Daily Lesson for April 29, 2015

Today's daily lesson comes from Luke 6 verses 37 and 38:

37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Surely the saying is true that we reap what we sow.

There is a cosmic energy in the world which returns to us that which we give out. Buddhists and Hindus call it "karma"; but it is a part of the spiritual teachings of all major religions and deeply a part of the Christian understanding of the mystery of the universe.

What we release into the world -- whether bad or good, beautiful or ugly, life-giving or life-depleting - returns to us. When we act with kindness kindness finds us. When we enter a room and say, "Peace to you," peace is returned to our spirits. When we act generously and loving, blessings of generosity and love find us. As Jesus said, "a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap."

It's true with bad measures also. When we release energies of negativity and hostility then they come back to us as well. This is why depression is so dangerous; because a dispirited heart fuels itself and consumes the soul. It is also why suspicion and mistrust are so self-fulfilling. Judgment, condemnation, and contempt have a way of blowing up in our faces. As my grandfather would say, "Our chickens always come home to roost."

Our nation and world so needs peace now. Peace begins in the heart of peaceful people. So let us today put off negativity and provocation and incitement, and seek to be peaceful people. And as the Apostle Paul said, "[W]hatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy" let us "think on these things."

Let us think on these things indeed; and in thinking them also become them.