1 Peter 3
8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. 10 For,
“Whoever would love life
and see good days
must keep their tongue from evil
and their lips from deceitful speech.
11 They must turn from evil and do good;
they must seek peace and pursue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous
and his ears are attentive to their prayer,
but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”[a]
13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear their threats[b]; do not be frightened.”[c] 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. 19 After being made alive,[d] he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all,were saved through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God.[e] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
Amos 7
12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. 13 Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.”
14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 15 But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 Now then, hear the word of the Lord. You say,
“‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’
17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city,
and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword.
Your land will be measured and divided up,
and you yourself will die in a pagan[c] country.
And Israel will surely go into exile,
away from their native land.’”
Sun Myung Moon
September 13, 1959
To understand ourselves, we have to understand the value of those we are in relationship with. Our minds do not create the truths and ideologies that our actions are based upon. First, we have to put ourselves in a position where we can feel that we are in a relationship with someone or something.
When God comes to us, He always comes in front of us. That which is good will not come from the side, but from the front.
Then where are we going to set the standard of knowledge? If what comes in front of us can connect everything, all knowledge, and can move the world of the conscience, then we have to understand that this is the one standard which can explain us. When you understand this, you will see people in a different light.
Many believers today boast of their faith: “I understand God, I believe in God, I rely on God.” Yet if we were to ask what the origin of their knowledge is, in what environment they uphold their faith, and what situation their life of faith in God is in, we find that unless they are in an eternal relationship with their minds, none of them will be recognized by God, trusted by God or blessed with God’s intervention.
God chose the Israelites as His chosen people. God raised them up out of many peoples to love only Him. How do you think God raised them up? He related to them head on. God shortens the distance of the relationship and drives history into an environment where He can have an intimate relationship with people.
Jesus said when he came to the earth, “I am in you, you are in me, the Father is in me and I am in the Father, so the Father is also in you.” For what purpose did God choose the Israelites and guide them? It was to bring them into a straight linear line and make the condition upon which He could say, “You are Me and I am you.” We have to understand that this is the relationship of knowledge God has sought.
Due to the Fall, human beings deviated from the position where God can relate with them head on. Human beings who relate with God head on with respect to their desires, situations and hearts are people of original value.
Due to the Fall, human beings’ desires, situations and hearts went awry, so they were chased out of Heaven. All the countless people who ever lived, from the first human ancestors to now, did not have the right desires, situations and hearts. In other words there was no one in history who said, “I can move Heaven and earth.” Your desires are twisted, your situations are wrong, and your hearts are facing the wrong direction.
What kind of descendants are we? Fundamentally, we are the descendants propagated from the point of origin with different desires, different situations and different hearts. In other words we have not become people who can stand in front of God with the desires, situations and hearts that God wants to see. If we do not know what state our desires, situations and hearts are in, then we do not understand ourselves.