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!
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
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.
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.
Friday, February 18, 2011
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?
(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?
Monday, January 3, 2011
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!
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!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Goodness, Part 1
The fruit of goodness seems so obvious and straightforward, that I kind of struggled with writing about it for this blog. I mean, it’s just being good, right? Well, yes and no. I want to look at what that really means. First, let’s define goodness. According to dictionary.com, goodness means: “1. the state or quality of being good; 2. moral excellence; virtue; 3. kindness, generosity; … or 5. the best part of anything, essence, strength.”
The very definition of goodness makes it seem impossible to attain. I mean, who among us is really morally excellent or “the best part of anything.” I’d love to tell you that Scripture is more encouraging on this, but listen to what the Bible has to say about goodness and humans. Jeremiah 13:23 states, “Can the … leopard [change] its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.” Romans 3:12 tells us that “there is no one who does good, not even one.” Matthew 19:17 says, “There is only One who is good.” I can tell you that is not talking about you or me!
Both the definition and Scripture paint a bleak picture of our goodness as human beings and of our capacity to be good. Basically, we are not good. At all. Not even if we try. But here is the hope of Scripture – God provides a way for us to break free from our naturally evil natures and experience His goodness.
The apostle Paul describes the struggle and the solution in his letter to the Romans. He says, “So I find this law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” We are incapable of being good apart from Jesus. But God promises to help us! Without Him, we are nothing. Apart from Him, we can bear no fruit, especially the fruit of goodness.
The Bible also says that good things can come from good stored within us. Matthew 12:35. The only way to store up good things in our heart is to meditate upon and learn God’s Word. We already saw that God and His Word are the only sources of good. So that is what we must store up in our hearts. Then we can draw upon God’s goodness stored within us to know and do what is good. I know I’m repeating myself, but I cannot stress enough that we cannot be good apart from God. The Bible is clear on that. Our connection to and relationship with God is vitally important to our production of the fruit of goodness. So, the first step towards the fruit of goodness is to make sure we are connecting with God regularly.
God shows us what is good by the example of Jesus Christ and through His Word. Micah 6:8 says, “He has showed you, O Man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” There is a definition of being good right there. We are to focus first on our walk with God and to be humble in that walk, always remembering that it is God in us that enables us to follow these commands. Then we are to be just in our actions and to be merciful always. So, this is one concrete thing we can do to encourage goodness in our lives – in each circumstance, act justly and love mercy.
As you go through this holiday season and deal with often-stressful situations, take time to study God’s word and learn what He has for us. Then look for opportunities to be, do and say what is good.
The very definition of goodness makes it seem impossible to attain. I mean, who among us is really morally excellent or “the best part of anything.” I’d love to tell you that Scripture is more encouraging on this, but listen to what the Bible has to say about goodness and humans. Jeremiah 13:23 states, “Can the … leopard [change] its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.” Romans 3:12 tells us that “there is no one who does good, not even one.” Matthew 19:17 says, “There is only One who is good.” I can tell you that is not talking about you or me!
Both the definition and Scripture paint a bleak picture of our goodness as human beings and of our capacity to be good. Basically, we are not good. At all. Not even if we try. But here is the hope of Scripture – God provides a way for us to break free from our naturally evil natures and experience His goodness.
The apostle Paul describes the struggle and the solution in his letter to the Romans. He says, “So I find this law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” We are incapable of being good apart from Jesus. But God promises to help us! Without Him, we are nothing. Apart from Him, we can bear no fruit, especially the fruit of goodness.
The Bible also says that good things can come from good stored within us. Matthew 12:35. The only way to store up good things in our heart is to meditate upon and learn God’s Word. We already saw that God and His Word are the only sources of good. So that is what we must store up in our hearts. Then we can draw upon God’s goodness stored within us to know and do what is good. I know I’m repeating myself, but I cannot stress enough that we cannot be good apart from God. The Bible is clear on that. Our connection to and relationship with God is vitally important to our production of the fruit of goodness. So, the first step towards the fruit of goodness is to make sure we are connecting with God regularly.
God shows us what is good by the example of Jesus Christ and through His Word. Micah 6:8 says, “He has showed you, O Man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” There is a definition of being good right there. We are to focus first on our walk with God and to be humble in that walk, always remembering that it is God in us that enables us to follow these commands. Then we are to be just in our actions and to be merciful always. So, this is one concrete thing we can do to encourage goodness in our lives – in each circumstance, act justly and love mercy.
As you go through this holiday season and deal with often-stressful situations, take time to study God’s word and learn what He has for us. Then look for opportunities to be, do and say what is good.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Transformation and Thankfulness
I know this isn't directly related to any particular fruit, but this topic has been on my mind and I feel I should write something about it. I hope you get something out of it too!
Last night I was watching The Biggest Loser and I started thinking. I know, crazy right? :) Anyway, it was an episode where they were looking back at the lives and experiences of past contestants. I noticed that nearly every one of them had taken jobs in fitness after their Biggest Loser experience was over. Each one was so excited about the transformation in their bodies that they couldn't help but tell others, help others experience the same, and devote their whole lives to the fitness and nutrition that helped to bring about the change in the first place. When we experience transformation and are changed for the better, the natural response is absolute devotion and excitement.
So, when God transforms our lives, why don't we react in the same way? Where is the excitement that pushes us to tell everyone we know and even people we don't know? Where is the passion that moves us to devote our entire lives and all of our energy to that which has brought about this change in us? Where is our utter devotion? God has transformed not our earthy, temporary bodies, but our internal, eternal souls. What could surpass that? We need to get excited about this!
So often, I think, the pressures of this world we live in cause us to squelch the passion and excitement we feel at the moment of transformation (or the moment when we first realize we have been transformed). We are embarrassed to proclaim our excitement. We are ashamed to be labeled a "crazy Christian" and don't want to deal with all that entails. But we shouldn't allow the world to kill our excitement over this! I'm not saying we need to talk about it every minute of every day, but let's allow ourselves to be excited, to be passionate, and to tell people about what we've experienced. God can use our passion, our joy, to touch the lives of those around us whether we know it or not. We limit Him and His purpose when we push those feelings down and react from embarrassment instead of from the joy and fervor that God has given as a result of His work in our lives.
Instead of squelching, let's try to let our excitement show. Let's share it with others! What better day than Thanksgiving for this lesson? Today and every day, I am so thankful for God's work in my life. I am eternally grateful that even when I didn't care, God refused to let me go. He actively pursued me and pursues me still, for I am His child. He continues to work in my life and for that I am thankful too. What a great God we serve! He is deserving of our thankfulness and praise! Every good thing that we have and experience in this life is a gift, a precious gift from Him. Praise God!!
Another thing that has been on my mind is our (often) failure to devote our time and efforts to learning more about God and spending time with Him. Think of something that you enjoy doing, a hobby perhaps, and think back to the time when you first discovered it. For me, that is cake decorating and coming up with new recipes for cakes and cookies. I discovered the tools for this earlier this year and, ever since then, I cannot get enough of it. I read everything I can; I look at pictures and learn new techniques; I practice a lot and try new things. In short, I devote a lot of my free time to this new hobby. Are you the same with your hobby and/or passion?
I was thinking of this and wondering why we don't react this way to our faith and our love for God. I can spend all day looking at cake books and reading recipes and techniques, but some days it's all I can do to pick up my Bible and read what God has for me. How said is that?! Shouldn't we be showing this same passion to God? Why is it that I'm not obsessed with reading God's word, hearing his techniques for my life, and devoting time to him? Perhaps this passion can come only through prayer and practice. Can you pledge with me to make this a larger part of our lives? To be so excited about what God has done, is doing, and will do that we simply cannot get enough? That we rush in our free time to read the Bible, to pour over God's word and put His techniques into practice. That we come to a place where we think about it all the time and come up with new ways to live God's principles. How great is your Word, O God, how wonderful your precepts. They are like life to me! (see Psalm 119)
Last night I was watching The Biggest Loser and I started thinking. I know, crazy right? :) Anyway, it was an episode where they were looking back at the lives and experiences of past contestants. I noticed that nearly every one of them had taken jobs in fitness after their Biggest Loser experience was over. Each one was so excited about the transformation in their bodies that they couldn't help but tell others, help others experience the same, and devote their whole lives to the fitness and nutrition that helped to bring about the change in the first place. When we experience transformation and are changed for the better, the natural response is absolute devotion and excitement.
So, when God transforms our lives, why don't we react in the same way? Where is the excitement that pushes us to tell everyone we know and even people we don't know? Where is the passion that moves us to devote our entire lives and all of our energy to that which has brought about this change in us? Where is our utter devotion? God has transformed not our earthy, temporary bodies, but our internal, eternal souls. What could surpass that? We need to get excited about this!
So often, I think, the pressures of this world we live in cause us to squelch the passion and excitement we feel at the moment of transformation (or the moment when we first realize we have been transformed). We are embarrassed to proclaim our excitement. We are ashamed to be labeled a "crazy Christian" and don't want to deal with all that entails. But we shouldn't allow the world to kill our excitement over this! I'm not saying we need to talk about it every minute of every day, but let's allow ourselves to be excited, to be passionate, and to tell people about what we've experienced. God can use our passion, our joy, to touch the lives of those around us whether we know it or not. We limit Him and His purpose when we push those feelings down and react from embarrassment instead of from the joy and fervor that God has given as a result of His work in our lives.
Instead of squelching, let's try to let our excitement show. Let's share it with others! What better day than Thanksgiving for this lesson? Today and every day, I am so thankful for God's work in my life. I am eternally grateful that even when I didn't care, God refused to let me go. He actively pursued me and pursues me still, for I am His child. He continues to work in my life and for that I am thankful too. What a great God we serve! He is deserving of our thankfulness and praise! Every good thing that we have and experience in this life is a gift, a precious gift from Him. Praise God!!
Another thing that has been on my mind is our (often) failure to devote our time and efforts to learning more about God and spending time with Him. Think of something that you enjoy doing, a hobby perhaps, and think back to the time when you first discovered it. For me, that is cake decorating and coming up with new recipes for cakes and cookies. I discovered the tools for this earlier this year and, ever since then, I cannot get enough of it. I read everything I can; I look at pictures and learn new techniques; I practice a lot and try new things. In short, I devote a lot of my free time to this new hobby. Are you the same with your hobby and/or passion?
I was thinking of this and wondering why we don't react this way to our faith and our love for God. I can spend all day looking at cake books and reading recipes and techniques, but some days it's all I can do to pick up my Bible and read what God has for me. How said is that?! Shouldn't we be showing this same passion to God? Why is it that I'm not obsessed with reading God's word, hearing his techniques for my life, and devoting time to him? Perhaps this passion can come only through prayer and practice. Can you pledge with me to make this a larger part of our lives? To be so excited about what God has done, is doing, and will do that we simply cannot get enough? That we rush in our free time to read the Bible, to pour over God's word and put His techniques into practice. That we come to a place where we think about it all the time and come up with new ways to live God's principles. How great is your Word, O God, how wonderful your precepts. They are like life to me! (see Psalm 119)
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
To Be Kind Is To Forgive
From Ephesians 4:32, we learn that kindness also involves forgiveness. Forgiveness is essential to retaining a kind attitude towards others. Think about it. If someone has wronged you and you are holding onto that hurt or anger, isn't it difficult to be kind to that person? But God not only calls us to act kindly but to have a kind, tender-hearted attitude towards each other. So, forgiveness is necessary.
The example is obvious. The verse says "...just as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you." We are to forgive in the same way that God has forgiven us. Totally and completely, with no remembrance of the wrong. Scripture tells us that God has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. He does not hold our sins against us but instead extends much-needed grace to us in our sins. We are called to do the same. We are to treat those who have wronged us as if the wrong never happened. That is kindness at it's core and what we are called to do.
Easier said than done, right? That seems to be a theme with these fruits, doesn't it? Let's start by being deliberate in prayer and action. Even if our emotions aren't completely in line, we can still control our actions towards others. We rely on the Holy Spirit, through our prayerful petition, to make the necessary adjustments to our hearts and attitudes. But this requires a commitment on our part to pray regularly about this issue, specifically confessing our unkind attitudes and sincerely asking for a change to those attitudes. And a commitment to acting kindly, extending grace, no matter what.
The example is obvious. The verse says "...just as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you." We are to forgive in the same way that God has forgiven us. Totally and completely, with no remembrance of the wrong. Scripture tells us that God has removed our sins from us as far as the east is from the west. He does not hold our sins against us but instead extends much-needed grace to us in our sins. We are called to do the same. We are to treat those who have wronged us as if the wrong never happened. That is kindness at it's core and what we are called to do.
Easier said than done, right? That seems to be a theme with these fruits, doesn't it? Let's start by being deliberate in prayer and action. Even if our emotions aren't completely in line, we can still control our actions towards others. We rely on the Holy Spirit, through our prayerful petition, to make the necessary adjustments to our hearts and attitudes. But this requires a commitment on our part to pray regularly about this issue, specifically confessing our unkind attitudes and sincerely asking for a change to those attitudes. And a commitment to acting kindly, extending grace, no matter what.
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