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I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me. Galatians 2:20 (CEV)
I don’t put bumper stickers on my car. I’ll tell you it’s because of my fear of damaging the paint, etc. but there’s another reason. The only kind of bumper sticker I’d consider putting on my car would be one about my faith in Christ.
I’m not blaming those of you who have your car plastered with ‘Honk if you Love Jesus banners, or the cute little fish. I’m not being judgmental or critical if you are one that has some of those really quite clever sayings about faith and practice or God.
The reason I don’t want to put up any indicators of my faith on my car is really quite simple. Sometimes I get driving and forget to watch my speed. I thank God daily for cruise control! Sometimes I’m thinking about other things and don’t pay close enough attention to what’s going on around me. That’s why I may have cut you off that day on the interstate. (Sorry by the way). Then again, there are times when I’m not sure where I’m going and suddenly realize that this is my corner. Sorry for slamming on my brakes back there. I really did think it was my turn. My bad.
So what does all this have to do with bumper stickers? I don’t want my reputation as being a bad driver (sometimes) to be a reflection on who Jesus is and what he means to me.
Perhaps that’s a rather mundane example of a rich spiritual truth, but I wonder what life would be like among us if we lived as though we were dead and Jesus Christ had taken over our bodies. Not just the driving but the thought processes when we are treated poorly; or how our schedule would change when a friend in need interrupts what we think is extremely important; or when our child asks to play ball when the lawn needs mowing; or when our spouse needs a listening ear and not a lecture on how to do things.
What would our worship be like if Jesus were in control of our thoughts, our actions or our attitudes? When we leave a tip for lousy service would the server, who was up all night fighting with her spouse, watch you leave, look at your tip and say “That must have been Jesus!”
Every day Jesus took time from his schedule to show people the love of God. Every day Jesus put aside his own needs for rest and food to feed the hungry and encourage the tired. Every day He calls us to do the same. The banners of action we wear will do far more to spread the love of Christ than any ‘bumper stickers’ we wear in life.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus empower me with your Holy Spirit to live everyday as though you were in complete control of my actions, my thoughts and my feelings. Take control of every part of my body for your name’s sake, Amen.
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. 1 Corinthians 13:4 (NCV)
I like the way the KJV words this verse, “Charity [love] suffereth long”.
We don’t like to think of love and suffering in the same sentence. We’re taught when we are young that love is signified by a smile and a hug; a kind soft voice; warm chocolate cookies and milk.
Reality can set in far too early about love though. More and more of our children learn that love can end and sometimes, harshly. Mommy and Daddy used to say “I love you all the time…before the divorce.”
“My mommy says she loves me but she is never there when I call her and her boyfriend hits me all the time.”
“Friday he said he loved me, but it’s Monday and he says he doesn’t want me around anymore.”
Reality is, from a human perspective anyway, love isn’t the warm, fuzzy, eternally blissful thing we always dream of. Fairy tales end at the gates of Disney World and real live sets in harshly and quickly.
Too often we confuse love with passion rather than suffering; with comfort rather than conflict; with happiness rather than hardship. But love doesn’t have to be that way. True love, Godly love isn’t measured by fireworks and party hats.
Godly love determines, before you leave the house that the guy that cuts you off on the interstate isn’t invading your spot, you were saving it for him. Godly loves means that before you lash out at your child for forgetting an assignment AGAIN, you listen to their own pain and help them learn to make good choices. Godly love means that when the food comes to your table cold and late you notice the red eyes of the server and ask how her day is going.
Godly love isn’t easy love. Godly love gets taken advantage of; is unappreciated; suffers…long. Godly love endures constant disappointment, patiently works through rebellion and always puts the needs of the other person before your own.
People have had enough of the love the world offers. That person in the pew behind you at church, you know the one who never keeps her kids quiet, just may be at the end of her rope and needs understanding rather than judgment. That teenager with long hair and scruffy clothes may be making a statement that says ‘All I really want is to be noticed.’
How can you show Godly love today? Who will irritate you for the umpteenth time that may just need a smile rather than a rebuke? Before you act, measure your love for others according to God’s love for you. His love for you ‘suffers long’ and he asks the same from you.
PRAYER: Lord, thank you for the way you love me. Thank you for the patience you’ve shown when I rebel, struggle or get impatient. Empower me with your Spirit to show others the great love you have shown me. In the loving name of Jesus I pray, Amen.
For you have upheld my right and my cause, sitting enthroned as the righteous judge. Psalm 9:4
When you think about it, how much of our time is spend fighting for our rights? It could be something as small as the race for a parking spot or refusing to let the person trying to merge into traffic get the spot in front of you. Then of course there’s ‘shopping cart aisle rage’ resulting from the mad dash to the checkout counter
The fight for rights also had a larger, more dangerous tone as is evident whenever you turn on the news. Special interest groups demand their right ‘to choose’. Political groups demand the right to provide programs or funding for their own special projects. Children negotiate in order to get the toys they feel they have a ‘right to have’.
Not all ‘fights for rights’ are wrong of course. Many a war has been fought to protect the rights of those who are being victimized and brutalized. The question one must ask in the fight for rights, especially our personal rights, is who am I ultimately fighting for?
Society in general would never admit it perhaps, but ultimately their battle for rights revolves around their own personal, humanistic world view. For the believer in Christ, the battle for ‘rights’ must always look back to the cross. We don’t fight for ourselves, if we must fight, we fight for others protection for the glory of God.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m far from a political activist trying to start a new version of the crusades. When his disciples were ready to protect Jesus in the garden (a noble gesture I think) he told them to put the swords away and let God handle it.
Maybe that’s the key to effective warfare for our rights. We need to find the balance between standing for God’s standards as stated in his word, and yet be willing to let him fight his own battles in the street. After all, I don’t know about you, but God is considerably stronger, more experiences and better equipped to defend me and himself than I am!
Letting God fight my battles is full of risk though. First we need the wisdom to know when and how to fight. Secondly we need to patience to let the Lord handle what we can’t in his way and his power. That may mean pain on our part. We may experience times of loneliness, rejection or misunderstanding. The battle may take much longer than we were hoping. But true faith in a sovereign God means we trust him to win the ultimate battle. In spite of the fact that it may not go as we’d like, trusting God WILL bring ultimate victory over our physical and emotional enemies.
PRAYER: Father there are times when I get angry and I want to fight. The tools may be words or judgmental thoughts or even manipulation or force. Give me wisdom to know when and how I should fight, and patience during those times I need to hand it all over to you. Amen.
They all continued praying together with some women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, and Jesus’ brothers. Acts 1:14 (NCV)
Deep down inside we’ve all wanted to be accepted by our families. Our play often revolved around doing things ‘like mommy did’ or ‘like daddy did’. There are things we’d pick up on and emulate that now, looking back, probably weren’t the things our parents would have wanted us to notice, much less practice.
There are times when our desire to seek family acceptance can be a positive thing, but other times when that desire can impede our own success and keep us from using our gifts the way God wants us to. Following the footsteps of parents or siblings may or may not be the best practice.
It would have been interesting to see the dynamics of Jesus’ family as he was growing up. History tells us that he was about 30 when he entered the ministry and only ministered for about three years before being brutally murdered. That means that most of his life was lived in the ‘family setting’.
While each of us wants the approval of our family, the reality is that sometimes we have to set aside ‘what the family wants’ for what God wants. Those are hard words as it’s sometimes a fine line between following God and rejecting family. Jesus knew the importance of setting aside the desires of his earthly father for the desires of his Heavenly Father.
In the same way, the ultimate goal for each of us is to do the will of our Heavenly Father. We are called to use our gifts, our finances and our time for his glory. Hopefully that means our decision to follow God will meet with the favor of our family, but there are no guarantees.
At one point in his ministry Jesus’ family comes to speak to him. It was a pivotal time of his ministry and he wasn’t about to be distracted by earthly things. He looked around him and said (my paraphrase) ‘Look around you. Do these people. These are my family. Those who do the will of my Heavenly Father are my family!’
Was Jesus advocating rejection of family? No, he was teaching a principle to follow. If doing the will of the Father contradicts the desires of my family, I must choose Christ. I must do it prayerfully. I must do it gently and with great patience, grace and love. I must do it without bitterness, anger or condemnation of my family. But I must follow Christ.
There is no indication that many, if any of Jesus’ family followed him in ministry. We catch glimpses of his mother Mary from time to time, but it wasn’t until after his death that we see his brothers mentioned in Scripture. One became a church leader inJerusalem. Others were missionaries. His patience with family eventually paid off.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, these are hard words for me. I’d never really given much thought to the family dynamics you were a part of. There are times when I want so much for my family to see my point of view in following you, yet they seem to turn a deaf ear to the truth. Help me to follow you and be graceful with my brothers and sisters who have yet to see the light of your love. Amen.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Psalm 1:3
What does it take to be prosperous? The politician will tell you it’s more government programs or less government programs. The religionist will tell you it’s more piety and stricter adherence to rules and dogmas. Prosperity is almost always measured by what you do or what you have accomplished.
The Psalmist gives us a different picture. The psalmist tells us that true prosperity doesn’t come from listening to the ‘experts’ of the day. Rather, prosperity comes from a relationship with the heavenly Father.
A person who prospers in God’s kingdom may not have the fanciest toys; the biggest house; the most accolades tacked to the end of their names. Prosperity in God’s kingdom isn’t the corner office, the star student-athlete, the one who carries signs to bring about social change.
The Psalmist gives us a word picture of what the person of prosperity looks like. In theMiddle East, water was not always easy to find. The Egyptians and other groups learned that if they diverted the river into channels they could irrigate crops and orchards. This was a great asset during times of drought and allowed them to expand productive crop land beyond the limited borders of the streams and rivers.
In Psalm 1 the prosperous person is, first of all, planted. There is a picture of intentionality here. We aren’t just randomly placed trees along the banks of some river. We are planted. Placed where we are and when we are for a divine purpose for the glory of the Father. Trees planted near each other benefit one another.
Secondly we are planted by streams of water. The diversion of water for the trees caused a constant supply and a steady flow of life giving water that was unhindered by drought. Usually these trees were located in a valley that protected from storms. Their roots were able to grow deep, making the tree healthy and strong.
Lastly the prosperous person bears fruit in season. An apple tree is always an apple tree. From the time it sprouts from the seed until it grows to produce beautiful fruit it is an apple tree. It’s an apple tree when it’s full of leaves and blossoms, when it’s laden with apples; when it’s enduring the fall and winter cold.
Prosperity doesn’t mean we always bear fruit, it means we are always what God intends for us to be. A tree that would bear fruit constantly would grow tired, and its leaves wither. We also grow tired when we constantly try to produce the life we think God wants for us. Prosperity comes through maturity. Strength comes through rest. Fruit comes as we learn to balance the two of them.
Take a lesson from the tree planted by the streams of water. You were placed where you are at this time to glorify God. Prosperity won’t come from a bunch of activity. Rather it comes from growing in relationship with your Heavenly Father. Fruit may not come as often as you’d like, but if you are digging your roots deep into the soil of his word, it will come in season.
PRAYER: Lord, I want to prosper. Too often my view of prosperity comes from listening and walking with those whose prosperity isn’t the eternal kind you can give. Help me to dig deep in your word so that I can prosper according to your Kingdom. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 