Posted on 09/03/2015 7:15:48 AM PDT by Salvation
As a kind of follow-up to yesterday’s post on testing everything based on the truth of the Gospel, we might do well to consider that Jesus says, To what shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, “We played the flute for you, but you did not dance. We sang a dirge, but you did not weep.” He goes on to observe that people said that John the Baptist was crazy because he did not eat or drink, yet when Jesus both ate and drank they called Him a glutton and a drunkard (see Matt 11:16-19).
Indeed, this world has many bewildering and often contradictory standards. This is another very good reason why we should test everything that this world says. The world is fickle in its judgments, but the Word of the Lord is tested and true.
And thus the world should not be used to judge the Word, but the Word to judge the world. In the passage above, Jesus reminds us not even to let the world judge us. God alone, with His standards, will be our final judge.
One of the great human struggles is to become free from allowing ourselves to be defined by others, from being so much under the world’s judgment that we lack personal conviction or a deep, stable, serene core.
An old African proverb says, “If I don’t know who I am, anyone can name me.”
Somewhere in the midst of the world’s demands for conformity to its fleeting and ever-changing standards, each of us must come to know the man or woman God created us to be.
Now this does not mean, particularly when we are young, that we should not seek guidance from people (especially our elders) whom we trust. But in the end, each of us must make that very private journey with God that every person must. It is the journey to discover one’s true self, as God gently reveals.
It is to this deep truth that Jesus refers in the passage referenced above. The world cannot be our measure. Too often its standards are passing, foolish, and highly inconsistent. To hearken to its cacophonous voice is a sure invitation to high anxiety and deep inner conflict.
There is a saying, “A man with one watch knows what time it is; a man with two watches is never quite sure.”
Jesus, too, warns, “No one can serve two masters.” But, sadly, most of us try. And, frankly, it is not merely two masters but two hundred!
Not so with Jesus.
Jesus resisted and even defied most of the ways in which people tried to define him. He was the Messiah, but He would not be the Messiah in any way that they understood. He would not ride in on a war horse and usher in a bloodbath. He would not follow a career of conquest. He would die as a suffering servant. Neither would He simply be reduced to being the “bread king” (Jn 6:15) or the “medical miracle worker” (Mk 1:38). Jesus was sure to move on to the next town before others could label Him as such. He came to bear witness to the truth and to save us, not so much from economic calamity, health problems, or political enemies, but rather from our very selves, from our own sinfulness.
No, Jesus would not be defined by this world. He was free from its grip; it had no power over Him. And to that same freedom the Lord ultimately summons us.
To be sure, this personal journey with the Lord, this journey to discover our true self, is not an invitation to hideous idiosyncrasies or sociopathic behavior. Holiness may, and often does, startle this world. But it is not unnecessarily disruptive; it is not simply “weird.” Discovering our true self leads to serenity, a peace that this world cannot give but that it also cannot deny.
So, a man with one watch knows what time it is, but a man with two watches is never quite sure.
Whom are you watching? What time is it in your life? Is it a time of teenage conformity and capitulation to peer pressure? Or is it a time of serene and mature self-understanding, rooted in the Father?
Complete title
A Man with One Watch Knows What Time It Is; a Man with Two Watches Is Never Quite Sure – A Meditation on Following Only One Shepherd
Monsignor Pope Ping!
A Man with One Watch Knows What Time It Is; a Man with Two Watches Knows What Time It Is in DETROIT and TOKYO.
Sadly, I doubt anyone associated with this article knows that a big part of time is a calendar; His people follow His calendar, not those created by the world.
A man who moves has more time than one who stands still.
(or at least relativity demonstrates that time moves at a different rate depending on the relative motion of the two...)
Do unto others as you would have others do unto you ...
“He would not ride in on a war horse and usher in a bloodbath.”
Biblically, Christ’s first act when He returns is to ride a white horse and slay all His enemies... It will be a very, very large bloodbath.
A man with one watch only knows what time that watch TELLS him it is. The watch may tell him it’s early morning, but that won’t make the sun rise.
The watch is not the authority. Time is.
LOL!
What makes you think it will be a bloodbath?
The final judgment talks about separating the sheep from the goats. The sheep go to heaven; the goats go to hell.
Or am I not understanding your post?
**Time is.**
Which leads me to one of my favorite biblical quotes: Eclisastes 3.
Ecclesiastes 3
1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
“What makes you think it will be a bloodbath?”
I don’t think. I read.
The Scripture says it will be a bloodbath - blood up the horses bridles. It also says His first act at the second coming is to slay His enemies. This is not the final judgment, which you refer to. This comes first in Apocalyptic History.
Best.
Lol! My favorite as well.
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