Breaking the Cycle: Living Beyond Retaliation

Bob: 00:00

That's the strength of God, right? And that's what he wants to put in our hearts. That becomes our strength, absolutely that we're not we're not resorting to tit for tat, no, we've got the power of God in us that we're demonstrating kindness and compassion and tenderness and sympathy and forgiveness for human beings, even amidst difficult situations.

: 00:22

You I'm

Nathan: 00:31

Nathan, and I want to welcome you back to the love shape life podcast, where we talk about our dream to see experience and live in the middle of God's radical love. With me today in the studio is my good friend Bob, and we are on episode seven of season six, where we're walking through this epic speech by Jesus this kingdom manifest, as we've called it, and started with five examples Jesus pulls from the ancient Hebrew teaching. The people were aware of these examples as well in their culture, Jesus pulls them specifically and then expounds on them to show how they would illustrate the way of the kingdom and how his followers would be salt and light in society as they lived out these principles by allowing his love to shape their lives.

Bob: 01:32

Yeah, beautiful. Well, said Nathan and to remember, as he was pulling them out, he was demonstrating that he wasn't doing away with what he what is known as the law and the prophets, the first five books, as we know, of the Bible, and then the Prophet, the prophetic books of the Bible. So he wasn't doing away with them, but he was pulling them and showing their true intention all along that it wasn't just an outward conformity, it was inward, it was there. Was our hearts were in harmony, that we were living life from a love perspective. We were living life from the inside out, that's right, and that's where really the this relationship with God, word that we're talking about, and where this journey becomes a joy because outward conformity becomes a drudgery, right? It's it's something where it's unattainable. We can't achieve it. We end up in misery. But when we allow God to change our hearts from the inside out, then it becomes a joy, that's right? Because now we're living from a heart experience, right? Yep,

Nathan: 02:38

yep. So if you missed any of the previous episodes in this season, we would love for to go back to them, get the recap, get the episode, and then come back to this one. We're going to skip kind of recapping anything more today, because we want to get right to the meat of today's teaching some verses as recorded by Matthew this biographer of the life of Jesus, Matthew 538, through 42 we're getting near the end of this chapter, five of Matthew. And here are these words you have heard that it was said eye for an eye and tooth for tooth. This is saying number four that Jesus refers to. 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. Jesus is doubling down as he lifts up what it's like to be salt and light as a member of this kingdom of heaven, as Jesus calls it, that he's setting

Bob: 04:00

up. And I again, you know Jesus, he goes right into people's daily lives. Yeah, he does. I mean, that's what I love about the teachings of Jesus and about God. He's teaching us how to live right and how to live in harmony with Him, compared to the standards, our own standards, or the ways of the world. He's saying, this is this. This is how to be salt. This is how to be light of representing me in this world. So he starts off by saying, You have heard again, pointing back, we've heard that it was said An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, when Israel had come out of Egypt, right? The moral framework was pretty much gone. Right? They had been living in Egypt for over 400 years. There was no moral framework for them whatsoever, slaves. They were slaves. So this mentality that they had, if, if something, if you did something wrong, say to my brother, then chances are my whole family is going to come over, not only to punish you, to punish your whole. Family, right, right? So God, in His mercy and His wisdom, he actually set up cities of refuge as time as they were coming out. They were places where, if you had accidentally murdered someone, you would go to a city of refuge and you would be protected until you until the trial came, because prior to that, if you would accidentally, say, murdered my brother, even though it was an accident, we didn't even take time to find out. And we not only came over to kill you, we would kill everybody, all of your family, right? So that's where God has mercy. He steps in and says, no, no, this isn't even Right, right? It's an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. In other words, the person who did the crime. Is the one who's going to take the responsibility for that crime, not his whole family, not his cousins, not his uncles, not his aunties. They are not responsible for his

Nathan: 05:52

actions, right? So we're talking about revenge, revenge that you know,

Bob: 05:58

taking justice with their own hands, as we would call

Nathan: 05:59

you. Have a fight. Some guy knocks your tooth out. You get your buddies together and you kill the guy, right? This totally disproportionate Yeah, and G and so this, this guidance to the ancient Hebrew people as God's setting up their civilization. Is like, Listen, if the guy knocks your tooth out, he gets a tooth knocked out. That's it. Nothing more. It was an effort to level the response. This wasn't the ideal. Again, we talked earlier in in this season about how Jesus was, you know, what was in place long ago. That was the right thing at the right time, but it wasn't the ultimate realization of God's purpose. Yeah, and that's what's happening here

Bob: 06:40

then, and it was a theocracy. And a theocracy is that God was the head, right? He was the president, so to speak, right? And he was the one leading them, right, the people. So underneath this theocracy, everybody that he was leading was not what we would say, a follower of God, true, right, true. So we have this society that some people are seeking to follow the ways of God, but a lot of them aren't right. So he has to create something that's fair for everybody so they can live together, right? So he steps in, says, Listen again, it's an eye for an eye or a tooth for an eye for an eye and a tooth for tooth, right? So it's people, the person who did the crime takes responsibility, but the punishment is on the equal level, right? Something that's not not would be unfair, right, right? Something that's fair, yeah, yeah, if you stole a gumball, you would take responsibility for the gumball. You wouldn't go to jail for the rest of your life. Exactly, right? Thing, it was, it was God, is wisdom was a beautiful thing, right, right? It was fair. So here he says, Jesus says, remember, it was said An eye for an eye. But I tell you not to resist an evil person whoever slaps you on the right cheek turned to him the other so

Nathan: 07:53

this is incredible, yeah. And, I mean, I think we got to ask the question again. This is saying number four that Jesus pulls from the old record. The people are aware of these. Jesus pulls this as an example. Why does he choose this? This is his fourth example, saying, These are examples of being salt and light. Why does he end up pulling this fourth example?

Bob: 08:18

Well, remember we talked about the people who were there in the crowd, right? And what they were expecting. They were expecting Jesus to set up an earthly kingdom to wipe out the Roman Empire. And they had lots of hatred towards these folks, and they weren't treated very fairly by them. No, right? No. So he's saying, Look, in order to even save them, being salt and light, even to your enemies. This is, this is how you need to treat them. So

Nathan: 08:46

we talked about hatred. Was early, right? Hatred? We're still kind of picking up that theme again, this idea of that even in seeking, you know, sort of levels the playing field, eye for an eye. But Jesus saying, Actually, I want something different in your heart than just seeking equin equanimity or equality and justice. I want you to have an to actually have a different outlook

Bob: 09:15

towards someone else. It's a higher level, a higher level. It's a different response. It's not hatred for hatred. It's not right. You hit me. Remember, he said, If somebody hits you on the right cheeks, show them the other In other words, he's saying, don't hit them back. See what happens even our society today, you know, if somebody hits you, and usually it's not a physical hit that somebody's hitting you with, maybe they hit you with an unkind word. Maybe they hit you with saying something that wasn't nice, and then you take it and so what do we do? How do we respond?

Nathan: 09:47

Well, we usually try to defend ourselves, or double down or or somehow. That's what we usually

Bob: 09:53

try to do, right? Yeah, that's true, but we usually hit them back harder than they hit up. There's that. Yeah, yeah. Try to

Nathan: 09:59

make sure that they pay. They pay the price, whatever thing they did to us, it's

Bob: 10:02

revenge, right? It's really revenge when you look to it. So Jesus is saying, don't operate in that system, right? This is not of Me. He's he, he's making a distinguishing, you know, something, he's distinguishing your behavior, right? That this is not this type of behavior is not for me. This is how I want you to handle right as salt and light. If somebody treats you in a bad way, there's no need to get revenge, right? Be it, turn the other cheek. Let it go. Let it go. Don't, don't, don't. Let it captivate you. Don't try to get revenge. Let it go, because in that letting it go and leaving in God's hands, you are the one who are left free. So

Nathan: 10:44

that's interesting because, because if we think, let's just think about that eye for an eye thing, the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, even if we say that's, that's equal justice, we lost the tooth, so the other guy's gonna lose a tooth, right? Let's think of that mentality. So my focus is on getting what I deserve right in that system. That's the focus. So if we so, then Jesus, next words is, do not resist an evil person. So he's shifting the entire way that I respond to evil people. Instead of putting up my wall of resistance, what is he asking me to do? Like, what is he looking for in his followers? He's

Bob: 11:23

asking you to be the salt that somebody can taste, the goodness of God. He's asking you to be the preserver that that evil might stop by demonstrating instead of giving tit for tat, right? You know, you hit me. I hit you back. Don't hit back. I'm choosing not to hit back. I'm choosing to demonstrate, perhaps, kindness to you or forgiveness to you.

Nathan: 11:50

So in the situation, in a different whole almost speaking a different language, yeah. And I just

Bob: 11:55

want to remember, you know, I'm from upstate New York originally, and so we use salt during the winter time to try to melt the ice. Yeah, right,

Nathan: 12:04

yeah, yeah. So we use it in lots of it in main Yeah, yeah.

Bob: 12:08

So it melts the ice. When you think about salt melting the ice, you think about hatred and and these kind of things that happen to us by responding in the way Christ wants us to respond, we actually have an opportunity to melt the heart, right? To melt the heart of the individual, to help them to see something better. Yeah, because that's Salt and Light, right? So he's called us to to be agents of change, because this is the way the kingdom of heaven is built, right? It's not it's not a it's not an earthly kingdom. It's not about force, it's not about clobbering somebody. It's about demonstrating the character of God in these situations. And we need to remember that we're only treating people the same way that God has treated us, right? So when we haven't been nice to God, when we haven't lived in harmony with God, he was still nice to us, right? He was still kind to us, right? So he's saying, as I've treated you, treat somebody else the same, yes.

Nathan: 13:19

So as you're talking I'm looking at my iPad because I'm looking for this statement by Martin Luther King, because it brought to mind the civil rights movement that that this idea of non violence, this conviction that held the Civil Rights Movement was this conviction that tit for tat cannot raise the bar of society. Remember, Jesus is calling for salt light. He's calling the followers of the kingdom people, followers of Jesus, to be pace setters. And this tit for tat can't actually raise the bar. It may keep things from going lower, but it can't raise the bar, can't

Bob: 14:02

raise the bar, and actually strengthens tit for tat, only strengthens it so right? Hatred, responding to hate, only breeds hate. The

Nathan: 14:09

anti my missiles come at you. Our missiles are coming it back. More missiles are coming this way, correct? We're not more missiles and bigger misses, right? So Martin Luther King makes the statement. It's in his speech loving your enemies. And he says this, Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. Amen. So he is catching the drift of Jesus own teaching. When Jesus wants his followers to raise the bar, Jesus saying, listen, yeah, the tit for tat, that was fine. It kind of leveled the playing field. But that's not the end of my objective. I actually want you to raise, to shift the temperature of society. Yeah. Respond differently. Yeah. So

Bob: 15:00

remember, the storyline of the Bible is this, this great controversy between God and Satan. So when you look at it from a spiritual perspective, in a spiritual warfare, Jesus is saying, if we respond with love, right, instead of hatred, we're not using the devil's tactic, and we're also seeking to pluck out the individual from the enemy's camp. If you really look at the big picture, right, we're seeking to draw that individual to God, right? By demonstrating, uh, Christ like attributes.

Nathan: 15:35

So I'm looking at the situation from a different lens. I'm not just responding knee jerk response, you hit me. I hit back. It's not about me, me, me, right? I'm thinking bigger picture. So that's why Jesus says when they slap you on the right cheek, turn the other one, like, let's respond differently. Civil Rights Movement is a great example of this, great example. Those those non resistant protests where people they were resisting, but they were resisting with a different kind of resistance. And they they went, they showed up, they were thrown in prison, they were mistreated, but their response was a different kind of weapon, and it forced a change, because it brought in a new kind of principle. Jesus is pressing his people to have that different kind of approach Salt and Light, right? And

Bob: 16:29

like he said, like Martin Luther said, darkness can't drive out darkness, right? Only light can drive out darkness. We see it every day. The sun comes up, drives out the darkness. This is what salt and light people need to realize that we are called to drive out darkness by demonstrating not physical weapons, not physical power, but the attributes of God. And that's one of the when you look at the character of God, the most powerful being in all the universe, the one that, again, can cause all of us to bow down at a moment and worship Him, does not exercise that because it's contrary to who He is. God is the author of freedom. But what's the most powerful thing when you look at to me about God, is that instead of using this physical might, he's using kindness, compassion, long suffering, tenderness, never giving up on any human being. That's what's coming through him, right? That that that's, that's the strength of God, right? And that's what he wants to put in our hearts, that becomes our strength, absolutely, that we're, we're not, we're not resorting to tit for tat, no, we've got the power of God in us, right? That we're demonstrating kindness and compassion and tenderness and sympathy and forgiveness for human beings even amidst difficult situations.

Nathan: 17:46

That's beautiful. So we're not losing our head over injury, we're keeping it and we're choosing how we respond for the best of the other person,

Bob: 17:55

amen, beautiful. And remember, what God is building in all of us is his character. That's right. That's right. This is not about reputation. This is not about just church going, right? This is about God working in you. In fact, you know the Apostle Paul described it as Christ in you. The hope of glory. Glory means character in the Gospel. Is Christ in you, the hope of character, right? His character

Nathan: 18:27

being beautiful, like God is beautiful, being

Bob: 18:29

beautiful. I love. Ever wonder what it's like to truly experience God's love. At love shaped life. We're here to guide you on that journey through our weekly emails, podcasts, blogs, coaching and more. We're helping people just like you discover the transformative power of Divine Love.

Nathan: 18:48

Join our community at love shaped dot life and be part of a movement that's changing lives. Love shaped life your partner in the journey of seeing, experiencing and living God's love. So the next line says, If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well, man,

Bob: 19:08

that really hits home. In our society today, there's a lot of suing going on right in America here. I mean, it's a sue me. Suyu society just suing, suing, suing, right? I think the courts are all wrapped up and just lawsuits,

Nathan: 19:25

right? So there's this funny video that I think fits here. It's somewhere in social media. I saw it. And the this person comes in to return something to the store, and the clerk meets the customer at the desk, and the clerks and the customer says, you know this, I got this, and I opened the box and it was broken. And the clerk says, No problem. I'm happy to give you a refund. And just like that. And the customer gets angry, and the the and the cashier, the the the business person says, Wait, what did you want to. Fight, and the customer says, Yes, I wanted a fight. There's something powerful when when someone comes rushing at another person to take them down, and that person just leans in, there's something that kind of drains the energy out of the system. And I think that's what Jesus is getting at here, that when someone wants to come and take you down, they want to sue you, he's like, just, just give him your call. And they're like, Wait, I didn't see that coming. And it can drain the power out of revenge, the power out of the anger, the power out of the just, just take the wind out of that person's sails and shift the trajectory of that interaction, yeah.

Bob: 20:41

And you know, you mentioned about that something you know, because the scripture says that A soft answer turns away wrath, right, right? So people come looking for a fight, only you give a soft answer and the Bible says it'll turn away wrath. And I don't want to imply that there's not a place for lawsuits. Agree. But I think frivolous lawsuits sure that there's no place for you know that just to try to figure out a way to sue somebody, you know and it but the point here is that if somebody's coming after you, I think Jesus's point is to do your best to to let it go. Don't, don't get in the fight, right, right. Don't get into

Nathan: 21:21

fight by with grace. Yeah? Try to deflate the

Bob: 21:26

situation. Yeah. He wasn't saying somebody's coming after you, trying to take your house away. Just give it to him, right, right, right, right, right. I think it's trying to deflate the situation, right?

Nathan: 21:35

And these, again, Jesus is making general principles here. He's not covering every single interaction he's and we have to keep that in mind. Sometimes we just we sort of go to extremes in applying the teachings of Jesus. He's giving a general principle, if someone comes after you to take this just drain the wind off that by responding different than they expect, instead of putting up the fight, respond differently to lower the temperature, to shift that response. He's not saying don't have justice in society. That's not what he's saying, but he is saying, listen, we've got to respond differently to conflict. We've got to respond differently to attacks, because if we don't, we can never raise the quality of society. We can't be salt and light if the way we relate to injustice, the way we relate to this stuff taking place, is the same way everybody else relates. If we shoot back, the shooting just continues when we choose to respond differently is when things can shift.

Bob: 22:37

Yeah, and remember salt and light. Yes, we're raising the level of society, but we're bringing a knowledge of God to people, absolutely, God's people. Yes, that is the light that needs to come into the world. And through that knowledge is the power of a savior to change a person's life,

Nathan: 22:58

right? And Didn't Jesus say they see your deeds, right? And glorify your Father in heaven. Very good. So this is a deed, yeah, the person comes angry and charged up to just sue you off, because you cut them off in traffic, and you respond with grace, and there, all of a sudden, all that anger starts to deflate because you responded with grace. That's the kind of thing that points to the character of God. Yeah,

Bob: 23:21

of God. That's beautiful. So the next one, yeah, well, we're almost

Nathan: 23:25

done this one, I think has soldiers in mind. Soldiers would essentially conscript individuals to carry their burdens, their luggage, their whatever, their shield or whatever, local citizens to carry it for a mile. I think that's what Jesus has in mind, if anyone forces you to go one mile, go to

Bob: 23:43

Yeah, it was a law in the Roman society that a soldier could compel you, a you know, a Jew, to carry his backpack. Let's just say one mile. That was it. That was the law. But Jesus saying, Well, if he asks you to go one, then go two,

Nathan: 24:04

he's like, hey. No, no, I got it two for you, correct,

Bob: 24:07

right? I got it 240 why? Because he was shining on that Roman soldier, right? Goodness and grace that they might see God. You know, Jesus spent a lot of time healing people, as we know, as we look at the Gospels, but it was through that healing that people were seeing that God loved them, right, right, right? So it's through our lives. If a man compels you to go with him one mile, then just keep carrying it too, because you've got another mile to walk alongside this soldier, and he's wondering what, right? Who does that? Most people would walk that one mile and be grumbling, right? Oh, are you making me carry his backpack for a mile? How many more steps I gotta go? Okay, I'm done with my steps. Here, take your bag back, you know. And so here, instead of that, you get this person carrying your back. Not only one, but two miles, just with happy, maybe singing songs, right, right? And the soldiers just like, what is that? What is that? Right, right? And maybe we'll ask them, what causes you to do that, right? And they could respond and say, I met Jesus,

Nathan: 25:19

right? And I'm just thinking of that's just the soldier. You know, they've been with rude people all day and everything. You know, they don't mind doing it. They're, they're strutting their stuff as a Roman soldier. But then just the twist it would throw in to meet somebody who doesn't respond with grumbling, doesn't seething with anger, we're just like, hey, I got it. I'll take it an extra mile for you. Wow. Just just even the emotional relief, whether you know, does the hardened soldier pick up on that? He might not right away. Might think it's weird and crazy, but it's gonna leave an impression.

Bob: 25:47

Gonna leave an impression, but he might not be the only one who's seeing it. That's right. And he might go back to his buddies and tell him this crazy story, or the way and and he walked out, you wouldn't

Nathan: 26:00

believe this. What road is this guy level along? Yeah, I'm gonna go back there.

Bob: 26:08

And he was singing. So, so the principle again, is, you know, to to demonstrate something better and demonstrating the attributes of God, right? We have opportunities in our world every day to demonstrate something better to people, yes and to give them hope, right? Because we have no idea where somebody has come from, absolutely they've gone through in their journey of life, where have they been? And just demonstrating acts of kindness and responding to things differently is it's a huge,

Nathan: 26:47

powerful and as you're talking I'm thinking of something that I call the ripple effect. You know, we are one spot, if you think of human of the human family, our neighborhood, et cetera, as a web. We're a web of intersections. We're coming from a line of experiences, right? Our life extends beyond somewhere into the unknown past and your life, et cetera. All these lives of people are crossing at this one intersection in time, that action is rippling through all these intersections like we have no idea what led this person to this moment, so we respond with grace. We also have no idea what's next, and so that action of grace sends this ripple through the fabric of these intersecting relationships that will we are not necessarily going to meet people who you might think of as parallel lines, but because a friend crosses my life, that crosses their lives, this ripple can go all kinds of places that we have no idea the extent of A single act of kindness with ripple effect powerful.

Bob: 28:03

I think of what Jesus said, The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all the herb seeds, but when it grows up, it's the largest tree in the herb kingdom. So the kingdom of heaven is built subtly and and just see these ripple effects that you're talking about, right? So these ripple effects, we don't know where the end of that ripple is. It just keeps going, and that's how the Kingdom of Heaven is built. And the Kingdom of Heaven talking about the ways of God being established in people's hearts and in people's lives. So I want to ask you a question. So here is Jesus still early on in this first public declaration, he's dropped some major bomb. The first one, again, was that the kingdom of heaven that he came to establish was not an earthly kingdom. It was not built on force. And he begins to unpack

Nathan: 28:59

that. And nobody's or somebody's in this kingdom, yeah. And then the

Bob: 29:03

other bomb was, he just blew up the whole religious leader's perspective of how to live for God and what God requires of them, right? He just blew it up, right? And flips it so now he's saying to them, you know, simple things, like, If a man compels you to go a mile, go with him too. What do you think they were thinking in the crowd?

Nathan: 29:32

I think they were, there was a mix of responses, and I think some of them were really having to wrap their minds around that, because this was not, I mean, if you're coming into, if you're coming to a speech, expecting the revolutionary leader to take center stage and lead a revolt, you are not ready to hear counsel. Uh, to carry the soldiers, the occupiers backpack two miles, and they hate one this is stuff they hated now, right? So I think there were people in the crowds who were nodding and saying, Yep, that's it, because they had been sensing that there was a better way to live. I think there were those people in the crowds that were like, Yes, this is like, they were right with Jesus? Yeah, it was big, but they had kind of got it. I mean, you have the story of the Good Samaritan as commonly referenced, who's this non Jew who shows extraordinary kindness to a Jewish man, which this huge level of racism between Jews and non Jews of the day, so he shows extraordinary kindness. So there were people in the time in this crowd, not necessarily that man specifically, but people in this crowd who whose lives were already being defined by extraordinary kindness. They may have been the simple people who were rejected, you know, may have been the poor guy who who was willing to split his slice of bread, as it were, with a friend who was hungry, or give his whole lunch to to the guy sleeping outdoors next to him. It may have been those individuals who they had nothing in the world, but their hearts could sense in the words of Jesus, the rhythm of love they were in the crowd. There were others who were angry. This is nonsense. There's no way this guy's off his rocker. This, this is ridiculous. We can't just let the Romans walk all over us like that. We'll be obliterated if we do that. So all kinds of responses

Bob: 31:35

they it was, it was a failure to see the power and love, right, the love the way God intends us to love. I'm not talking about human loves. It's oftentimes just a bunch of words, but I'm talking about love and action, right? That there's a power to transform human hearts and human lives. Okay? Finishing this section, we got one line left. He says, Give to him who asks of you and from him who wants to borrow from you. Do not turn away.

Nathan: 32:06

Yeah, little bit of generosity going on,

Bob: 32:08

and give to him that ask of you may not just be like a monetary sense. It could be of your time, of your talents or whatever, but give so

Nathan: 32:21

Jesus covers a lot of bases here. He starts off with this tit for tat rule, and he's like, listen, there's more. I want you to carry a spirit of generosity. I kingdom. People have a spirit of goodness. They are willing to go. Hey, you want me to carry your backpack? One, I'll just save you the trouble of getting someone else and carry it to go for three. Like, I'm going to make your life easier today. It sucks to be a Roman soldier. Your life is in danger. I'm going to, I'm going to bless your life today, because I can, Mm, hmm. Neighbor comes over, hey, I need to borrow that. Can you give me this? Yeah, sure. You can have it. Like just building in again Jesus is is saying the kingdom of heaven is built on a different attitude toward other people, a different attitude about self. Jesus, in these lines, is shifting the whole demeanor, the whole way that I see and relate to people around me, from deflating angry attacks, going the extra mile to serve people that are my oppressors, to just helping a neighbor who wants who asked to borrow something, just saying, listen, sure you can have it, and I'm going to give you some extra with it. Do you need this? Just we serve a generous God. God loves me, and I'm good with that, so I can be generous with the things that I'm gifted to have and

Bob: 33:42

beautiful and well said, and remembering the kingdom of heaven in the king of the kingdom right is a God that lives to give. Right is a God who's created this world originally intended for our own happiness. Right? We know that sin entered and changed the dynamics of this world, but it didn't change God Exactly. So God is the ultimate giver. He lives to Yes, God lives to give. And so his citizens, those who will be members of his kingdom, will live from the same principle of that generosity. Right? The scene, the joy in giving and not living life from a self centered perspective, from an other centered perspective, not living a life from me, me, me, but let me help you, you, you right? And as I help you, it's so interesting. As we help other people, we find joy. You know, after 911 I know we're wrapping up here, but after 911 I was reading a story, and maybe I was listening on the news at the time. I don't remember exactly, but a number of people went on vacation, not from a normal perspective of vacation, like go. A beach and hang out, but they actually went to find a place to serve, and they went to help people. And when they came back, they did this, you know, interviews, and they were checking with people, and the people came back energized, full of joy. They weren't tired like oftentimes, when we come back from a vacation, we're really tired from all the traveling, but these people were energized. And I thought that was so interesting, because they went on vacation and were giving, contrary to our thoughts of what a vacation is, right? And they went there to give, and they were energized by it. That's powerful joy is found in living to give, and on a daily basis, God is the giver of life as we come into His presence, as we lean into the presence of God, he pours his life into us, and then that life flows out of us in service to others, right, giving to those who need to be given to time, Whatever, caring for those and that actually flows back to God. And here's this circle, life flowing out from God, flowing into us and flowing back to God. That's this circle that is the law of the universe, the law of love, supreme love for God, and unselfish love for one another. That's

Nathan: 36:19

beautiful picture. That's the picture. So I'm going to throw one more thing in that I've mentioned before, previous season, a few seasons ago, and that's this idea that Scripture, the big story, the big arc of Scripture, is that human beings will one day resettle planet Earth. And I just think that's kind of important to throw in here that that being Kingdom people living by these principles, matters now, but it's also forming us, shaping us into people who can be trusted to resettle planet Earth. That idea, I'm not going to expound on it any more than that here we'll devote some time in a future episode or a love shape life course, we'll deal with that. But I just want to hold that out that the long story is the resettling of Earth, and people who learn to love now will be safe to resettle Planet Earth as citizens of a sustainable civilization that's

Bob: 37:23

beautiful. In other words, we're while we're citizens here in this world, our ultimate citizenship is in that kingdom, the physical kingdom, might

Nathan: 37:31

come and that kingdom will once again be here. So takeaways, live, no, see, experience live,

Bob: 37:42

yeah, again, seeing in the teaching of the principles that God lives to give.

Nathan: 37:50

I love that. So seeing that God lives to give, great giver. Yeah,

Bob: 37:55

the great giver, even when people aren't so nice, he's still nice to them. Sweet giving, right? And yeah, that's what I see Yeah, in the heart of God, the character of God, in the teachings of Jesus, in this kingdom that he was seeking to establish.

Nathan: 38:10

Yeah, God's giver. And I would say the experience piece then is that as that our generosity, a life of goodness, does not grow out of me trying to be more generous. It grows out of me falling in love with the heart of the generous giver. As I come to trust him, my own heart is set free to give and respond with kindness and goodness and generosity. Again, this is indirect transformation. I lean into God. The result is transformation, and that would be the live part, too, as I lean in experience God and I live it out in my interactions

Bob: 38:46

with people, and you'll find your highest right now.

Nathan: 38:50

So if you're being inspired, we would love for you to share it with a friend and to like and subscribe, because there's more good stuff coming until next time lean into the love shaped life. Thank you so much for tuning into the love shaped life podcast. We hope you find this podcast not only inspirational, but life changing. Here at love shaped life, we're working to create a community, an online community, in fact, where individuals like you can connect with each other and lean into God's love together.

Bob: 39:27

We also provide spiritual wellness coaching, where we walk alongside people to help them to see the beauty of God's character, discover if there's anything that might be hindering them from finding the healing power that's in that love.

Nathan: 39:41

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