
 
“But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and BE SURE YOUR SIN WILL FIND YOU OUT. " (Num 32:23).
 
"But do you suppose this, O man…that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds." (Rom 2:3-6).
 
Keith Ward
 

"No one can make me do anything."
            I have heard this more times than I can count.  Usually the person who says it turns right around and goes to the DMV to renew his driver's license because he got a reminder in the mail, pays his taxes by April 15, and drives the speed limit—whenever there is a trooper behind him or on the side of the road.  What he means is, as long as it's something that won't put me in jail or cost me a ton of money or take away an important privilege, you can't make me do it if I don't want to.  And there is the key—he doesn't want to do that thing so he won't.  Unfortunately, this is a very American attitude.  People who live under a dictatorship wouldn't dream of uttering those words.
            I suppose for the ordinary person that attitude is to be expected.  But when it comes out of the mouths of Christians, I wonder what exactly they think Christianity really is and why they would ever follow a Leader who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross (Phil 2:6-8).  He didn't especially want to do all that;  he asked three times that he not have to, but he always ended that prayer, Thy will be done.  Not his will, but God's.  Christianity is a religion of submission and yielding one's rights and liberties.  Anyone who thinks he can still do the will of God without putting the needs and desires of others ahead of his own does not understand what it means to be a disciple of the Lord. 
            God tells us to obey the civil government (Romans 13:1-7).  He tells us to obey the elders of the church (Heb 13:17).  He tells the younger men to submit to the older ones (1 Peter 5:5) and he tells us that all of us should submit to one another in our personal liberties if a man's soul is at stake (Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 8).  And then he tells us that if we love him we will keep his commandments (John 14:15), and that includes all those submission commandments.
            I wonder what the one who still utters that phrase above thought he was doing when he was baptized.  Sometimes I think we fail to mention that it's not just a ceremonial washing to get rid of sins, it is a ritual showing that we are pledging to devote our lives to the Lord, including our opinions, our preferences, our desires, and our attitudes.  If that isn't being done, then all that person did was get wet.
            But you know, that person is right.  No one can make him do anything.  It's up to him to learn to want to.
 
Now we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, unto edifying. For Christ also pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell upon me (Rom 15:1-3).
 
Dene Ward
 

If there is one thing Keith taught our sons, it is how to work.  Living on five acres with a huge garden, several animals, and a wood-burning stove for heat, but only rakes, shovels, hoes, a wheelbarrow, and a push mower to work with—no, it was not self-propelled, and we had no tractors or other power equipment—meant they had chores that had to be done or the family suffered.  They certainly did not appreciate the lesson then, but they have thanked him several times since they left home and entered the work force.  More than once their bosses have told me, “I wish I had a store full of your boys.”
            Lucas, my older son, spent some time in management with a large grocery chain.  He often laments the workers he has to deal with, who have no sense of responsibility, showing up late or not at all, who never anticipate needs, never see what needs doing on their own, or who simply lollygag around with no sense of urgency or efficiency.  The saddest ones, he says, are the young ones who really want to do a good job, but whose parents have never taught them how, either by assigning chores, or actually expecting them to be done well and on time.  The ones who irritate him the most are the ones who think showing up and clocking in means they are working, even if all they do is stand in the halls and talk.
            God has called us to work in his vineyard.  I am sure he is patient with those who need to learn how to work.  But some treat their job in the vineyard as an entitlement that precludes any notion of actual labor.  As long as they clock in (submit in baptism, show up on Sunday morning—choose your application), they are “earning” their paycheck.  We have forgotten that the only “wages” we can earn is death.  Eternal life is a precious gift, and how we work in the vineyard is directly proportionate to our gratitude for it.  Am I standing in the halls talking, or am I wearing myself out laboring for the Lord?
 
Let us therefore labor to enter in that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience.  Heb 4:11
 
Dene Ward

Perhaps you remember Newton’s second law of motion from high school physics (or is it the third?  Hey!  At least I can remember the law):  for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
            Sometimes we live our lives by this law as well.  We constantly react to what others do, and excuse it because of what the other person did first.  Christianity is a life of action not reaction.  My actions should not depend upon what other people do, but upon what is right and what is wrong.  Any time I let someone else’s behavior “cause” me to do something; I am actually letting that person control me.  How often have I said, “He made me so mad?”  No, he didn’t. I let myself get angry.  When I stand before the throne of God, I will not be judged on other people’s deeds but upon mine, no matter what the other guy did first. 
            Most of us know this, and readily spout the appropriate answers when called upon in Sunday morning Bible study, but when we get out in the world things are always “different.”  No, they are not.  These things apply to my relationship with my next door neighbor, my co-workers, my family, yes, even to that driver up in front of me!  Then there is the matter of poor service in a restaurant, or a delay in the doctor’s office, or a faulty product that needs returning.  All of these offer me a chance to act as a Christian, not react as an unbeliever who has no self-control.  Yes, in our society we are allowed to voice our concerns over shoddy service and merchandise, but Christians never have the right to make a scene or be verbally abusive.  By letting others control me, I am showing how weak I truly am, not how strong.
            Christians control themselves—they do not let others do it.  Is this easy?  Not with Satan constantly whispering in my ear, “He had it coming.”  Like Eve, I often listen to him.  But this is how important ignoring that whisper is:  I must constantly ask myself why I have acted as I have.  If the answer starts, “Because he/she/they…” I am condemned already.
 
Jesus’ Laws of Motion:         
For this is acceptable, if for conscience toward God a man endures griefs, suffering wrongfully.  For what glory is it if, when you sin and are buffeted for it, you shall take it patiently?  But if, when you do well and suffer for it you shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.  For hereunto were you called:  because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps; who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who, when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered, threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously.   1 Pet 2:19-23
 
And as you would that men should do to you, do you also to them likewise. And if you love those who love you, what thank have you?  For even sinners love those who love them.  And if you do good to them that do good to you, what thank have you?  For even sinners do the sane.  And if you lend to those of whom you hope to receive, what thank have you?  Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive again as much.  But love your enemies and do them good, and lend, never despairing, and your reward shall be great, and you shall be sons of the Most High, for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil.  Luke 6:31-35
 
Dene Ward