“…but God hath showed me that I should not call any man common or unclean.”
The Acts 10:28b
And what business are we to be about? The Lord said to be about his business. Is it to one-up each other for advantage in a battle of ideas and political will? What is this business that God directs us to?
In Psalm 51:17, God spoke through David and said that he cares not for the sacrifices of burnt animal offerings, for what is he to do with that? Incense is nothing to him, in fact, the nations are but a drop in the bucket to Him. Instead, the Lord sais that the sacrifices he seeks are a brokenhearted and contrite spirit that seeketh His face, to do his commandments with a cheerful heart. With that attitude, God will gladly accept all that we give unto Him.
To do his business is truly to heal the brokenhearted, to bind up the wounds of each other, to bring light into each others life… to do good without looking for a recompense or a credit from man.
Recently, I spoke to a man I know well. He has told me that he purposes to minister onto the saints, but I say (from my understanding of the scriptures) how do you know who is who, or what God has in store for each man, woman or child? Who are we to judge who is a ‘saint’ and who is not? Was not Paul a murderer of ‘God’s people?’ Did he not go from city to city, even country to country looking to imprison these brokenhearted? Did God not strike down his ways and disposition, even making him blind for awhile before taking him captive for Himself? Paul went on to live a hard life, albeit free with liberty in the Lord. He was whipped, imprisoned, lost and shipwrecked at sea, bitten by a snake, stoned, heckled, insulted and left for dead many a times. Knowing he had God though, he kept getting back up just like a champion in the boxing ring and walking forward to do the business of God. He despised the shame slung at him. He knew how to stay humble though God spoke to him directly giving him grace and eminence. Paul was about doing his God’s business.
God is love.
Politics and the social narratives we entertain aside, how know we of the Judeo-Christian culture that the prophet Muhammad was not a saint? What about Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha? Just like Jesus has been called a wayward zealot, an usurper and a son of the devil, could it not be that Buddha and Muhammad were children of God also? You would have to separate these two from all the organizations, stories, wars and emotions people have been attaching to them across the ages. Surely, many a wars have been waged in the name of Jesus the Christ without understanding His teachings. Likewise, many a wars have been waged in the name of Muhammad, a peaceful man, without understanding his teachings. They were all about the business of love and being their brothers keepers.
What about the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.? We know he was not a perfect man, yet out there he walked shoulder to shoulder protecting the rights of people who had dark skin color. He had a dream which many of us live now. Was he about his Father’s business? Mohandas Ghandi faced the greatest empire on earth at the time by preaching non-violence and love. That empire eventually realized the power of this love and it itself was changed because of it. It no longer is that same empire, but is a new and better kind of country.
None of us can physically see each others spirit, so we “should not call any man common or unclean.” True religion then has nothing to do with going somewhere specific to worship, or memorizing scripture, visiting a special land or putting on robes, but it is to minister onto each other, to take care of the spiritually fatherless and spiritually widowed and to live as peaceably as is possible in service to one another. In other words, to be about the business of altruistic love.
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