In my old nature, I complain. The soup is too cold. The weather is too hot. The neighbor’s dog is too loud. The mail didn’t come on time. Blah. Blah. Blah. Apart from the grace of God, nothing would suit me.
The alternate to this vice is thanksgiving. God brings that into my life in surprising ways. Instead of smacking me for the whining, He continually blesses me. Then I am struck by grace and become grateful. I know He does this because of Jesus. It is not the way He worked in the Old Testament.
In Numbers 16 and 17, the people complained about their leaders, Moses and Aaron. God was so angry with their griping that He told Moses, “Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment” (Numbers 16:45).
Moses sent Aaron to quickly make atonement for the people because, “Wrath has gone out form the Lord. The plague has begun.” Aaron ran, and even though 14,700 died for their griping, “he stood between the dead and the living; so the plague was stopped.”
When I read this, I tried to remember when God taught me to respect church leaders. I can’t, but I know that I do. Perhaps having leadership jobs made me realize that all leaders have challenges that followers do not fully understand. If they did, they would encourage them, not belly-ache.
In the narrative from Numbers, God asked Moses to prove to the people that He knew what He was doing in His choice of leaders. The heads of all the families were take twelve rods and place them in the tabernacle. Then He said, “The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.”
The staff of Aaron sprouted. It not only sprouted, but put forth buds, produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds! This was to be kept “as a sign against the rebels” so their complaints could be put away from God, “lest they die.”
The people got the message. They were terrified, and so they should be. If a person cannot follow a human leader appointed by God (and the Bible says He is responsible for setting up all leaders) then how can they listen to and follow God?
I read a statement years ago that has stuck with me. It said something like this: If a child will not obey their parents, then they need to learn obedience to their teachers. If they will not obey their teachers, then they must listen to higher authorities, perhaps the police. If they will not listen and learn to obey the police, then they may well fall into the hands of the Living God. Teach your children to listen and obey.
Obedience to God is expressed by obedience to those in authority. Scripture has much to say about who that is, in the church, in family life, in society. Leaders need our support and prayer. They also need us to follow them. In that process, He protects me from foolish leadership because He will deal with those who lead amiss. They are responsible to God for their leadership and all their decisions.
However, if I am griping and complaining about what they do, then I make them responsible to me — and by doing that, I then become responsible to God for my failure to do what I am told and fall in the direct path of His discipline.
When our oldest son was about 6-8, he used to ‘what if.’ He came in from stepping on a bug with a story something like this: “What if I had not stepped on that bug. What if it grew and multiplied and there were thousands more like it. What if those kinds of bugs took over the world, and there was no room for people . . . .”
His mighty ‘visions’ seemed to have disappeared with childhood, but the world could use more people who say “what if” and dream big dreams.
Jesus’ disciples were not very good at this, at least not in the beginning. When the multitudes were hungry and they had no food, Jesus asked His followers, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat.”
There were no supermarkets for miles. The disciples were stumped. Philip said they didn’t have enough money even if they could find a store big enough. Andrew, with perhaps a bit more initiative, took stock to see what was on hand. His findings? “There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?”
It took Andrew a while to realize that God doesn’t need much. From nothing, He spoke the world into existence, creatio ex nihilo! When we give Him our lives and our service, which often seem nothing in our sight, He can and does use us to do His will, great things and small.
I know from experience that I can never second-guess God, nor will He do the things I imagine. Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think . . . ” so my imagination is far below the creativity of God. Yet that verse finishes with “ . . . according to the power that works in us.” God can work from nothing, but by His sovereign will, He decides to use the little things we give Him, sometimes seemingly insignificant things.
Last night on the way home from two FIFA World Soccer games, I sat on the transit beside a young woman engrossed in a book. Curious, I glanced at it and saw the title was about being a confident woman. I glanced again, this time at the text. It said, “You must learn to think about yourself according to what God says about you, not what your friends say, nor even what your own inner voices say.”
When she put the book in her bag, I said, “Good book?” She smiled and agreed. Then I said, “My granddaughter rides this transit every day. I hope someday she sits beside exactly the right person.”
She smiled, said yes, and nodded. Then I said, “Maybe that person will be you.”
The bell rang for her stop, but she glowed with the joy that spills out of Christian hearts and smiled and nodded again in harmony with my desire.
It took a little courage and a small boldness to say what I said, and I certainly cannot imagine what it did do or will do in her heart or her actions. However, when I read the miracle again this morning in John 6, I marvel at what Jesus can do. I offer to Him that very small ‘lunch’ and trust He will use it, perhaps in ways that I may never see, to feed someone, maybe many even a multitude.
My husband’s CLL plus his recent heart attack require extra care. We have changed a few things in our lifestyle, lost some weight, and are doing quite well. However, stress is a big threat to Bob’s immune system. It cannot be totally avoided, but the doctor says we are supposed to do our best.
A few months ago, I told our granddaughter that if her behavior was stressful for her grandfather, she would either have to change it, or not live with us. This week, after seeking the Lord’s will in the matter, I had to tell her again. He gave me peace in that decision, and peace with her decision. Rather than change, she decided she will move out.
It is the desire of our hearts that she, and others that we love, know the Lord and walk with Him. While we know He can reach them with or without us, and that He can bring the gospel to them in unexpected ways, I must have needed some assurance.
Yesterday on my daily walk, I walked by the bus stop where our granddaughter sits every morning on her way to work. She had already left. As I passed the glass enclosure, I noticed two pieces of paper on the bench. One was a postcard, the other had a lot of writing on it, including the words “John 3:16.”
Later in the day, I found copies of the same papers stuffed under our front doormat. One side of the larger sheet had the familiar one-verse gospel message, the other side printed it out plainly and in more detail.
I’ve no idea if our granddaughter read it or not. That would be wonderful, but seeing this bread from heaven in a place where she could have read it made my heart sing. God is not limited. He can provide the gospel with or without me, and no matter where she goes.
This morning’s devotional reading affirmed that. Jesus and His disciples were on a mountain with a multitude of hungry people. “Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?’ But this He said to test him, for He Himself knew what He would do.”
I relate. God affirmed that it is time for this girl to be on her own, but like the multitude, she will become hungry, physically and spiritually. (She already is, but doesn’t realize it.) Jesus tests me, not by asking me to supply her needs (she has rejected all offers, even some of them being actual food), but to let her go, like the prodigal son, to find out some realities she cannot learn under our protection. Will I trust her in His care?
The disciples were at a loss with the huge challenge that faced them. One of them finally found a little bit of food and Jesus took that little bit and made it sufficient. “And Jesus took the loaves, and when He had given thanks He distributed them to the disciples, and the disciples to those sitting down; and likewise of the fish, as much as they wanted.”
Jesus is not limited by my lack of faith, nor any inabilities or futile efforts. He does not falter when it looks impossible to feed anyone. He took a few loaves and fishes from a child to feed 5000 men (and likely twice that in women and children) and He can take a small tract and put it in a bus stop to feed anyone who comes there hungry and picks it up.
He also knows our limits. He didn’t chasten the disciples for not having eight months wages worth of food in their backpacks. He does not chasten Bob and me for not being able to tolerate (without stress) nearly a year of no effort to follow some very simple household rules. Some people have to learn some things the hard way, and some people have to become very hungry before they are ready to come to the Bread of Life and eat.
However, even with His assurance and His peace in my heart, this is a steep mountain for this disciple.
The practice of generous giving is difficult for a person with Scottish blood in their veins. At least that could be my excuse. More true is the simple fact that often I don’t trust God to supply all my needs when I need something, so hoard whatever stuff I have, “just in case” I need it.
But I’m learning. Last weekend I gave away a lot of my time, and with the size of my to-do list, this was a sacrifice. I did it for the Lord and for my family. Monday (a holiday) and yesterday, He gave it back to me. Those two days seemed to have double the normal hours, and I caught up all that I felt I’d neglected on the weekend.
2 Corinthians 9:6-8 pokes at my heart every time I read it. It says, “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.”
God wants generous, spontaneous, willing, unpressured giving. Not out of guilt or a sense of duty. Not out of the expectations of others. Not with a tight-lipped sense of being deprived.
It happens. Last week, He put on my heart to bake a birthday cake and deliver it, late at night when I’d rather be in bed. It was a spontaneous act and I knew it was a God-thing. The day after that, someone expressed a need without any expectations from me. God put on my heart to do something about it. No pressure. Giving is easy when God is in it.
There is a totally different sense when the impulse or pressure comes from another source. When people expect something from me, or take it for granted that “good old Elsie” will do it, I feel uncomfortable, put upon. It isn’t that I don’t want to accommodate, but that God isn’t telling me to, or if He is, I cannot hear Him alongside those loud demands.
When that happens, I resist, feel guilty, and struggle with the call of God to be generous, and the words in this passage that say it should be a heart-felt, no-pressure, joyful act.
The other confusion is from Jesus’ words about “If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have your cloak also.” Does that mean that I should be generous to everyone who expects it? To everyone that holds out their hand?
I don’t think so. I read this again and in context. Jesus is talking about non-retaliation, not generosity. He is not asking that I to give to every hand that is held out, or that I look the other way when someone does wrong or is aggressive. He is taking about how to behave if someone tries to do me wrong. My role is not to fight back with demands about my personal rights. Situations like this are not about my rights.
There is a point to all this. Someone is expecting me to fork over all the time, without any appreciation or concern that they are putting a burden on me. My inner fight involves my thrifty nature, selfishness, a sense of duty, and verses like “God is able to make all grace abound toward you . . . .”
Last night I heard another idea: What is best for this person? Instead of being anxious about giving or not giving and the pressures put on me, this isn’t about me. God says to be generous, yet also not to “cast your pearls” before anyone who simply gobbles them up. If my generosity makes the recipient sin all the more, then it is not generosity but enablement.
As I toss about all this and seek His will to know what to do, again I have to say that this Christian life is often complicated, but never boring.
When my parents died, they left me a portion of their resources and personal things like green glass salt and pepper shakers from the back of Mother’s stove. My inheritance is even richer because they were such good parents and gave us a strong and loving family environment. I also inherited wonderful memories. Yesterday, when I was sorting old photographs, some of those memories flooded back. What a delight!
My heavenly Father has also blessed me with His resources and a loving family environment. When I read today’s verse, my mind was filled with memories and good thoughts all over again.
I was reading a section in Deuteronomy 4 that warns the Israelites about idolatry. He tells them that since God has no form, they are not to make carved images to use in worship. They are also not to make idols of the sun, moon and stars, for God created them. Then He says in verse 20, “But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as you are this day.”
An iron furnace was used to heat raw ore so it could be shaped into useful tools and instruments. The people of God experienced bondage in Egypt, and in that bondage God softened them so they could follow Him and serve Him rather than be enslaved in a land that was not their own.
My Egypt is my old life before Christ. It represents the bondage of sin that still tries to pull me back. I fight it because serving that taskmaster is hard labor. Oh, it looks good in the beginning, and serving God can be hard labor too, but over the years, God’s furnace keeps burning out the resistance in my heart. He wants someone who is useful, malleable and pliable in His service, someone free from sin’s demands.
As I think about being His child, I’m overwhelmed. Imagine the God who created the sun, moon and stars even wanting me to belong to Him! I have no brilliance. He is awesome, His glory above all things. How incredible that He loves and accepts sinners such as I, then works in us to make us better people!
Another word grabs my heart: inheritance. One of my Bible dictionaries says that inheritance means: “the passing of property at the owner’s death to those entitled to succeed. Unlike ancient Near Eastern society, which bestowed the legal status of son or daughter with rights to inherit upon a stranger through adoption, Israelite law recognized only family relationships of blood kinship. Furthermore, the patriarchal structure of Israelite society was based on the agnatic family in which only blood relatives on the father’s side were considered family and hence entitled to inherit.” Further, land and other possessions belonged to families, not individuals.
The Israelite’s had a complicated system of inheritance. The word is used over 300 times in the Bible showing how important this is for God’s people. A couple of things stand out in defining how I am God’s inheritance.
First, He died so that I might belong to Him. That is major. Sin separated me from God and kept me from Him. The death of Jesus Christ changed all that. My sin is forgiven, and I have been adopted into the family of God, yet not like the adoption in the above definition. According to the New Testament, my adoption made me a true child, a relative by blood because Jesus shed His blood to make it so, and because the very Son of God lives in me and unites Himself with me. I am now His family, a blood relative on my Father’s side. I belong to God.
As God’s inheritance, I also receive an inheritance. 1 Corinthians 3:21-23 says all things are mine, including “the world or life or death, or things present or things to come . . . .” Through the death of Christ, I inherit abundant life in this world, eternal life in the next, and all good and holy things. I belong to Jesus, and Jesus belongs to me!
Yet this is a family thing. Those who inherit and those who are God’s inheritance are members of His family. We are in this together. Like any family, we have our ups and downs, but I am so thankful and filled with joy today because God has blessed me with Himself, a great Parent, and the privilege of a loving family environment where we share resources and together create wonderful memories.
Christians have spiritual gifts from God to help us minister to one another and to those outside the church. While we have varying views on what the gifts are, we agree that God gives them to us and every Christian has at least one.
I’ve taught classes on this topic, and usually narrow the focus to what are called ‘motivational gifts’ from the list of gifts in Romans 12. These are less about what a person does and more about who we are, what motivates us, how we think problems should be solved. For instance, a teacher is a person who loves to gather information and pass it on. They want people to think right and if they do, they will act right. This gift produces make good teachers, but also excellent research workers, librarians and so on.
Another example is those gifted in exhortation. They want to see people making progress. With an eye toward the future, they will prod and encourage others to move ahead.
Every person has all seven of the gifts listed in Romans 12, yet some are more dominant than others. Taking the survey at GIFT TEST is a good way to find out which rise to the top and which are lacking. That short quiz, and others I’ve taken, show me that I’m strong in teaching but low in mercy and compassion. People who know me sometimes kindly say, “oh, but you are compassionate” yet most of them agree that this is not my strength.
I tend to be far less concerned about the way a person is feeling and more interested in the way they think. In my mind, if someone is thinking right, their feelings will fall into line. A friend who is strong in compassion tells me that no one can think right unless they are feeling good. We agree that in some situations, her perspective is the one needed, and in other cases, mine works better to help an upset person get back on track.
In other words, both gifts are needed. The key is knowing what to do in each situation. Case in point this morning is the familiar story of the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:29-37.
A man “fell among thieves” on the road to Jericho, was wounded and left half dead. A priest went by, perhaps a man gifted in prophetic ability or maybe even administration (I’m guessing), but moved to the other side of the road and kept going.
A Levite also came along, looked at the man in the ditch, then passed by as well. Who knows what his gifts were, but he didn’t stop to help, perhaps because the man in the ditch was not one of the elite members of that culture, as he supposed of himself? Again, I’m guessing.
The next person to come by was from Samaria and despised by most Jews. In fact, it was dangerous for him to be traveling this road, not only because of thieves, but because of the hostility of other travelers in this Jewish part of the world. The victim in the ditch was likely even one who normally hated people from Samaria.
Verse 33 and following says, “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion . . . he went to him . . . bandaged his wounds, pouring in oil and wine . . . set him on his own animal, brought him to an in, and took care of him.”
Compassion and showing mercy may be spiritual gifts, but they are also part of what it means to be made in the image of God. Compassion moves people to action. Compassion feels the pain of those in pain and does what is needed to alleviate the pain and restore the hurting person to normal. Compassion costs something.
The story conveys the suggestion that this Samaritan had a busy schedule, but he took time to bind the man’s wounds and get him to a safe place. He paid for a room at the inn and gave the innkeeper enough money to continue the man’s care. He was willing to return and repay any other costs incurred. He dropped everything for a little while because he had compassion.
I wonder what I would have done. I joke that I’m lousy at hospital visits because I tend to want to take every sick person a book, but in the case of the man in the ditch, I might have struggled with fear. Would I be safe to take care of a total stranger? What would I do if he was faking it and lying in prey? Maybe he would be someone who hates the people of God? Then what? Or what if this was more than I could handle? What if my good intentions were harmful, not helpful?
People with compassion don’t worry about themselves. They just do it. When I read this story today, that is the first thing that popped into my mind. The next time I see someone in need, just do it. Help them. Feel for them. Quit thinking about yourself all the time.
Some people say I have the capacity for compassion even if the gift tests test score this motivational gift at the bottom of my list. My own theology also says because God made me in His image, I can show mercy just as He does. Not only that, Jesus commands I be compassionate and merciful toward others. Certainly there are opportunities. The world around me is filled with many hurting and needy people.
And I just ran out of excuses.
I’ve been reading a serious book by Greg Harris called The Cup and the Glory. It starts out in the gospels where the disciples ask Jesus to give them places of honor when He comes into His glory. Jesus told them that they did not know what they were asking, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”
Harris points out that the disciples didn’t have a clue what it would take to make them ready to receive the request that they asked. He skillfully shows that many of our prayers in general, and even the deepest and truest desires of our hearts to become more spiritual, more like Jesus, are accompanied by a blindness to what God needs to do to answer our prayers.
It isn’t that God is unable to do what we ask. He can in a heartbeat. But we block Him. We ask for patience and He sends tribulation (“tribulation produces patience,” Romans 5:3), then we pray and ask Him to deliver us from the tribulation. We don’t know what we ask.
I have been praying for unsaved family for years. I’ve often felt that God is not doing what only He can do in their lives because I need to change, that I’m not ready for the answer. Either that, or He is using this situation to build faith and patience in me, to test my faithfulness, to help me draw closer to Him.
At the same time, I don’t want to be a hindrance to His blessing in the lives of anyone, never mind those so close to my heart. So this morning, I asked Him to show me what He needs to do in me before He answers those prayers. At least then I can cooperate instead of fighting whatever He sends to change me, to make me ready for what He will do.
I’m sure that this morning’s request will take a long time to answer, but for today, He takes me to Ephesians 4:1-3. It says, “I, therefore, (Paul) the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
At first this seemed an odd answer. Then I remembered the Lego lesson from yesterday and looked for specific directions. I found them in a section of the Bible Knowledge Commentary. It says, “Attitudes of humility, gentleness, and patience foster unity among Christians. Having stated these three virtues, Paul then stated the manner in which they are to be carried out in one’s conduct: bearing with one another in love and making every effort (the Gr. has a participle, ‘making every diligent effort’) to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. Christians are not to make unity but to keep or guard what God made in creating the ‘one new man’ (Eph. 2:15-16). They are to keep this unity ‘through the bond’ which consists of ‘peace.’ Concern for peace will mean that Christians will lovingly tolerate each other, even when they have differences.”
My next steps are now clearer. Learn more of humility, gentleness, and patience. These virtues will show up in how I interact with my church family. I’m to be more concerned about unity and peace than I am about our differences, so begin there.
I wonder if these attitudes will spill over into my relationships with our unsaved family? No doubt. However, for right now, I’m to see the face of Christ and ask Him to demonstrate in me His lowliness, kindness and long-suffering. I already know I can’t do this without Him.
At the same time, I think about Harris’ book. It is a joy and a wonder to be like Jesus because He fills me with Himself and shines through me. It is quite a different experience to have the Holy Spirit go to work on me and get rid of all that which is not like Jesus. In this case, it is my pride, my harsh or a hard attitudes, and my impatience.
What will it take? I don’t know, but that is the cup that He asks me to drink.
In my old nature, I complain. The soup is too cold. The weather is too hot. The neighbor’s dog is too loud. The mail didn’t come on time. Blah. Blah. Blah. Apart from the grace of God, nothing would suit me.