Legacy
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. — Matt. 5:9
The word for children, huios, suggests bearing someone's name authentically. It's participating with a forerunner. It's being of the same character as a parent, literal or figurative. Those who are called God's children will be peacemakers because their claimed Father is a peacemaker. By my attitudes and actions, who will I be called the child of?
First Order
Love God. Love neighbor. God, with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. My neighbor, as myself. God's kingdom has an economy of love and trust. Love is the gift of self.
Love of God is primary in both the Old Covenant and the New. My gift of self to God looks like humility, surrender, and heart obedience. This sets the map for Jesus' close-second command, loving myself and my neighbor.
Flipping this order can lead to worldly, fleshly, ungodly concepts of love, expressed in legalism and license. Since God is love, genuine love cannot be un-God-like, un-Jesus-like.
Ground Cloud
And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. ⏤ Heb. 12:1b-2
The fog of suffering and injustice is disconcerting. It's confusing and disorienting. We hear sounds we can't place: accusation, condemnation, ridicule, disaffiliation, dehumanization. But Evil is a ground cloud. God invites us to lift our eyes, look up, and set our focus on Jesus in whom we've placed our trust.
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