Jesus

Do you all remember those pictures of Jesus that seemed to be everywhere (in my childhood at least) when you were a kid? Or the ones we see in churches and homes now? Do you ever wonder what Jesus really and truly looked like here on this earth? I have.

Perhaps it doesn't really matter what he looked like. But I suspect that's not true. I suspect that his appearance DID matter. That it, like all other things about his life, was very intentional. Designed to point people to God. Straight through Jesus the Man to Jesus Son of God and his heavenly Father.

Isaiah tell us that the Messiah, Jesus, "had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him." Really? All those pictures of Jesus show a pretty handsome man, with even features, perfect skin, nice hair, etc. That doesn't seem to jive with what Isaiah is saying at all.

The passage in Isaiah 53 goes on to state that Jesus "was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not."

Jesus was "like one from whom men hide their faces." I don't get the impression that Isaiah is talking just about Jesus at the end, when the people were calling for his death. Yes, people were drawn to Jesus and came in droves to hear him speak. They followed him and tried to touch his clothes. But this was after he began his public ministry and after people had seen him heal, had heard him speak. So, I think it was the truth in his words and the honest compassion with which he healed people that drew the crowds to him, not his appearance.

Think of the people in our society from whom "men hide their faces." Homeless sitting by the side of the road begging for change. The man out of work with a sign at an intersection. Men and women who are obviously sick. Perhaps the elderly. I know I for one am guilty of turning my head to some of these people when I walk by. I hide my face so that I won't connect with that person, so I won't have to interact, so I can pretend I don't see them. I'm ashamed to admit this, but I think I'm not the only one. Part of this "hiding" is from fear - I don't know what they are going through, I'm not sure I could help in any way, I simply don't feel like I can relate.

Well, Jesus was one of these people. One from whom faces were hidden. Perhaps mothers shielded their little children from him as he walked by. And the New Testament tells us that Jesus is with these people even today. "What you do for the least of these, you do to me." (That's a rough quote!)

Isaiah tells us that Jesus was "a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering." I wonder if this is referring to just his death or to his life as well. We know little of Jesus in his growing-up period. We see him in the gospels as a young boy and then again as a young adult in his 20s. Given the rest of what Isaiah says of Jesus, isn't it possible that he was familiar with suffering and sorrow before his public ministry? Before his trial and crucifixion? I think it's worth considering.

Does this passage change your view of Jesus? It does mine! We are called to know Jesus. To know God. Not just know about them, but really truly know them. A false or distorted view of Jesus the man goes against that calling. He was not regal in any way. People weren't drawn to him naturally. But people were drawn to what he had to say about God. The truth of God's word is what drew people in and won them over. The same is true today. It doesn't matter what we look like or what kind of standing we have (or don't have) in our society. In fact, the lower our human standing, the better! God loves to surprise people by speaking great truths from unexpected places and people. Praise God for that!

May God teach and bless each of you this Christmas as we celebrate the birth of this most amazing, humble man. I for one am so very grateful for Jesus! Celebrate him in unexpected ways this season. Look to those from whom you might normally turn your face and share Jesus with them. You never know how God will use you to touch another life. And what a great thing it is to be used by God!

Gifted

I am gifted. Yep, that's right. You heard it. I said it and I'm not taking it back.

Oh, I can hear you all thinking, "what has gotten into her? why is she being so vain and prideful? and this is a spiritual blog?? isn't she supposed to be talking about God and not just praising herself?"

Okay, I'm not really praising myself. And I'm not "gifted" in the sense that you are thinking or the sense in which people typically use this term. I am not smarter, more talented, or better at anything than a lot of people. I have my strengths just like everyone else but really I am average. And that's okay because I am also most definitely gifted.

Confused? Well, let me explain to you what I really mean. God has blessed me with wonderful gifts! Things that bring joy to my life and make this world a better place for me. One of these gifts is my family. Another is a nice home to live in. Wonderful friends and Godly women who have taught me so much and who have helped me grow tremendously. People who constantly point me to Christ.

God has given me a gift in baking. I'm not saying I'm better than anyone else, but it is a gift to enjoy my baking and to have been given joy through cake decorating. What a gift that is to be able to experience joy in something I get to do on this earth! To have something that can brighten my spirits no matter what else is going on in my life.

I know that you all are gifted too! Think about all the ways that you are gifted. Praise God for his wonderful gifts, beautifully suited to you. Praise Him and revel in how well He knows you, as evidenced by the gifts He has given.

Now to Him who gives abundantly in all different ways and all circumstances, to Him be the glory!

Week 1 ... a little late

So, it took three weeks for me to do week one's family assignment with my own family! We finally went through it all on Sunday. The kids actually seemed to enjoy it. Well, Kate was off in her own little world most of the time and just kept asking if it was her turn to tell a princess story. But, she is 4, so that explains that. And, in case you were wondering, I did let her tell a princess story after we were done!

Will really got into answering the questions. When I asked him what loving things we can do for each other, he answered "not hitting." Good answer! I asked what else two more times and he kept giving me the same answer. Makes me wonder if maybe I should watch those kids a little more closely! :) Will also did a great job learning the Bible verse. It's a little long, so I am helping him, but we have been going over it every day so far.

Honestly, I'm not sure if it's helping the kids behave. They seem about the same to me (not listening very well, as usual). But I think it has helped my own attitude. It is really hard to have a bad attitude while teaching your children Bible verses or talking about how God has demonstrated love towards us! And I truly believe that learning Bible verses will help the kids in the long run. They may not remember the verses, but they will remember this time we have together and the ideas we are learning will come back to them down the road.

Have any of you tried the family experiment? If so, let me know how it has gone for you. I'll try to post plans for the second "fruit," joy, on Saturday. My kids will be gone this weekend (yeah!), so I won't be doing the "joy" lesson until the following Sunday. Until then, may God bless you and keep you, and may his light shine upon you so that you will feel and know His great love!

FOTS Family Experiment - Week 1

For any of you waiting on this, sorry! I meant to get this out there on Saturday, but time got away from me.

So, we're starting at the beginning with Love for the first week of the family experiment.

The verse I chose is I John 4:10-11, "This is love: not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." I chose this verse because it is a really great (perfect really) picture of love and it also will give me a good opportunity to explain some of these concepts to my kids. Adults should memorize the whole thing but if it's too long for your kids to remember, go ahead and shorten it. I'm going to have my kids memorize this portion: "since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." And, if you prefer, you can always choose another verse for you and your family. Choose as God directs you!

You should also spend time with a story for the kids. The story I am choosing is Jesus and the cross. This obviously goes along with the verse. You could choose another story if you like, but make sure it demonstrates love, goes along with the verse you've chosen, and is from the Bible.

During the family time and throughout the week, ask yourself and your kids "what does love look like?" and "how can we love one another like the verse says?" Some answers might be kind words, sharing, serving, time spent with each other, encouraging each other, showing affection, listening, obeying. I can't wait to hear what my kids will come up with for this one.

Let me know how it goes! And if you choose a different verse or story, let me know the details of what you've chosen!

The FOTS Family Experiment

Can you all believe we are finally done looking at each of the fruits of the spirit? What was to take nine months (one fruit each month) turned into a year and a half. I guess mostly due to my not keeping up with it. But I'm glad I stuck with it and I hope you are too. I hope you stuck with it alongside me!

So, tell me, did you notice a difference in your life when you were focusing on each fruit? What did you learn? Did you notice growth, change, a difference in how you act towards others and God? How did your attitude and actions change? I'd like to tell you that I am a totally changed person in whom the fruits are now obvious, but that isn't truly the case. But I do believe that I have changed for the better in some ways. I feel like my faith is stronger as a result of this study. I am by no means perfect in demonstrating the fruits of the spirit, but I do not believe that such perfection can come in this lifetime. One thing I have learned is how dependent I am on God to have any semblance of the fruits in my life. Praise be to God that he gives us the power and the strength to keep going! Praise be to God that he gives us the fruits so that we may reflect and glorify Him in this fallen world! Praise be to God that he keeps us dependent so we must rely on and always turn back to Him! I know I will keep up the effort, though, and keep practicing. Hopefully the good days will outweigh the bad in the end. And I know that by following God in this way, my life WILL be changed for the better!

Well, you may think then that this blog is over with the end of the project. I hope that you are happy to hear it is not the end. I want to do a family experiment now. Recently, my church did a series called "Faith at Home." One sermon talked about the fruits of the spirit; another talked about Scripture memorization; a thread throughout was obedience to God and teaching in the family, particularly teaching our children God's truth at home and not just leaving it to church.

I want to get my kids involved in what I've been doing. We talk about Bible stories and Christian concepts often in our home, mostly in those "teachable moments" that pop up during normal daily life. This experiment will be more intentional. I will take one fruit each week, choose a verse for the family to memorize together, and generally discuss as a family what it means to show that fruit in our lives. I will post the fruit, the verse, a story to share with the kids relating to that week's fruit, and some suggestions for family discussion. I'm going to be sitting down with my kids on Sunday each week, but if Sundays don't work for you, choose another day. The point is sitting down as a family and spending the time to talk about each fruit, discuss the verse, and generally learn together. Then spend that week looking at the verse and talking about it. If your kids are old enough to read, then write the verse on note cards or paper and post it all around the house where everyone will see it. If your kids, like mine, can't read yet, then ask them about the verse and talk to them about it often so that it all "sticks."

I hope you will join me in this new experiment. Let's see if it makes a difference in the lives of our families! Stay tuned - on Saturday I will post the plan for our (once again) first fruit, love. Read it, tweak it if you like, and share it with your family! And, as always, I'd love to hear from you! Let me know how it goes and what you think of the experiment. Also, let me know how you did with the FOTS project that we just completed!

Self-Control

Ahhh, self-control. I'd like to believe that I am a self-controlled person, but anyone who knows me really well could tell you the truth. I am amazingly undisciplined at times and with certain things. But this last-mentioned fruit of the spirit is vitally important to our spiritual lives!

According to Scripture, there are many reasons why self-control is important. Here are a few:

- It prevents us from being surprised by the Lord's return. I Thes. 5:6
- It enables us to pray with effectiveness. I Peter 4:7
- It helps us to avoid the devil. I Peter 5:8
- It identifies us as belonging to the day (good) rather than the night (evil). I Thes. 5:8
- If we lack self-control, we are "like a city whose walls are broken down..." Proverbs 25:28
- It is part of what "will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."

This all seems really good, right? I want to have these things and I want to have self-control, along with all the things listed above that self-control brings. I want to be joyful at my Lord's return, not caught in some disobedience or surprised. I want to pray with power. I want to avoid the devil. I want to be associated with the light. I want to be a secure city with unbroken walls. And I most certainly want to be effective and productive in Christ. It's really an obvious choice. But what is not so obvious is how to get it. I try to be self-controlled and it doesn't always work out so well for me. Thank goodness that God has a plan that is greater than me! 2 Peter 1:3-8 tells us that God has given us all we need to lead a righteous life, including self-control. Yeah!!

We need to start believing - I mean really truly believing in our heart of hearts - that we can be self-controlled. So often we face challenges, like bad habits and certain everyday struggles, fully believing that we cannot really make the right choice. We look ahead and have already decided for ourselves that we cannot overcome a particular obstacle. For example, I know that I need to get up a little earlier every day to spend time with God and His Word, but I have a mantra going in my head that says something like, "you aren't a morning person and you won't really be able to pull yourself out of bed." Perhaps your struggle is with food and you are telling yourself, "you will always have that cookie/cake/chip and won't ever really stick to a healthy eating plan." We need to change these attitudes because they do nothing for us except set us up for failure.

Let's replace these negative mantras with the promises of God from the Bible. First, Phil. 4:13, "I can do everything through Him who gives me strength." In 2 Peter 1:3-8, God promises to give us all we need to lead a righteous life. And there are many more. Assignment #1: find a verse to cling to when you face challenges, then memorize it and repeat that to yourself whenever you think that you cannot be self-controlled. Then tell me if it helps!

Self-control has an enemy and that is temptation. Think about that a second and tell me if that rings true. If we were never tempted, wouldn't self-control be easy? And I believe we each have our own areas of temptation that we struggle with the most. For me right now, it is getting up early as I mentioned above, food, and exercise. I have daily fights with myself over these particular things. I have never, though, really seen these as spiritual struggles until now. If temptation is a spiritual thing, and we know it is from Scripture, and I recognize that my particular struggles are with temptation and my feeble attempts to be self-controlled, then shouldn't I also recognize that these struggles are spiritual in nature? I think God wants us to recognize these battles as spiritual and invite Him into the fight with us.

We must rely on God's strength for our self-control instead of our own. When we try to do it ourselves, we set ourselves up for failure. Phil. 4:13. As Paul says in Gal. 3:3, "Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?" God promises to fight alongside us and it is only through His strength that we can win these battles or make any progress with them at all. I Cor. 10:13. We should come to Him with our failures and weakness, for in our weakness He is made strong! 2 Cor. 12:9-10.

That said, we also need to be proactive about being self-controlled, always with God alongside us and relying on His strength. We can train ourselves to rely on God and be self-controlled. In I Cor. 9:24-27, Paul compares this to training to run a race. We need to train for self-control like a runner trains to not only run but to win a race. Paul says, "I beat my body and make it my slave so that ... I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." There are things we can do to train ourselves in the areas particular to our personal struggles.

Here is a list of practical steps towards self-control.
(1) Be in the Word. I keep coming back to this because it is vitally important! We need to be able to recognize God's voice leading us towards self-control and away from temptation. How can we hear Him if we don't know his voice? We learn to recognize God's voice by reading and studying His Word.
(2) Recognize your own personal struggles. Think and pray about it, then write them down as God reveals them to you. For some of us this is easy; for others this may be a bit more difficult.
(3) Take on one challenge at a time. This is especially important if you are feeling overwhelmed by your list!
(4)Make a game plan. Ask yourself, what one or two things can you do today to move towards greater self-control? Some examples might be: if your struggle is with food, your one thing could be to rid your house of the food that tempts you the most so you just don't have it around anymore; if your struggle is with exercise, commit to go on one short walk today; if your struggle is with organization, tackle one small area today. You get the idea, don't you?
(5) When faced with something that challenges your self-control, in the words of my good friend and teacher, "stop, drop and pray"! It's okay (and a good idea) to pause and wait for God's direction. Ask God in that moment to give you strength and to help you stand up under the temptation you face. He will do it! We know and can believe this 100% because He specifically promises to do this in His word. So claim this promise as your own today! Also, sometimes just waiting and putting off the temptation can make it face. For example, sometimes if I tell myself I can have the cookie or cake that I crave after I do a work out, by the time I'm done with the work out I don't want the treat as much anymore.

See if you can come up with more practical steps to add to my list. Practice these things, go into training. Share you progress with all of us and let's see if these things can really make a difference!

Special

We all want to feel and be special, don't we? The desire to be the best at something, to be known for doing something really well, or to just be known and recognized for our own sake. I've been struggling with this lately. Not only the desire, but also a bit of pride and jealousy. But something I've been realizing has kind of solidified in my heart and mind today, so I thought I would share it with you (if anyone is still reading this blog!).

We are not special because of our individual talents or even our God-given gifts. Our abilities do not make us special. What we can do has nothing to do with whether or not we are special. Not at all. There will always be someone more talented, more recognized, better looking, younger, or more gifted.

The one and only thing that makes us special is our Creator. The God who made the universe made each one of us. He loves us as we are. We are all equally special in His eyes because we are all made in His image and we all have extraordinary potential. Yes, we have been given gifts, but it is not the gifts that make us special, but the Giver of those gifts. And we must remember that He has given us gifts not for the sake of those gifts and not to boost our desire to feel special, but so that we can have a positive impact on those around us, pointing each person with whom we come into contact straight back to God.

To come later, one more fruit is left! Self-control.... After that, a FOTS family experiment. Stay tuned!

The Game Plan

I meant to post this right after my last one, to go along with gentleness, but time got away from me! As usual! Anyway, I thought I would still post it to give you all an idea of what I meant when I suggested we develop a gentleness "game plan" to help us maintain this fruit in our lives, or at least be more conscious of it.

I touched on this before, but in true confession mode, I admit that I struggle with gentleness at home sometimes. Okay, fairly often. My problem times are when my kids are not cooperating or I feel they are not listening to me, when things are not as tidy or organized as I want them to be around the house, and when I am tired or stressed. It is at these times that I find it especially difficult to be gentle at all. My un-gentle behavior tends to be more language-oriented. When in these situations, I can be gentle physically, but verbally all gentleness tends to go out the window.

So, here is my game plan for avoiding this un-gentle behavior/language and to focus my attention and attitude on gentleness in these situations. (1) I will watch for the beginnings of impatience, that feeling of the blood pressure rising. (2) If I can, I will walk away, even if it's only for a moment. If I can't walk away, then I will jump to step 3 right where I am. (3) I will pray immediately for gentleness and a quiet spirit/heart, reciting scripture (whatever comes to mind) if I can. (4) I will take a deep breath (or 10) to calm myself mentally and physically. (5) I will keep my mouth shut! If I must speak, I will focus on keeping it short and quiet, watching my tone. This one will require another dose of that quick prayer I mentioned in step 3!

So, there you have it. I hope this can inspire some thoughts and a "game plan" for you too. If you do come up with one, please share!

To Be Gentle

We are called to be gentle. All the time. Gentleness is to be one of our defining character traits. It is to be "evident to all." To all of the people who see us or come into contact with us.

I confess that I do not do this. I am not always gentle and sometimes I am more like a steamroller than a gentle breeze. I get impatient and speak in a decidedly un-gently tone and with un-gentle words. And, if I am to be honest, I have to admit that I am powerless to change these reactions on my own. I know because I've tried. One of the things I have struggled with, particularly in the last few years since I've had children, is impatience and the anger and harshness that follows.

The only real way to change these un-gentle behaviors is through the power of the Holy Spirit in us. But is there something practical that we can do to help? How can we facilitate the work of the Spirit in our lives? I believe that we can and that it starts by analyzing our actions and identifying areas of un-gentleness in our own lives. Are there situations in which you tend to not be gentle? Are there "buttons" in you that provoke reactions that are less than gentle? Do you sometimes use language that does not reflect gentleness? If we are praying about this, I believe that the Spirit will help us identify these areas in our lives.

Once identified, this of alternate reactions. Being aware of circumstances and our reactions will help us to identify potential roadblocks to gentleness in our lives and avoid them or turn them into more positive situations. If certain situations tend to repeat or are particularly difficult for you, then start to think of a game plan to handle these situations in a more gentle way the next time. A good start of a game plan is to pray. Then take a few minutes or even seconds to calm down and quiet your heart/spirit. I don't think we can be gentle without a gentle and quiet heart within us. A good third step to the game plan may be to deliberately think of things to do and say that ARE gentle. You can add anything to your game plan that will help you either change your reactions/actions or avoid a troublesome situation altogether.

Let's all focus on doing this for the rest of this month. Take notes and write down your game plan so you can see your progress (a prayer journal is perfect for this). Let me know how you are doing!

Gentleness

When I think of gentleness, I think of touching a baby, animal or human; caring for a child when he or she is hurt; a soft breeze.  But I also tend to think of it in terms of what gentleness is not.  It is not harsh, condemning, cold, or mean.  Dictionary.com defines gentle as "mild; kindly" or "not rough or severe; moderate."

In Scripture, we are commanded many times to be gentle and to live a life characterized by gentleness.  Phil. 4:5 commands, "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near." Eph. 4:2 states, "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." I Pet. 3:4 tells us that "a gentle and quiet spirit" is "of great worth in God's sight. 

So, what does it really mean to be a gentle person? As I was studying the different Bible verses dealing with gentleness, I noticed that the characteristic is often linked with compassion, kindness, humility and/or patience.  (See Col. 3:12) to me, a common thread in all of these qualities is a sort of quiet inner strength.  We may be tempted to see gentleness as meek, but it is not.  Both God the Father and Jesus are described as gentle, but they are not weak by any stretch.  But they are strong in a controlled way.

To Elijah, God appeared not in a fire or an earthquake, but in a gentle wind.  I Kings 19:12.  Jesus came into Jerusalem "gentle and riding on a donkey." He also id to His disciples (and to us), "Take my yolk upon you and lean from me, for I am gentle and humble in heat and you will find rest for your souls." If we are to be like God, like Jesus, we need to foster a gentle spirit within ourselves.

Gentleness is controlled strength in our inner being. It is the internal ability to control our speech and actions.  (Prov. 15:1, 25:15; Eph. 4:2; I Pet. 3:15) It is what gives us the ability to be kind, compassionate, merciful, and humble.

How do you all (if anyone is still reading this!) think of gentleness.  What comes to mind? How do you practice gentleness?  In the next entry, I'll try to flesh out a little more how we can train ourselves in gentleness in some practical ways... 

Practical Faithfulness

Okay. Let’s get down to it then. How do we begin to demonstrate God’s type of faithfulness in our own lives? What practical steps can we take to begin to develop this fruit in our lives? After all, that is what this project is all about, right?

I have a few thoughts (of course!). I think that for us, faithfulness can be divided into two parts: faithfulness to God and faithfulness to others. They do go hand in hand, but practical development of each part can be different. We are first called to be faithful to God. We as humans tend to be faithful to what we consider important or most valuable. We internalize that and then commit to be responsible to that person or thing. We need to work on making that commitment to God every single day. Emotions have nothing to do with it. We are called to be faithful regardless of how we feel on any given day. So, we need to decide consciously to give God that place of importance in our lives. He is the most important person; He is the most valuable.

Faithfulness is being true to God and not serving other “gods” or putting anything else in the place of God in our lives. We are to save ourselves mentally and emotionally for God first. We are not to stray and put other things, good or bad, in God’s place or in a higher place of importance in our lives. You can tell you are doing this when other things come before things that will further our commitment to or relationship with God. Look at the choices you make throughout your day. Is something else consistently getting in the way of time with God? It can be good things, too!

Anything that comes between me and my relationship with God is an idol. Idols can be bad things or good things. It is not necessarily building a statue to some other “god” in the backyard and bowing down to it. Of course, negative things can be idols, like drugs, drinking, gambling, other harmful habits. But good things can be idols too, and are often harder to spot. Even the best things in our lives can be idols if we allow them to come before our commitment to God. Service to others can be an idol if the needs of the people we are helping or certain projects take a higher position of priority in our lives than our relationship with God. Or even learning more about God can be a sort of idol if we aren’t focused on the right things. For example, I like to read books about faith and about God. But sometimes I find myself more interested in books about God than in the Bible or God himself. It is at that point that learning and those other books become idols to me because my allegiance and interest is focused more on what others have to say about God than on what God Himself is saying to me through His Word. Service projects and reading books about God aren’t bad things at all and can be incredibly valuable in growing spiritually and doing God’s work here on earth, but when we choose things like that over God’s Word. If we begin to trust something or someone more than we trust God, that thing or person becomes an idol to us. This all is not to say to stay away from those things, but we should be constantly analyzing the things in our lives to ensure that they remain in their proper places and we don’t fall into this trap that will ruin our faithfulness to God.

The second part of faithfulness is faithfulness to others in speech and action. We are called to be truthful, dependable, and honorable in our dealings with others. After all, we as Christians, are the faces of God to the world. We need to reflect God’s faithfulness to others by being faithful ourselves. Practical steps might seem obvious, but I’ll state them anyway. Always tell the truth. Always follow through on your commitments and, to help with this, be careful what commitments you take on in the first place through prayerful consideration of each one.

Try to put this into practice into your life and let me know how you are doing. Or, if you have some tips of your own on how to be more faithful, please share!

Faithfulness Part 2

To learn about faithfulness, we need to see how God has demonstrated faithfulness. We need to know the original if we are to follow it! Here are some verses that speak of God’s faithfulness.

It is Limitless and Unending:
Psalm 36:5 – “Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.”
Psalm 100:5 – “For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.

It is bound together with Love:
Psalm 86:15 – “But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”
Psalm 117:2 “For great is His love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.”

It is our protection:
Psalm 91:4 – “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”

It brings salvation and allows the truth of God to be spread:
Psalm 98:3 – “He has remembered His love and His faithfulness to Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.”

For us, it is a choice:
Psalm 119:30 – “I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws.”

It is a characteristic of the righteous:
Habakkuk 2:4 – “. . . but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness . . .”

If you take the time to search, you will find that the Old Testament is littered with references to and comments on God’s faithfulness. It doesn’t take very long in the Old Testament to see how God was faithful to his people but his people, Israel, were anything but faithful. Time and time again, people have been a disappointment to God. Over and over again, Israel was unfaithful and followed the gods of other cultures around them instead of remaining faithful to the one true God. Yet, each time, we see God rescuing them and pulling them back to Himself. He sent faithful men and women to work on His behalf to rescue Israel. Think of Moses, who led them out of slavery in Egypt. The people rebelled in the desert and were punished, but then God brought Joshua to leadership to bring the people into the promised land. They were successful in battle as long as they were faithful, but as soon as there was peace, the people forgot and submitted themselves to other gods. Every time they did this, there unfaithfulness led to hardship and in that hardship they would cry out to God. Every time they cried out, God sent someone (Judges) to rescue them. God always faithfully responded, no matter how many times His people strayed or disappointed him. He responded faithfully even to the point of sending His one and only Son to die for us. Now that is faithfulness.

I want to try to bring that to our level so that we can begin to understand what that means and maybe grasp a little of what God’s faithfulness is. Think of your kids. Kids get in trouble, no doubt about that, and often disobey in the same way again and again. How many times would you forgive and come running if they called out to you in dismay? Is it unlimited? I can tell you, I can’t think of a point at which I would fail to come to my children if they truly needed me. That is how God feels about us. He will remain faithful no matter what. It doesn’t depend on us. It is His nature. Can you see what a great gift that is for us? We are by nature prone to unfaithfulness and to straying from God, but God is by His nature faithful with an unending faithfulness that will always take back a repentant heart and draw that person back to Him. Praise God for this! Take the time right now to really think about this and to praise God for this amazing gift.

Not only is God’s faithfulness towards us unending, but He is willing to teach us how to be faithful. He is willing to lead us along that path so that we can have that same faithfulness. In fact, this is one of His heart’s desires, that we should show the same fruit that is to Him a natural thing. We are to reflect Him and He wants to help us do it. Amazing. Amazing love. Amazing help. Amazing patience. Amazing faithfulness. Amazing.

Faithfulness

The next “fruit” we should see in our Christian lives is faithfulness. According to Dictionary.com, faithfulness means each of the following:

(1) “strict or thorough in the performance of duty”;
(2) “true to one’s word, promises, vows, etc.”;
(3) “steady in allegiance or affection, loyal, constant”;
(4) “reliable, trusted, or believed”;
(5) “adhering or true to fact, a standard, or an original; accurate.”

So what does this tell us about the faithfulness we are to have in our own lives? I see in these definitions that faithfulness is being true to God and to others. It means pledging our allegiance to God and God alone, being loyal to Him in all we say and do. It means fulfilling our responsibilities as Christians and doing what we know we are supposed to do. Not just doing it, but doing it thoroughly.

But there are two other specific things that I see in this definition. The first is in definition (4). Faithfulness has everything to do with trust. Faithfulness is the foundation upon which trust is built. If we are not faithful, not dependable, then trust cannot and will not follow. Faithfulness holds all the other fruits in its hands. You can excel at love, at joy, at peace, at patience, at any of the other fruits, but if you are not faithful in executing them, then it doesn’t really matter that you are good at any one of them. Think about that for a minute. This thing between God and us is a relationship and relationships are built on trust. God has proven Himself faithful (we’ll get to that Scripture in the next entry). Have we proven ourselves faithful to Him? He wants us to be true, steadfast, reliable, and trusted. All of those things add up to the fruit of faithfulness that we are commanded to have in our lives.

A true example of this type of faithfulness can be found in the person of Ruth. In Ruth chapter 1, Ruth finds herself a widow caring for her also-widowed mother-in-law, Naomi. Naomi urges Ruth to return to her own family, where she will be cared for and where she may even marry again. But Ruth refuses. She sees it as her duty to care for Naomi, who has no one else, and so decided to return to Naomi’s homeland with her. Here is what Ruth says: “’Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.’” (Ruth 1:16-17) The devotion shown by Ruth toward Naomi is a perfect example of the faithfulness that God expect, demands, from each one of us.

The second specific thing that this definition teaches us is that faithfulness is “adhering to a standard or an original.” God is that original! We are to be like Him. Isn’t that what we’ve been saying all along? To be faithful, we need to know the original faithful One and follow His example of faithfulness. We are to copy Him. This is both intimidating and good news for us. Intimidating because who can hope to copy God in any of these traits and not fail? But the good news is that we have a focus and that focus is God. When we fix our eyes on Him to follow His example of faithfulness, He will pull us along a faithful path. It will be His strength that allows us to be faithful and to be like Him. We don’t have to do it alone.

Allow this to sink in. Really think about the definition above. Do you agree with what I’ve said about it? Disagree? See something else? Please share! In the next entry, I will look at the example of God’s faithfulness in the Bible. We have to know what we are following, right?

Examples of Goodness

We know that God is the only one who is good or who can be good. It is only through Him that we have any goodness at all. But we can practice goodness by allowing Him to work through us while we try to follow His example. One of the best ways to learn about goodness is to study the One who is good. Let's look at some of the traits of both God the Father and Jesus to find ways we can exercise goodness in our own lives.

God is compassionate. There are many examples of this trait, but here are a few that come to my mind. He gave Abraham and Sarah a child when it was their hearts' desire. He spared Lot and his family despite His anger with their city and His initial plan to destroy everyone. He spared Noah and his family. Also, He answers the prayers of those who love Him. Think of David and his many prayers the Psalms, or examples of answered prayer in your own life. God has showed His abundant compassion towards me on many occasions, especially when my actions have been less than stellar and I deserve nothing but punishment.

God is forgiving and merciful. Look at all of His dealings with Israel throughout the Old Testament and His dealings with each of us. God is also kind, caring and loving. The Bible says that God will wipe away our tears. How much more tender and loving can you get? He directs our paths. God is love. The ultimate example is the sacrifice of His only son. Now that I am a mother and have one son, I feel like I can begin to understand what this must have been like. Wow. I don't think I could ever even come close to sacrificing my son for anyone or anything. Not even close. And especially not for people who had treated me badly, rejected me, bad-mouthed me, and didn't even feel badly about any of it. But that is what God did. For us. For you. For me.

The example of Jesus is no less awe-inspiring. Jesus is also compassionate. Look at the miracles he performed for people desperate for answers and solutions. Many passages in the gospels state that Jesus "had compassion" on the people around him and acted to help them. He helped people in tangible and intangible ways. He was quick to help and kind to all. Jesus was and is faithful. He was loving and obedient to the point of horrible, painful death.

Just think of what would happen, of what would be possible through us, if each of us began to pray about and practice just a tiny fraction of the traits demonstrated to us and listed above. Choose just one of these traits and work on it in your life. Then share about what God is doing through you to bring the fruit of goodness to your life!