But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  Gal 5:22-23

There was a time not too long ago when most children did not have much to do with me.  I believe they were probably a little intimidated by the perpetual scowl and the fact that I didn’t really care about or notice them.  They mostly avoided any interaction with me, even when I tried on occasion to reach out to them.  But some say that children know or perceive things that we as adults do not.  Maybe those few knew that I only did it out of politeness or for personal gain of some sort.

Now I am starting to encounter some problems that I don’t handle very readily.  Children are starting to like me.  And I don’t know how to respond.  The old fake responses do not work because I do care about and love them now, only I don’t react very well.

Children have always loved my wife with abandon and she loves and relates to them so well that I am in danger of covetousness.  I want that and am starting to actually need it.  One night in the revival last week, a little girl that is usually all over my wife, came and sat beside me while my wife was practicing singing.  She was sitting next to me and playing, making faces and other kid stuff, and I was just doing my best to respond.  And probably not doing very well.

I love it, but not only is this new to me, it is a mystery also.  Why the change in so many children in their attitudes towards me?

Maybe it is the fruit.  I know that I am growing daily in Christ and that the Holy Spirit is working steadily to change me, so maybe it is an evidence of the next to last fruit as listed by Paul in Galatians.

Gentleness, or meekness, as it is translated in some versions of the bible, is a fruit of the Spirit that we all need.  Me more than most, probably, but we all must cultivate this along with all the others.  I already discussed self-control and I didn’t mention this, but that fruit is not very hard for me.  Gentleness is.  Any of the fruit that have any relation to compassion or care are foreign to who I used to be.

What is gentleness or meekness?  This is from Dictionary.com:

Gentleness…The quality or state of being gentle, well-born, mild, benevolent, docile, etc.; gentility; softness of manners, disposition, etc.; mildness.

Meekness…A calm temper of mind, not easily provoked; a disposition to be patient and long suffering.

We get the sense from these definitions and the biblical narrative that this fruit, gentleness or meekness, implies a calm disposition, particularly under fire–which actually requires a great deal of strength. Jesus Christ is the perfect example of a bearer of this fruit.  He exemplifies the biblical description of a calm disposition, particularly under fire.  I like to say meekness as meant here, is having “strength, under control.”

Jesus said that the meek would inherit the world.  And the world today has come to misuse this word and define it as something Jesus did not mean.  The world would have us think that “meek means weak” and that is just not true. At any time during Christ’s abuse, torture, and crucifixion, or any of the other times He suffered, He could have called on the Host of Heaven or even His own disengaged power, and wiped all who came against Him out.  But He didn’t.  He was meek; He was gentle, in all His dealings save one, with those He encountered.  And even in the temple, He could have done so much more.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5).    The world says, “Blessed are the strong, those who can hold their own.”  The world favors more conspicuous and so-called heroic virtues. The strongly competitive, aggressive and assertive are the ones who receive recognition, admiration and reward. They seem to end up on top of the heap, possessing the most and the best, despite their obvious and offensive character flaws.

As we know, these types of achievements, these accolades from a fallen world, have nothing to do with eternal reward except to waste the time we have for the storing of this treasure.

When we hold our temper in check, or better yet when it starts to disappear, we are displaying fruit.  When we could strike back, but don’t, we are displaying fruit.  When our attitude and character invite instead of intimidate, we are displaying fruit.

When a little girl named Kaci can sit and try to play with someone that used to be described as a bear and was called Sarge, it must be another evidence of this fruit called gentleness or meekness.

Thank God for His gracious power to change us all.  I want to be one of the meek who inherit.  Don’t you?

Love you all

Tags: attitudes, Character, Compassion, Faith, Fruit of the Spirit, galatians, gentleness, Good, Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Love, meekness, Power

I was just sitting here reflecting on this holiday, New Years Day.  I asked some questions about it a couple of days ago and it seems that this day is really not that big of a deal to all the people of faith that I am in contact with.

A small group of us were at our church until a little after midnight and we just saw the New Year start with a little fellowship and fun.  It was good.  But it was not like the world celebrates it.  The world seems to think we should usher in a new year with a bang.  Loud, raucous, drunken parties are what I remember from the past, if I attended any.

What exactly is going on in this holiday celebration anyway?  I really don’t know but have some suspicions.  We say we are welcoming in a new year but what is January first really?

It is all about time.  And time is something I have had on my mind for awhile.  What is it?  How does God exist in relation to it?  Is it something tangible and real or just a method of measuring sequence as my friend Heath wrote about?

I am not sure but I think it is actually the last for most of us.  Even if time is something that can be affected by the speed of light or our proximity to a black hole, I doubt very seriously if any of us will ever experience any of that.  So let’s agree for a few moments that it is just a method to measure and record sequence.

So this day is all about newness.  A new year starts.  But, actually, any individuals real new year starts on their birthday, not January 1.  If we really have any resolutions that we think we need to make, then shouldn’t it be on our birthday?  But for people of faith, we have a new birthday.

We became a new creation the day we accepted Christ as Lord, King and Savior and went into service for and with Him.  So shouldn’t that be the date we use for our new year beginning?  Individually, yes, I believe so.  There is no more important day in our lives than the day we were saved.

But all of that is personal.  Someone was born and someone was born again on everyday of the year but we can’t have every day off from work, so we have New Years Day.  And it is a good day to be celebrated as a new beginning because it is the first day of the year in our method of marking time.

Our celebrations of this day are as much about saying goodbye to the old as looking forward to the new.  Auld Lang’s Syne is about saying goodbye and we sing it on New Years Eve.  In each of our lives we are always looking ahead, imagining the future and hoping it gets better.  And we should.  Even if the last year was amazingly good, we believe it can only get better.  And for most of us this past year, 2008, decidedly needs to be better and I certainly pray for that.

So we say goodbye to the past and relish the opportunity to move forward into the future.  We reflect on our mistakes and shortcomings and make resolutions and commitments to do it all differently.  We waste our time, in my opinion.

There is a truth that we often overlook and it is that the future never gets here.  Tomorrow will always be tomorrow.  And what we perceived as tomorrow yesterday is in fact today right now.  We need to live in the now.  We should plan and strive to do better, be better but, if we try more to be better right now, tomorrow will reflect that so much more than all the planning about tomorrow.

My resolution for today is to be a better man right now, to be more Christlike right now, to love more right now, and to contend for the faith more right now.  And that will also be my resolution tomorrow and the next day and the next.  No one knows what tomorrow holds, not even God for sure, so we really need to stop dwelling on it.  (I made that statement so most of you could berate me on my wrong theology on purpose, by the way.  But I really believe it is true.)

Just reflect on this.  The past is gone.  Use it for its educational properties.  The future will never get here so stop waiting and get on with it.

Start living and loving and serving right now.

Happy New Year and I Love you all

Tags: Beginning, black hole, celebration, Christlike, Church, drunken parties, Faith, God, Love, Personal, speed of light, Theology, Time

The choir in my church sang a song today called, I believe, We Are Not Ashamed.  They have sung this song on many occasions and I am always moved by it.  It is about not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This is something we should all take to heart.

But do we?  How often do we keep silent when we should speak up?  How often do we make sure we do not put ourselves in a place or a position where we might have to speak of the gospel?

Some of us, maybe even all of us at times, find ourselves embarrassingly inadequate at sharing our faith.  Are we really ashamed?   Probably not.  I truly doubt, except in certain situations, that most of us are really ashamed of our God and Savior.  That would be like being ashamed of our wives or girlfriends, husbands or boyfriends.  Most of us are really not ashamed of those we really love.

So what is really the problem?

I believe it is probably intimidation.  I do not, entirely, mean intimidation in the sense of being afraid, but instead being under the impression that it will do no good.  That it won’t really matter or make a difference.  Some of us are concerned with others attitudes toward us and opinions of us and some of us just really think we cannot make a difference.

Why bother talking to that guy at work who is bragging about his adulterous affair?  He won’t listen if he is that outspoken about it and I just might be ostracized from the group for my holier than thou attitude.

That Muslim you know is just so devout that you know you will never reach them, and you are a little intimidated by what you know of their religion; so why take the chance of being looked on as one of those hate spewing Christians?  We can all live together in love, if we keep silent.

And that goes for that very outspoken atheist also.  If we keep silent about our faith, we can all get along very well.  And maybe even love each other.  And if we can show enough love, then that will win out in the end.  Right?

Wrong.  What love is this that is willing to keep silent about something so important?  I started thinking about this post after listening to this video the other day.  In this video you will hear Penn Jillette, a very outspoken, oftentimes crude, but very logical and consistent thinker and atheist.  He is the talkative half of the comedian/ magician team known as Penn and Teller.

He is also what I call a true atheist.  I was one for many years myself.  I believe a true atheist is someone who says they do not believe that there is a God and they are not afraid of those who believe.  We seem to be surrounded today by people calling themselves atheist that are intent on silencing us.  They seem afraid of something, or maybe it is Someone.

In the video you will hear Penn say that if we, as believers, really love everyone and we really believe what we say about heaven and hell, then our love demands that we tell everyone about it; in effect, we should proselytize.  Evangelize, if you prefer.

I admire his stance on this and find that this was the way I felt also.  As a Christian we must tell everyone the gospel.  If we do not, do we really love?  I can’t see how.

We can never be ashamed, and as I stated, I doubt many of us really are.  But we must also never be intimidated.  We may be called intolerant, or a holy roller, or hateful, or many other things; but we must still tell the story because for the sake of love, it is necessary.  Those that can’t except this and call us all of these things are running scared and can probably be reached.

And those that are not running scared, like Penn and like I used to be, will be reached through the consistent witness of love and the telling of the good news.

Listen to the video.  And pray for Penn Jillette.  A transformation of someone like him would be a mighty witness for the Kingdom.

And the next time you feel a little timid about sharing, remember that if you really love them, you have to.

Love you all

Tags: atheist, Believe, Christians, Church, Faith, Good, Heaven, Hell, Jesus Christ, Kingdom, Love, muslim, Penn Jillette, religion, Self, Sin, witness, Work

I can imagine it now.

I have been in line for a while now and have heard many wonderful things said about those in front of me.  One by one they present themselves before the throne.  The King of Glory looks down on one of them with a smile on His face and declares, “Well done, good and faithful servant–you have faithfully served me by giving your time, your labor, and your financial aid to spread the gospel to what used to be third world countries.”  There are many cheers from those gathered to witness the proceedings.

Then another moves forward and Jesus says, , “Well done, good and faithful servant–you have faithfully attended many in the hospitals and nursing homes, giving them a lot of love, joy and happiness in their pain and suffering.” Again, a loud procession of cheers and applause occurs.

The person directly in front of me moves forward and the Savior of the world again declares, , “Well done, good and faithful servant–you have faithfully ministered to and fed the homeless, the addicted, and the abandoned in my Name for many years while you lived in that previous world.”  The cheers are as expected.

Then it is my turn.  I move forward, not really ready because I have heard a lot of things that I never did.  Feeding people, visiting people, loving people, these seem to be the things that have gotten the accolades so far.  I stand and look on the awesome visage of the Creator of all things and He says, “Well done, good and faithful servant–you have faithfully fought to keep the Ten Commandments in the courthouse.”

Suddenly the throne room erupts.  There is so much noise and cheering that it is deafening.  It is much louder than I had heard before and seems to go on and on.  Then, I simply cannot contain myself any longer and start jumping up and down, shouting and crying at the same time.

This goes on for a while and finally the Judge of all creation raises His hand, a huge smile still on His face, and the room starts to quiet down.  Finally He beams down at me once again and asks, ” How, exactly did you realize what was really the most important thing I left you to do, when so many did not see it?”

I’ll stop here.  If you are reading this, I guess it shows what a glutton for punishment I am.  It means I actually posted it, knowing that some will disagree and maybe take it as a belittling of their convictions.  This is not what this is about.

I was just reflecting on all the thoughts and commentaries out there that I have been reading about Christian political activism on many sites and the current hot topics on my own site about duty and I had this vision.  But I am pretty sure, no, I am certain; it did not come from God.

Again, this is not a slam on anyone’s personal convictions.  I just realize that I need to look deep inside myself and actually determine if my convictions, and where I put all my strengths and focus my efforts, really do honor our Lord.  And do they mean anything at all in the eternal scheme of things?

Merry Christmas and I

Love you all

Tags: Christ, Christmas, Creation, Creator, Faith, Giving, God, King, Love, Pain, Personal, Self, Servant, throne room, War, witness