Christianity and Real Estate... The Upside Down Kingdom..... His! #1

This is the beginning of a series of posts on the Beatitudes....

You may begin to think,"We have heard it all on those teachings of Jesus..." BUT hearing those teachings and having your memory stirred to think about them from time to time is a good thing.

When you are hurt, betrayed, someone close to you dies, or just anything troublesome happens in your life, you can go one of two ways:

• You can get upset (mad) and plot your revenge.
• You can mourn and get over it.

Lets see where these two ways of living get you.

Now, getting upset is NOT a bad thing, unless it takes you down the road to revenge. The bible says,"Be angry and do NOT sin..." Ephesians 4:26 It also says to not let the sun go down on your anger, which means to get it taken care of quickly. Lets see what happens when a person or a group of people get angry and take revenge:

• The very first instance of a person letting their anger get to them is told in Genesis. It is the story of Cain and his brother Abel. Genesis 4 When Cain saw that his offering did not meet with Gods approval like his brother Abels did, he selfishly took his brothers life. Cain was a marked man -- literally -- for the rest of his life for what he did.
• Another instance of a person letting their anger get the better of them is Amnon -- one of King Davids sons, who raped King Davids son Absaloms daughter Tamar (Amnons cousin) because he "loved her"...and then was angry afterwords...... The nerve of some guys, hmm? 2 Samuel 13This resulted in Absalom killing Amnon for the rape.

Now those two instances are just a smattering of what happened in biblical times..... we see the results of anger gone wrong all over the dinnertime TV news casts.

There are a couple of different kinds of "murder" that I want to address right now and are less likely to get on the afternoon TV news. And these types of murder happen every day to many people:

• Gossip
• Slander
• Tale (Story) Telling

The first two are pretty obvious..... you get angry at someone
for doing you harm and you get even by "Killing the reputation"
of the person that has hurt you.

The third is a little more insidious. It involves BOTH slander and gossip.
There MAY be a little truth in what is said, BUT most of the thrust of what
is said is meant to cast doubt about the reputation of the person the story
is about and poison the person the "Tale" has been told about.

Many of us (in fact ALL of us) have been stung because of slander, gossip
and story telling; it happens all the time. All there is is the TRUTH to lean upon.
You have to end up defending yourself if the person who heard the story is in
authority over you. It can cost you a LOT in pain and lost trust for a while.

Getting even is NOT an option, it just perpetuates the hurt.....

Lets see one instance of what happens when a person is hurt and lets
God take care of things, instead of letting their anger get to them:

• Lets take the story of Esther,
  most recently made into a
  movie "One Night With the King".
  Esther 2 The Jews were to be
  eliminated because one of them
  would not bow down to one of
  the Persian empires Princes.
  The Prince, Haman, was the top
  prince in the Persian empire,
  yet Mordecai -- a Jew -- would
  not bow to him, thereby making
  him an idol in Gods sight.
  Hamans anger got the better
  of him.... and Mordecai kept
  his faith. If you do not know the
  result of Hamans anger, read the
  whole story.
  
  The Story of Esther 

Here are some verses in the bible about anger and its affects:

• Proverbs 15:18
  A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, But the slow to anger calms
  a dispute.
  

• Proverbs 19:11
  A man's discretion makes him slow to anger,And it is his glory to
  overlook a transgression.

• Proverbs 19:19
  A man of great anger will bear the penalty, for if you rescue him,
  you will only have to do it again.

• James 1:19-20
  But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 
  for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.

What is the teaching from Jesus about this:

• "Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted."

They will not murder, slander, gossip or tell stories to get even. They run to God and show Him how hurt they were about what happened. The result is:

• They will get comforted by the Holy Spirit.
  
  

This is what being comforted by the Creator can do for you:

• It will keep you from wanting to get even and from doing horrible things.
• It will eventually put a smile back on your face.
• Your ability to function in life is not diminished, because of the comfort you have received, you can continue on.
• Comfort is like an automobile air bag during an accident...it cushions the blow and keeps you from getting seriously hurt.
• PLUS, when someone else gets hurt the same way, YOU can give them comfort with the comfort you were given by God and keep THEM from
  doing horrible things... you will also
  keep them from getting hurt seriously.

Letting God comfort you is so much better than the alternative...
it makes the pain hurt less AND keeps you out of trouble!

This thought provoking post was brought to you by: 

Alexander Harb, PSEM®, E-Agent®
The Knights Team Sales Leader  --  Founder of "Christianity and Real Estate"

Beach and Luxury Realty Inc.

Thanks to Island-Life , Scar Media , thebigdurian , ronsho © and Fliker.com for the great photos!