People are not Easy to Love (no. 7)

“You are always and dearly loved by God! So robe yourself with virtues of God, since you have been divinely chosen to be holy. Be merciful as you endeavor to understand others, and be compassionate, showing kindness toward all. Be gentle and humble, unoffendable in your patience with others” (Colossians 3:12 TPT). I need to remember to image Him while I walk in His Way. These virtues that image Him need to be worn daily if I am to be one of His chosen. People are not easy to love because they often are not walking in His image. Here Paul gives us more examples of what it is like to be one of His chosen people. I should show mercy in understanding, compassion in kindness, gentleness in humility, and unoffendable in patience.

I don’t have it all figured out. I think I have a lot of things figured out. And I constantly find out that what I think I have figured out is not correct at all. So, there is a lot of room for mercy in my own understanding and in what others understand. I ask a lot more questions of people today that I sincerely want answered. I really want to know from where folks get their ideas. As someone that grew up with totally different views and whose questions were met with shallow answers, I have come to appreciate that I want to nourish an environment of questions. And in that environment of questions, I am not going to have everyone’s answer. BUT God has all those answers. And building a relationship with Him will help lead me to some answers. God isn’t going to answer every question I have just like other Christians are not going to either. I need the mercy to understand that we all have our own walk and our own questions that we are all working out this side of eternity with Him.

I am not always the nicest person I can be. And, whenever possible, I should definitely err on the side of compassion and kindness. Back before the plague, I was without compassion and kindness of folks I thought were not thinking things through. Since we all have a lot of room for mercy in our understanding, we all have a lot of room to be kind to each other as we travel this side of eternity because life is difficult enough without me adding any more difficulty. We all have enough difficulty that we add to our own lives. I don’t need anyone else to add any more difficulty. So, I need to choose kindness.

Just understanding that I don’t have all the answers is a great step toward humility. I tend to defer a lot more to prayer, study, and fellowship than what I have potentially understood. I am truly wary of folks that have it all figured out. Almost five decades into this journey and the only person I have seen that had it figured out was Jesus. And He still always spent time talking to God. God in the flesh still spent time with the other parts of God. I am humble enough to not even pretend to comprehend how all that works anymore. So, in my humility I need to take it easy on others and myself for not having it all figured out. It is okay to have questions and things I don’t understand. He will reveal everything in His time.

I need to be patient. Over forty years of being familiar with God is not a guarantee of knowing anything. Going to a Christian college is not a guarantee of knowing anything. Knowing Greek or Hebrew is not a guarantee of knowing anything. Reading a lot of books is not a guarantee of knowing anything. Reading The Bible is not a guarantee of knowing anything. He will reveal everything in His time, “And because of God’s unfailing purpose, this detailed plan will reign supreme through every period of time until the fulfillment of all the ages finally reaches its climax—when God makes all things new in all of heaven and earth through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:10 TPT). I do just need to trust Him. I need to be patient with myself and others about His timing.

What does my walk need to contain? Probably a lot more than it already does BUT a good place to begin is reflecting His image through Jesus. I should show mercy in understanding, compassion in kindness, gentleness in humility, and unoffendable in patience.

Grace and Shalom to your home.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH

People Are Not Easy to Love (no. 6)

“According to God’s grace that was given to me, I have laid a foundation as a skilled master builder, [Or wise master builder] and another builds on it. But each one is to be careful how he builds on it. For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, each one’s work will become obvious. For the day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire; the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If anyone’s work that he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will experience [Or suffer] loss, but he himself will be saved  — but only as through fire.

Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and that is what you are” (1 Corinthians 3:10-17 CSB).

God has built me from before I was born. He has created me in His image to be His temple. That temple is built on a foundation of His Son that came down to live a blameless life as an example. His Son laid down that life as a foundation for how I should live. Some people are not easy to love because their temple is lacking.

I have to start with the only solid foundation. There must be a foundation that is established in what Jesus has revealed about the Father. As He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will also know my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him” (John 14:6-7 CSB). I know Him from studying Him. And that takes time reading about Him, talking with Him, and being around His people. All of those things are important.

If I want a good foundation for His temple, then I need to build it upon understanding Him. There are a lot of temple projects I am going to encounter that are not my taste. Some might have design features that are not appealing to me and that is alright. God didn’t provide everyone with the same blueprints for the building of the temple, outside of the foundation. So a lot of temples are going to look different, strange, interesting, and peculiar while others look awesome, staggering, and inspirational. God doesn’t require every temple to look the same. He does require that it be built upon His foundation.

That is the beauty of the diversity of His people. And that is the beauty that sometimes hampers me in my walk with Him. I’m looking at the building when I should be concerned with the foundation. The building above is going to stand the test of time as long as it is built securely on His foundation. And surely time and situations will prove the foundation for us all. This reminds me, what doesn’t remind me of it, the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus ends succinctly with a parable all about foundations.

“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash” (Matthew 7:24-27 CSB).

When life hits me with all sorts of situations, can I weather the storms? Is my foundation built upon acting on His words? Is my foundation based on the wisdom of the Lord?

How is my foundation?

Grace and Shalom to your home.

I love you. I forgive you. Have a blessed and abundant day!

#ThinkBetter #BeBetter #NoKingButChrist #EmbraceTheWithin #NotMyWayYHWH