Interesting bike ride on the beach yesterday morning. I saw this floating in a tide pool. In case you can't tell what it is, it is the top half of a shark. The bottom half is...gone. It appears to have been chewed away, my guess is by another shark. As far as I know, nothing else eats sharks except other sharks. Ironic, isn't it?
Many biblical verses warn us of this logical extension of behavior:
*those who live by the sword will die by the sword.
*you reap what you sow
*with the measure you pour out for others, you will be measured
*forgive as you are forgiven
*love as you are loved
We could on one hand, end up like a half-eaten shark.
Lord knows, most of us deserve it if we are to be judged by our selfless sacrifice to others (
not!). How much more pleasant to sow love, kindness, gratitude, and mercy....for
Lord knows, we have been given all that in abundance.
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“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you
pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be
measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye,
but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say
to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is
the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your
own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your
brother's eye.
The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of
your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the
Lord.
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar;
for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God
whom he has not seen.
You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you
preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one must not
commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob
temples? You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law.
For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles
because of you.”
Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges.
For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you,
the judge, practice the very same things. We know that the judgment of
God rightly falls on those who practice such things. Do you suppose, O
man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them
yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you presume on
the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing
that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?
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