Love perseveres

So you call yourself a “Christian?”
A “Little Christ?”
“Little Anointed One?”
Set aside for a purpose?

Are you sure you’re ready for His purposes?


Love perseveres.


Are you patient?
Are you kind?
Do you envy?
Do you ever brag?
Pretty proud of yourself, aren’t you?
Are you ever rude?
Are you ever self-seeking? Never? No Ambition? Never any ulterior motives?
How easy is it to make you angry?
Do you keeps track? Are you keeping score?
Oh I know you rejoice in the truth, but do you rejoice with THE Truth?
Do you ever delight when harm comes to others?
Do you always protect? Or do you just over protect?
Do you always trust?
Where is your hope?


Love perseveres.


If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ,
if any comfort from his love,
if any fellowship with the Spirit,
if any tenderness and compassion,
then make my joy complete by being like-minded,
having the same love,
being one in spirit and purpose.

Are you sure you’re ready for HIS purposes?


Love perseveres.

Do you do ever do anything out of selfish ambition?
Are you ever vain or conceited?
Are you humble?
Do you consider others better than yourself?
Or do you look after your own interests?
What about the interests of others?


Love perseveres.


Is your attitude the same as that of Christ Jesus?
Don’t you consider equality with God something to be grasped?
Do you make yourself nothing?
Are you a servant?
Do you humbled himself?
Would you be obedient to death?


Love perseveres.


Do YOU love?
Are you joyful?
Are you a peacemaker?
Are you patient?
Are you kind?
I bet you think you try to be pretty good, don’t you?
Are you as faithful as you think?
Do you let your gentleness be evident to all?
You want to control society, but how much self-control have you got?


Love perseveres.


Do you love your enemies?

Do you do good to those who hate you?
Have you blessed those who curse you?
Are you praying for those who mistreat you?


Love perseveres.


"You have heard that it was said,
'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
But I tell you:
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.


Love perseveres.


He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good,
and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
So you may as well get used to it.


Love perseveres.


Do you love your enemies?
Do you do good to them?
Do you even give them to them without expecting to get anything back?


Love perseveres.


Believe it or not,
Like it or not,

Jesus is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

While we were still His enemies, Christ died for us.
Would you die for your enemies?


Are you merciful, just as your Father is merciful?

Lord, forgive us,
for we know not what the Hell we're doing to each other.


Believe it or not,
Like it or not,

Love perseveres

---

Matthew 5, Luke 6, Romans 11, 1 Corinthians 13, Philippians 2, Galatians 5, Romans 5

Strange Fruit and Sour Grapes

When I take a look at Galatians 5:19-26, God convicts me.

“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

I may not be immoral or impure (although at least one person has all but accused me of debauchery by implying that I must be teaching school children “liberal” values, when in fact all I teach them about lines and shapes and colors). I may not be a drunk or attend orgies, but I suppose that what I draw and write contributes to discord, factions, and dissent. I don't engage in witchcraft (I don’t even read the horoscopes), but I do get in such a rage about what I perceive as other people’s idolatry, that it may just be becoming a form of idolatry for me. And I suppose that to dream about someday becoming a professional political cartoonist or writer is a vain, selfish-ambition.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

Lately I've been dealing with irritation, depression, frustration, sarcasm, crabbiness, loneliness, and apparently a vitriol writing style. So I know that I'm not bearing good fruit. So maybe when I look at 1 John, this whole election is an antichrist for me. I've always dreamed of becoming a political cartoonist and/or columnist, I swore that's what God made me to be. But it seems like it's worse than being an alcoholic or a philanderer.

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

So, I guess, while being a Christian may or may not preclude voting for democrats- at least for me, maybe God doesn’t want me to be a political columnist or cartoonist. Heaven forbid I should offend anyone!

I never meant to hurt anyone, just make them think. I hope you know that I don’t just “spread lies” or make smears. I actually research my columns and genuinely feel that what I write is as honest and helpful as I can make it. I realize that sometimes I may be wrong and there will always be people who disagree with me with good reason.

If you’re worried about what you consider inexperience, or if you’re so uncomfortable with Obama’s positions on given issues, so be it. I completely respect you decision not to vote for him. And I hope that we can agree to disagree and continue to be friends and respect each other and seek the myriad of things on which we agree.

But it feels like again and again, that people don’t just disagree with me, but consider me morally inferior or spiritually anathema- somehow subhuman. I feel hurt, lonely and resentful that fellow Christians would think that I should be silenced because my political opinions don’t align with theirs. I’m feeling a lot of anguish over giving up writing and cartooning. And it boggles my mind that smart, well meaning people don’t see some of the same things that I see and aren’t just as outraged by them.

As a result, I am plagued with doubt, about our democratic system, about the body of Christ, and about my place in both of them. So here I am wresting with these issues in public, airing my dirty laundry on the web for all to see. If you have no pity for me at all, please at least pray for me. I’m lost, without purpose or value.

Fruitcakes; Philippians 1:9-21

You know why English people are sometimes called "Limeys?" Pirates know. It's because British sailors could suffer from scurvy when spent too much time sailing the seven seas, mates. "Scurvy" is a pirate term for ricketts, a vitamin deficiency. When all you drink id grog (watered down rum) and all you eat is jerky and salt tack, you begin to get weak. So, the British Navy, sought a solution. In the days before canned goods and refrigerators, they couldn't offer their sailors a balanced diet, but they could store shiploads of limes in their holds. Lemons and limes are an excellent source of vitamin C- the natural enemy of scurvy.

One reason I wanted to study Philippians is because so many teens have so much stress or fight depression. Philippians is the "cheerleader" book of the Bible. Paul exhorts and encourages us to hang tough and hang onto the Joy that God can give, even in the hardest times. If you have good nutrition, and enough vitamins, your body can fight off infection. If you have Spiritual fruit in your life you can make it through the tough times.

How's your fruit supply?
In Philippians 1:9-11 Paul prays for that "your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight," Why? Why does he want us to learn and grow?
"so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God." Those are good reasons.
What are the "fruit of righteousness that comes from Jesus?" Check out Galatians 5:22-23

• love
• joy
• peace
• patience
• kindness
• goodness
• faithfulness
• gentleness and
  
• self-control

When you think about it, aren't just about each and every one of those things that we'd all like to have? Aren't almost all of them the opposites of discouragement, stress, anxiety, depression, negativity, anger, frustration, sadness, and loneliness?
Yep. Exactly my point.

So how do you get these fruit? Well, lets see... how about if your love were to "abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight?" Learning and Living, living and learning. The way to stock up on the Fruit of the Spirit, is living God's Word, and reading and learning about God's Word- just like you're doing right now.
Three ways to gather fruit for life's voyage:

1. Read the Bible
2. Pray and straight out ask for it- "God, please give me the fruit of the Spirit." and
3. Give the fruit away, use it up. The more you use, the more you'll have! Try it, it's amazing.
   

If you practice love, people will love you for it. If you're joyful, people will want to be with you and it feeds on itself, upbeat, positive people make others upbeat and positive.
If you sow peace, you'll reap peace. If you're patient, others will be patient with you. If you're kind to others, you defuse their anger and guess what- "what goes around comes around."
Goodness?? Why should I be good all the time? Ever hear that "Virtue is it's own reward?" In the song "Santa Claus is coming to town," the lyrics don't say, be good so you can get lots of toys, they say "be good for goodness sake." And believe me, you have no idea how much hurt you save yourself and others when you have self-control.

So how's your fruit supply?

Dear Jesus,
Draw me closer to You
and deeper into Your Word.
Make my love abound more and more.
Help me grow in knowledge of You, Your will for me and Your Word
Help me grow in understanding, don't just let me have all the right answers, but help me to live out what You teach me.
Grant me greater love, more joy
total peace and endless patience,
remind me to be kind, help me want to be good not to get anything out of it, but just for the sake of being good,
show me how to be gentle and grant me self-control.
In Jesus name,
Amen

Now, don't be such a scurvy dog, ye land luver! Argh!

Lent Day 2; Joy

I am trying to write prayers and devotions based on the Fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22 for Lent. Today's Fruit: JOY

What exactly is Joy? and how can we nurture it as one of the fruit of the Spirit that we want to have as part of our character?

It must not be merely a feeling or emotion if God considers it something that a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led, Christ-like life produces, right?

I would say that hppiness and contentedness are moods, but Joy is something different. For one thing, Joy is what puts a sparkle in your eye- it's being glad to see and be with someone you love. See my Advent Devotion on Joy When the Aronic blessing in Numbers says "May the Lord's countenence fall upon you, may His face shine upon you, may He look upon you with His favor..." I think it's saying "May God be glad to see you and enjoy being with you."

But the older I get, the more I think that it's even something more as well. Joy is celebration! Maybe that opinion is influenced by the birth of my third daughter this past week. We're not just glad that she's here, we want to share our exciting news and want people to share our happiness.

One of my favorite scenes in any book was in a Frank Peretti novel. I think it was 'Piercing the Darkness,' when one of the human characters gets down on their knees in prayer and invited God into their life, the finally accept Jesus and ask for His help. The demons scurry away and the angels EXPLODE with celebration, praise, thanksgiving and energy. I wish I could do Peretti's prose justice, but my point is- that there is more celebration in Heaven for any one lost sheep than we can possibly imagine. And I can imagine a lot of excitement, I just experienced it when I wittnessed my baby being born.

No wonder "the Joy of the Lord is my strength." I for one wish that I wasn't at the mercy of the emotional roller coster of life, moods, anxiety, depression, stress, hormones & chemistry etc. I think that the only way to escape or transend those things might be to live a life of celebration.

Look, geese flying North, what a blessing! Look, a new baby, what a miracle! Look, deer leaping a fence, how majestic- thank God it's a quarter mile away and not right in front of my vehicle!

It is easier to say than to do, but here's a way to try, focus on what Paul encourages us to focus on in Philippians 4:4-8:

Prayer:

Dear Jesus,

Help me to stop looking down
Help me to stop focusing on the negative
Help me stop being critical and judgemental

Holy Spirit, produce the fruit of Joy in me
in my heart and in my life

Help me to live a life of celebration
Help me to "practice Your presence"
and enjoy every minute with you

Help me to focus on what is true;
on what is noble;
on what is just;
what is pure;
what is lovely;
what is of good report;
on anything of any virtue;
on what is worthy of praise,
Help me to especially focus on You.

In Jesus' name,
Amen

Fruit Of The Spirit

Fruit Of The Spirit: "The most famous passage about the 'fruit of the Spirit' is in Galatians 5:22, where Paul gives us a list of fruit. The list is meant as a contrast to the list of the deeds of the flesh' found in 5:19-20. The fruit list is clearly not intended as an exhaustive description of the fruit, but was given to highlight the fruit that Paul wants the Galatian church to keep in mind. He lists the following fruit:

love;
joy;
peace;
patience;
kindness;
goodness;
faithfulness;
gentleness;
self-control.

When Paul follows the list of the fruit of the Spirit by saying that 'against such things there is no law', he was talking about the fact that the societal authorities find it pretty hard to object to behavior that shows these characteristics. Even a staunch enemy of the church will likely find these qualities appealing. They are known to be positive characteristics by the general public, in most eras, in most lands."