#41 THE DOING OF LOVING: KINDNESS

     One of the most effective tools we have in “winning the world for Christ” is kindness. Most people recognize the good feelings that being kind brings both to the doer and the receiver–how many of us have enjoyed participating in “random acts of kindness?” Just imagine what the world would look like if we lived lives of kindness day in and day out. But, the power of kindness goes beyond just helping people in tangible ways and feeling good about it. Kindness is the direct antidote to the inner anger (sometimes raging anger) some of us deal with as we walk through this world.

     Paul gave an excellent description of love in I Corinthians 13:4-8 and began with the words “Love is patient, love is kind…” My concordance defines the adjective “kind” with the words “to be useful, beneficial,” so, as far as God is concerned, one of the main purposes of our lives is to be useful and beneficial to our neighbors. Wow! You know, Christ told us that we are not to judge others (Matthew 7:1-5), but that we are to love them (Mark 12:28-31). I wonder what would happen if we took him seriously and changed our approach to sharing the gospel from speaking words against things to being kind to everyone.  Also, if we want to truly be useful and beneficial to others, one of the best things we can do is to pray God’s blessings upon them. Just imagine.

     Rage is a huge problem in our world today. It seems like the more stuff we have, the more opportunities we have to be angry. Just look at a typical day and count all the opportunities we have to get riled up about someone or something. If we’re not careful, even the smallest of upsets can lead us to the point of anger. More than ever, Colossians 3:8 is practical advice for today, “But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.” One way of looking at this advice is that we kick anger and its cohorts out and replace them with kindness.

     Going on, another aspect of kindness is generosity. Many times, we equate being generous with giving money to people, but this quality goes much deeper than finances. A kind person first is generous in attitude before any actions ever take place. To live a life of consistent kindness demands discipline in thought, speech, and actions. In other words, kindness takes a lot of conversation with God and a lot of self-talk. Of course, like most everything else, the generosity of kindness takes practice–practice of freely smiling at people, of saying pleasant things to people, and of acting to help people whenever we have opportunity.

     I think sometimes we equate kindness with being wimpy–we’re often warned not to let people walk all over us. But, kindness is not for cowards. Kindness is one of the most aggressive forces in our world today. In fact, every time we’re kind when circumstances tell us to retaliate, we are sticking it to the kingdom of evil. By returning good for evil, we are proving our relationship with God. Listen to what Luke 6:35-36 says, “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Christ said it loud and clear–God’s sons are kind! Here is something we can hold onto, a rubric of sorts. We can look at our own thoughts, words, and actions and evaluate them. If we have a hard time being kind, we can always run to God for knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. He is ready and willing to help us overcome and to help us be kind.

     So far, we’ve been discussing exhibiting kindness to those around us, but we should also consider being kind to ourselves. When Christ was talking about the two greatest laws, he said we should love our neighbors as ourselves. In today’s world with all of its noise about how we are failing in so many ways and about how we can improve ourselves, sometimes we can be tempted to beat up on ourselves. Paul had experiences with being tempted to beat up on himself–he described how he felt during those times in Romans 7. The gist of his complaint is found in verses 15 and 24, “For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate….Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” The spiritual giant of the New Testament Church was having a real problem within himself. Seriously, this circumstance in his life could have caused him to give up on himself and on God, but it didn’t. Listen to what he wrote two verses later in Romans 8:1, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Paul found his answer–he needed to stop beating himself up! God did not condemn him for being human, so he shouldn’t either.

     We are all human beings with both strengths and weaknesses. Sure, we all have different combinations of the strengths and weakness, but underneath all the different outworkings, we are all the same. One of the reasons Christ went to the cross was to make the way for God to help us overcome everything that stands in the way of the life that only He can give. We should never look at ourselves as being any better than or any worse than anyone else. If we have problems being kind to ourselves, God is ready and willing to help us see ourselves as He sees us–we are His beloved children.

     This post wraps up our discussions about the doings of the sons of God. While we haven’t covered every possible aspect of our walk as sons of God, the doings of believing, praying, and loving can give us a foundation to build our lives with God. We are also heading to the end of the posts that will be included in my proposed book. The next topic we are going to discuss is the return of Christ. I don’t think we can fully understand God’s absolute love without looking at what still needs to be accomplished before the kingdom of evil is totally demolished. So, I would like to leave you with a concept to think about before next week’s post. I know many people think that the return of Christ will entail overwhelming destruction and loss–they believe our world will end as we know it. What if the return of Christ means that the kingdom of evil loses every bit of power that Satan and his cohorts have exerted over the human race? What if the return of Christ signifies the full manifestation of God’s absolute love which is perfect, complete, and real? What if we all will breathe a huge sigh of relief…

     All scriptures are from the NASB. As always, please feel free to comment–just be respectful!

 

     ©2009-2010 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, May 9th 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in THE "DOINGS" OF A SON OF GOD

#40 THE DOING OF LOVING: FORGIVENESS

     Forgiveness. Something most of us know we have to receive and to give, but something that seems impossible at times. Christ put such an importance on forgiveness. Once when a paralytic was lowered through the roof of Christ’s home (Mark 2:1-12), the first words out of Christ’s mouth were, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” As those in the house began reasoning within themselves that Christ had no right to forgive sins because “…who can forgive sins but God alone,” Christ healed the paralytic “…so that you may know that the Son of Man hath authority on earth to forgive sins.” At this point, Christ introduced a totally new concept into the Hebrew tradition–that human beings had the authority to forgive sins. (If you check a concordance for the words with “forgive” as their stem, all Old Testament references equate forgiveness with God’s actions, not man’s.) Later on in Mark 11:22-26, Christ went a step further when he connected human forgiving human to the ability to have prayers answered; listen to verses 25 and 26:

  Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is heaven will also forgive you for your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is heaven forgive your transgressions. 

Or, in other words, what God does for us depends on what we do. If we do not forgive, then God will not forgive us and we should not expect answers to our prayers. Now, a question that could pop up is, “Well, didn’t Christ take care of that for us on the cross?” Yes, this is a paradox–Christ died for our forgiveness and took care of sin once and for all, but God may not forgive what we do. Let’s see if we can put it in different terms–God cannot help us take advantage of what Christ accomplished on the cross if we refuse to forgive. If this happens, then we will live as if we were not the sons of God.

     One of the qualities of love listed in I Corinthians 13:4-7 is “Love…does not take into account a wrong suffered.” If we are to love our neighbors as ourselves then we cannot keep track of how anyone has sinned. Forgiveness is intertwined with love to the point where we cannot separate them–if we love, we forgive and if we forgive, we love. In fact, to take this line of thought a step further, Christ linked forgiving others as an integral component of becoming a son of God. Listen his words in John 20:23 as he breathed on his disciples as an outward sign of the new birth, “…If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.” The power of forgiveness lies in our hands.

    Right now, let’s reflect a little bit–what was your reaction to my last statement? Was it, “Oh, dear, I guess I’ll have to forgive people…” or was it, “Yeah, I get to forgive as many people as I can…” In my own experience, it took a number of years before I moved from the first reaction to the second, but once I understood the power of forgiveness, I decided I wanted in on the action. What really set me free was a situation that I faced over twenty years ago. The church my family was attending was tossed into some sudden turbulence and emotions were intense. I made a statement to someone which was misinterpreted and which resulted in a phone call where I was roundly scolded. I thought the whole circumstance was out of order and totally unfair, and even though I knew I needed to forgive the caller, I couldn’t. My husband told me just to forgive, but that was much easier said than done. I was upfront and honest with God and I avoided taking communion during that time in order to avoid being a hypocrite. I was in my prayer closet with the Lord for six months tussling with my inability to forgive, and over those months, God gave me the knowledge, understanding, and wisdom I needed to forgive. The time came when I could hug the caller, assure this person of my love, and mean it from my heart. This episode began to open my eyes to some concepts about forgiveness that God has built in my life over the years.

     First, forgiveness is a choice. Once I realized that, I was able to separate what I felt from what I chose. Quite frankly, there have been times that, had I based my actions on what I felt, forgiveness would not have found a place in my life and I would not have benefitted from God’s knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. At those times, I just chose to forgive because that was what the Bible tells us to do. If I wanted to please God, then I would have to forgive, period! Believe it or not, putting my decision in those terms gave me the extra push I needed to do the right thing. The longer I kept at it, the easier it became.

     Next, the outworking of forgiveness can be a process. Most of us have times where we forgive, then before we know it, the ill-feelings return. I’ve learned over the years that ill-feelings do not equal unforgiveness. If I struggle with my feelings, then I climb up into God’s lap, snuggle close to Him, and start talking with Him. He is the One who knows how to deal with those ill-feelings and He certainly doesn’t mind me asking Him for help.

     Also, forgiveness is unlimited. Christ set the example for us as he hung on the cross, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). The “them” in Christ’s statement could include everyone from Adam and Eve onward because the word is so open-ended. And, when Christ told the disciples that whosever sins they forgave would be forgiven, he didn’t limit them. Once I grabbed hold of that, I started asking God if I could forgive everyone because people who “sin” do it because they don’t understand God’s absolute love. There is so much deception in our world that many people don’t have any inkling of who God is and what He had done for us all. By forgiving everyone, I have an input into their lives and can legitimately ask God to break through the deceptions and to show everyone His absolute love and the power that love can have in our lives.

     Now, the questions may arise, “Won’t forgiving everyone backfire? What if someone really does you wrong? Then, what?” There’s this little verse in Proverbs that I stand on, “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him” (Proverbs 16:7). You see, when I choose to please God, then I have confidence that if anyone wishes to hurt me in any way, God will make him or her be at peace with me. Also, I go back to Romans 8:28 which says “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” I love God with everything I have and His purpose is that I love my neighbors (which, in my eyes, includes everyone in the world)–I am called to that purpose. God will work everything to my good (and I believe, to the good of everyone else), and He will help me replace any unforgiveness in my life with forgiveness and love.

     All scriptures are taken from the NASB. As always, feel free to comment–just keep it respectful.

 

     ©2009-2010 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, April 25th 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in THE "DOINGS" OF A SON OF GOD

#39 THE DOING OF LOVING: FREEDOM

     Long before Hal David and Burt Bacharach wrote the song “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” Christ honed in on the one force that will change our world forever. One day, a lawyer, wanting to test him, asked him what the greatest commandment in the Law was, and Christ centered on this greatest need of our world:

  And (Christ) said to (the lawyer), ” ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and Prophets.”                                                                                            Matthew 22:37-40 (NASB)

Love–such a simple concept, yet so hard to attain. I know I have struggled with the call to love, and I’m fairly sure many others have, too. I’ve found that it’s easy to love God in the middle of a glorious worship service, but what about the times when our prayers seem to hit concrete ceilings and nothing changes when we really need change? In those times of our greatest unmet needs, those little niggling voices inside us whisper, “If God really loves you, He would…” If we’re not careful, those little voices can grow into clanging choruses that push us away from God and from the power of His absolute love.

     To love God with everything we have takes focus and determination. Loving God demands that we know who He is because love implies intimacy. We can’t fully love God on the basis of what other people say–our knowledge of Him has to be up close and personal. In a world of discordant voices, we face a challenge in just finding out who God really is and meeting that challenge can be hard work. (Or, in other words, loving God with everything we have is not a piece of cake.)  However, just because a task is hard doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Christ promised in Matthew 7:7-8 that if we ask, we will receive answers. So, the first step in loving God with everything we have is to find out who He is.

     Just becoming sons of God does not mean we automatically love God. Listen to the words found in Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NKJV) and see both the requirements and the benefits of loving God with everything we have:

  “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the LORD your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days…

Did you catch the words for He is your life? This is why God worked with the Israelites and why Christ was so insistent on the love relationship between God and humans. By loving God with everything we have, by listening to and doing what He says, and by clinging to Him, we are choosing life and blessings. God gave us the freedom of choice–He does not force us to love Him with everything we have–and He asks us to love Him so we can benefit from that love. Any way we look at it, loving God with everything we have may take time and effort, but the outcomes are well worth what we put into this relationship.

     Now comes the sticky part. Even though we may need to put time and effort into loving God, at least we know He loves us; in fact, He loved us first (I John 4:19). However, the second commandment that Christ referred to as he was answering the lawyer’s question in Matthew 22–loving our neighbors as we love ourselves–doesn’t begin with love being given to us, but with us initiating love to our neighbors. And, the toughest part of loving our neighbors as ourselves is that, when we initiate that love, we have no guarantee that it will be reciprocated. Yet, Christ was firm in encouraging believers to love those around them, and he set the ultimate example for us when he died on the cross.

     Over the years, as I have walked with God, I have worked out a few concepts that have helped me overcome my reluctance to love my neighbors. (I’m going to concentrate on one for the rest of this post and will discuss the others over the final two posts of this series.) One of the biggest hindrances to me loving my neighbors has been the judgments I have made about the people around me. I can see why Christ told his followers not to judge others (Matthew 7:1-5)–those judgments definitely impact my ability to love those around me. God has ministered several things to me that have helped me overcome this common tendency.

     First, one day as I was reading in Romans 1 about the things that signified depraved minds in people, I landed on Romans 2:1 which spoke volumes to me. Listen to what that verse says, “Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.” I saw God’s point in what He was saying to me, “Listen. Of course, people are acting in ‘horrendous’ ways, but that’s none of your business. If you judge them, then you are in danger of falling into the same traps.” At that point, I began considering a new aspect of why some people have problem behaviors. Overall, with the exception of a few mild dramas, I have lived a relatively pain-free life. Many people who have struggled with the behaviors described in Romans 1 have had traumatic lives–how would I be acting if I had lived their lives? Frankly, I would probably be involved in some of the same behaviors. So, who am I to judge anyone when what our behaviors are often the results of circumstances that most of us have no control over? Once I understood this, I asked God to help me to not judge other people. 

     As God has helped me navigate through the multiple opportunities I have to judge people, He has taught several ways to deal with my tendency to judge. Number one, as I just said, is to realize that I am no “angel” myself–I have enough on my hands just keeping my act straight, much less being concerned about anyone else’s. Number two, I pray for people, not that they will stop “sinning,” but that they will know and understand the depth of God’s absolute love for them as individuals. As people discover the depth and the power of God’s love, they will deal with their own destructive behaviors (we all have them) in their own prayer closets. Finally, when I look at people, I don’t see them as stereotypical people, but as individuals who are loved by God. This reality puts every other person in our world on the same level as me–who am I to judge anyone else?

     By not judging other people, I am giving them the same freedom that I have to choose life or death, blessings or cursings. I do not want to be forced to follow anyone else’s ideas of what my relationship with God should look like: therefore, I am not going to push my expectations on anyone else. Now, I know someone may be thinking “But, what if another person does you wrong? What are your expectations then?” Good question and one that we will discuss in my next post…

     As always, please feel free to comment–just be respectful!

     ©2009-20101 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, April 18th 2010 | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in THE "DOINGS" OF A SON OF GOD

#17 I HAVE LOVED JACOB

     When Isaac was ready to get married, Abraham sent his trusted servant back to his homeland to find a wife for the young man. When the servant returned with Rebekah, Isaac fell in love with her and wanted to have children with her. When Rebekah’s inability to conceive became apparent, Isaac prayed for her and she soon was pregnant with twin boys. Those two sons–Esau and Jacob–then became the focus of God’s promise to Abraham (Genesis 25-36).

     Looking back at that time, Malachi 1:2-3 (NASB) relates God’s words about the two sons of Isaac and Rebekah: “…Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau…”  Wow, that smacks of favoritism, doesn’t it? God loved one son and hated the other.  And, not only that, but in the New Testament, Paul went even further when he tried to explain what Malachi had written: “…for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls” (Romans 9:11).  Again, was God playing favorites or worse–was He explicitedly condemning Esau to destruction and promoting Jacob to blessings?

     I believe if we think this situation through and look at some additional scriptures, we can find the underlying reasoning behind God’s statements and can find out just what He meant. First, from statements made by Isaiah (41:1,5) and Jeremiah (1:5), we can infer that, when parents are believers, they bring God into their children’s lives before the babies are conceived. Or, in other words, believing parents sanctify their future offspring. (Now, that’s not to say that God doesn’t have his eyes on all babies, but that we can be confident that believers set their children apart through prayer.) With this in mind, let’s think about what God told Rebekah when she asked Him about the war that seemed to be going on in her belly. He answered her by telling her two nations were fighting inside of her and that the elder would serve the younger (Genesis 25:23). Let’s be practical here–if the Bible is real, God is the Creator of DNA and the genetic composition of physical beings (something none of the biblical writers knew about). Thus, we can surmise that He knew the personality of each twin, He knew they were fraternal twins, He knew their personalities were going to clash, and He knew their position in Rebekah’s womb.

     Now, in order to keep His promise to Abraham, which would involve the founding of the nation of Israel and the establishment of the human lineage of Jesus Christ, God had to chose one of the twins to be Isaac’s heir. I believe God chose Jacob based on his personality traits–after all, this twin was determined to get his own way even during birth by trying to pull Esau out of the way. This resolve to reach his goals brought focus to Jacob’s life. Esau, on the other hand, seemed to live for the moment, as was evidenced by his willingness to “sell” his birth right to Jacob for food (Genesis 25:29-34). God knew that the nation of Israel was going to have to be determined in order to endure Satan’s onslaught to destroy it, so He needed to chose the twin who had the personality to persist whether that child was the first born or not. From God’s perspective, Jacob was the logical choice.

     As the twins grew up, God’s wisdom in choosing Jacob became apparent. Esau had a rebellious streak a mile long–he was disobedient to his parents big time (Genesis 26:34-35)–while Jacob listened to his parents and obeyed them even when deceit was involved (Genesis 27:6-29). Jacob also sought God and thought things through. For example, when his uncle Laban tried several times to get the best of him, Jacob was able to endure and to win what he wanted (Genesis 28-31).

     One final thought–when God said He loved Jacob and hated Esau, He was not talking about His emotional state of mind. Rather, God was talking about His choice of who would father the nation that would bring forth Jesus Christ. We should remember that Isaac also blessed Esau and God honored that blessing. In spite (or should I say, because) of Esau’s tendency to live for the moment, the man did prosper. By the time Jacob came back home, Esau was ready to welcome him with open arms and total forgiveness (Genesis 33). In a sense, God temporarily “hated” Esau to move His plan forward so that Esau and all of his descendants would take part in the promises of Isaiah 25:6-8. Along with the rest of the human race, Esau will see God swallow up death in victory!

     As always, please feel free to comment–just be sure to be respectful of everyone.

 

     ©2009 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

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patriciazell, September 7th 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , , ,
Posted in THE OLD TESTAMENT

#1 HOW ABSOLUTE IS GOD’S LOVE?

     Are we kidding ourselves about the love of God? We talk about how much He loves the world and try to excuse the evil in the world with the concept of God’s sovereignty–you know, God has mysterious reasons for allowing evil to happen. After all, the ultimate responsibility for what happens in our world has to lie at God’s door–He is all powerful, isn’t He? We’ll just have to wait until we all die and get to Heaven. It will be glorious and we will find our answers then.

     NO!  And, I mean a thousand times, NO!

     In Isaiah 1:18, God is quoted with these words, “Come now, and let us reason together…” In order to reason with us, God has to be rational and intellectual and has to be available to confer with us. I believe He is just waiting for us to take  the time to think things through with Him. After all, God cared enough about us understanding Him and what is happening in our world that He led people to write, edit, translate, and publish our Bibles. Within the pages of those Bibles, we can find the story behind the challenges we face in this world and the victory we have over the kingdom of evil. And, we can find the power of God’s absolute love–the love that is perfect, complete, and real.

     The Apostle John left no doubt about God and love when he stated “God is love” (I John 4:8, 16).  Jesus himself also spoke of God’s motivation in sending His son to the world, “For God so loved the world…” (John 3:16), a point reiterated by the Apostle Paul, “But God…for his great love wherewith he loved us…” (Ephesians 2:4). 

     I believe most of us agree that God is love, but if we are honest with ourselves, we do add some “Yes, buts..” to the concept. When we cannot understand how horrific things happen, we tend to think that God did indeed allow them to happen and that God is sovereign. These escape routes bring us some comfort and strengthen our ability to go on, but they also can cause niggling doubts deep inside us, doubts that we never talk about.

     I am establishing this blog to address the “Yes, buts…” of our understanding of God and His love. After independently studying the Bible for forty years, I have discovered many treasures within its pages. In a sense, I am pulling out my treasure chest to share with you from the bounty I have found. Just remember each of you has your own treasure chest. Some of you have already opened your own chest and are enjoying the gems it contains–for you, what I share may bring some new insight. Others of you know you have your chest, but can’t seem to get it opened–I’ll help you. And, still others of you don’t know you have a chest with your name on it. I’ll help you find it and get it opened. Believe me when I tell you, opening and rummaging through the treasure chest of the Bible will be well worth your time.

     Now back to the title of this post–”How Absolute is God’s Love?” Defining the word “absolute” as being perfect, complete, and real, my answer is God’s love is steadfastly absolute. God’s love is perfect in that it is not and cannot be marred and in that it is flawless. (There is nothing wrong with God’s love, so start considering why there is so much wrong in our world.) God’s love is also complete in that there is nothing lacking in it–let me repeat, there is nothing lacking in God’s love. His love works and it will not fail. And, God’s love is real. In a world full of deception and fantasy, God’s love stands above everything else in its substance. There is nothing false about the love of God. Nothing. Zilch. Nada.

     Okay, so God’s love is absolute. Then where has all the destruction and death in our world come from? Why is there so much evil? In my next post, I will piece together an explanation from the Bible by using a few verses and  reasoning out the story of evil. To start thinking about it, consider this paradox–evil exists because God’s love is absolute.

     All scriptures in this post are taken from the King James Version of the Bible. Please feel free to comment, but make sure your comments are respectful to other people–any that are not will be deleted.

 

     ©2009 by Patricia Zell. All rights reserved.

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

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patriciazell, July 1st 2009 | Tags: , , , , , , ,
Posted in BEFORE THE BEGINNING