Feasting at The Table - Block and Delete

When we hear the term Block and Delete, we are usually thinking about social media, in particular WhatsApp and Facebook.

You have someone as your contact or friend and they rub you the wrong way, perhaps they disrespect you, maybe they’re being too nosey, whatever the reason, and you decide to block and delete them. 

Or maybe it’s the other way around. Someone blocks and deletes you as their contact or their friend on social media because they’re upset with you.

 What kind of emotions does that bring? Can I tell you? It is never a good feeling? Even if you are the one doing the blocking and deleting. While it may bring you temporary satisfaction, it would have come from a place of anger, discontent, or hurt. So that’s negative emotions. Not good.

I want us today to get into this topic on a serious note from a spiritual perspective and hopefully we will be able to apply it in the natural. Because many times we have a knee jerk reaction as Christians and we do many things we later regret. 

 

Let me just say that I acknowledge that there are cases when a block and delete is necessary. For example if someone is harassing you, like sending you spam or hate mail.

But if we are honest, when we talk about block and delete, it is generally where you and a family member or a brother or sister in the church, your friend or maybe a business partner have a falling out and you decide you don’t want to have anything to do with them anymore.

To express yourself, you block and delete.

And then you go around boasting about it like it’s a trophy moment, like you won an award.

You know, as Christians, it would do us well to look at all of these things the world has created, from a spiritual perspective. Because the Bible says we must be spiritually minded. 

Romans 8:6-7 “So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.”

If we really check it out, all of these things are distractions. Because all of us were born in a time when we didn’t have cellphones much less internet for us to have Facebook and WhatsApp.

Technology is a great thing, in my opinion. But as Christians, we have to be so careful how we use it.

In the context of this discussion today, blocking and deleting arises out of confusion and there is nothing good about that. 

My Bible tells me in 1 Corinthians 14:33 that God is not the author of confusion. He desires order, clarity, and peace, especially within the church.

Here, the Apostle Paul is emphasizing that when believers gather, there should be a clear and understandable order so that everyone can be edified. 

If confusion is allowed to fester, it can lead to misunderstandings, seeds of discord being sown, chaos, disorder and division within the body of Christ, families, friends circles, business partnerships.

If we allow God to be our peace, He brings light and understanding, guidance, wisdom and clarity.

I want to bring this topic of blocking and deleting home right now by asking the question:  what if God blocks and deletes me, what if Jesus cuts you off? 

Essentially we become non existent right? Because we won’t receive His very air to breathe, period! 

While Jesus was known to heavily rebuke certain groups, like the Pharisees, He did not cut anyone off. 

Jesus’ ministry was marked by compassion, forgiveness, and reaching out to those who were marginalized or rejected by society. 

Matthew 18:21-22 NLT “Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!”

  

Jesus associated with tax collectors, sinners, and others whom religious leaders of the time looked down upon. 

Luke 15:1-2 “Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!”

Even on the cross, Jesus was heard praying for those who were crucifying Him.

Luke 23:34 “Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” 

Matthew 5:44 “But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!”

We know Jesus was not about the foolishness while He walked the earth, literally. In Matthew 23:13, He said ““What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.”

Jesus turned tables upside down in the temple when the folk were in there gambling instead of worshiping the Father.

John 2:14-16 “In the Temple area he saw merchants selling cattle, sheep, and doves for sacrifices; he also saw dealers at tables exchanging foreign money. Jesus made a whip from some ropes and chased them all out of the Temple. He drove out the sheep and cattle, scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables. “Then, going over to the people who sold doves, he told them, “Get these things out of here. Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!””

These actions by Jesus were done to highlight their wrongs and call them to repentance.

Jesus was not about excluding or cutting off anyone from the love, grace and hope He offers. 

Luke 19:10 tells us the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.

So with all of that in mind, what gives me or you the right to block and delete and cut off someone, even if they offend us or don’t do as we say?

 As Christians, do we realise that we are adopting worldly standards when we say things like ‘we have to love some people from a distance’? 

We can discuss that and agree to disagree on this. Because I also realise that some people really make it difficult for us to interact with them in a normal way or how Jesus would want us to. 

But what I want us to ponder today is: are we doing anything ourselves to be on God’s block list, if He had one? What if Jesus cuts us off when we are disobedient, which we very often are?

Ok, someone cusses you out, tells you hateful things, constantly speaks to you in a berating manner, someone is stalking you, filling up your inbox with negative vibes, what do you do? 

Our natural inclination most likely would be to block and delete. Truth be told, I have some people on that list right now. And my flesh tells me they deserve to be there. 

But today, in preparation for this discussion, I was forced to revisit that.  

In truth and in fact, people will be people and show who they are eventually. And if we don’t allow the love of God to permeate our beings and change our way of thinking, our attitudes, our reactions, we can easily get caught up in this worldly style of block and delete and a whole other un-Christian like behaviours.

We really have to ask ourselves Saints of God, even if people disrespect us, shouldn’t we still embrace them as much as we can with God’s help? 

Sometimes people cut you off and you don’t even know what you did. Perhaps they choose not to want to be in your company anymore because they can’t use you how they choose or they can’t control you. Or perhaps they simply outgrew you and have moved on. That’s a matter for them.

But cutting off someone? Hmm. Is that scriptural?

Of course, the self righteous ones would use Matthew 5:30 to justify this. “And if your hand—even your stronger hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”

This verse does emphasise the importance of recognizing and removing sin or temptation from our lives, even if it requires sacrifice or difficult choices. 

But where does kindness and self control and the other fruit of the Spirit come in? Huh? 

Family, the goal here is for us as Christians to prioritize spiritual health and closeness with God above all else. 

So we don’t block and delete in the flesh because we’re mad at someone or we think they disrespect us and they deserve it. And then we go brag to others, ‘oh I blocked her, or I deleted him from my contacts. I don’t talk to them anymore’. This is nothing to brag about people of God.

So let’s look at some golden principles in the Bible.

1. The Golden Rule: In Matthew 7:12, Jesus teaches, ““Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.”

We are encouraged to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes so to speak, and respond to them the way we would want to be treated.

2. Loving Your Neighbor: In Matthew 22:37-39, Jesus sums up God’s commandments with two great commands: “Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Here we see that love for others is foundational to living a life of faith, which is necessary in this Christian journey.

3. Loving Your Enemies: In Matthew 5:44, Jesus instructs us to “…love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!”

This is really radical isn’t it? It’s a challenge for us to show compassion even to those who literally walk all over us. This we definitely can only do if we allow Christ to reign in our hearts.

4. Serving Others: Jesus emphasized service and humility. In Mark 10:45, He says, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.””

5. Bearing Each Other’s Burdens: In Galatians 6:2, Paul writes, “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey the law of Christ.”

Obviously, people who are mean and lash out at you in any way, likely have personal issues. 

The Bible is telling us as Christians, to make it our duty to help them. Why? Because it’s a way of showing Jesus’ love in practical ways. 

And #6. Forgiveness: Jesus emphasized forgiveness, even when it’s difficult. In Matthew 6:14-15, He says, ““If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

So yes, Family, we have to let go of grudges. As followers of Jesus Christ, we have to show grace. We have to live with compassion, empathy, and forgiveness. 

As Christians, we can’t just go around blocking and deleting people from our lives like it’s something to be proud of.

Let us today pause to reflect on the love that Jesus has for us, how He expects us to love, and strive harder to emulate Jesus, so that we can be that witness to those who we think deserve to be blocked and deleted. 

Will we be a testimony today?

aub - 6Nov24

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