Kind

Ephesians 2:7 (ESV)

so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Good morning Zebras,

Today’s attribute is kindness, which is a perfect follow up to sovereign.  Knowing that God is kind is absolutely necessary once you realize He is in charge.  At least it was for me, because if God is unkind and in charge then we have reason to be afraid.  You only have to look at the destruction caused by evil men with limited power to understand it would be horribly frightening if God was unkind.  But He isn’t.  God clearly demonstrated His kindness towards us when He sent Christ.

And I think that is where we need to focus.

I could write about God’s kindness towards our family at this particular time.  I could point to the fact that we’re all healthy and Gary has a job, but what happens if one of us falls sick or Gary becomes unemployed?  Does God suddenly become unkind because my circumstances have changed? Of course not, but unfortunately that’s how we think sometimes.

Christians often say “God is good” when things are going their way.  And I understand what they mean.  They are grateful things have worked out like they wanted them to and they are thanking God for His goodness.  But for me, it makes the goodness of God too small because I need to remember God’s goodness is the Cross.  I spent too many years thinking God was unkind because my life was less than ideal. 

This brings me to another point, which I had never really thought about before.  What is the difference between good and kind?  Aren’t they the same thing? Why would they put “good” on one ornament and “kind” on another? Did they run out of attributes?

Fifty-four different Greek words are translated into English as “kind.” Of the approximately 200 verses that contain the word “kind,” only six are from the same Greek word as today’s verse. (The other five, for those who are interested, are Romans 2:4, 11:22; 2 Cor 6:7; Gal 5:22 and Col 3:12) However Galatians 5:22, the list of the Fruit of the Spirit, contains both “good” and “kind.”

So I guess there is a difference, but what is it?
The Louw-Nida Lexicon, which is a dictionary of Greek words, defines them as:
kindness: to provide something beneficial for someone as an act of kindness
goodness: the act of generous giving.

Obviously, God is both.

God gave us Christ for our benefit, and Christ generously gave us His life.

Love,
Jill

Sovereign

Isaiah 55:9 (ESV)

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Good morning Zebras,

When I started writing about the attribute ornaments back in December I purposefully started with faithful because I said that it was my favorite.  But this morning when Gary pulled out “Sovereign” I realized that might have changed.  Knowing God is in charge is one of my favorite things to think about and the attribute I currently find most comforting.

I didn’t use to think too much about the sovereignty of God.  To be honest it was irrelevant to my life.  I had concerns and problems, things that needed to be done and I needed to do them.  God seemed rather distant and useless.  Sure, He was going to get me into heaven, but the day-to-day stuff?  That was up to me.

Then, somewhere along the way someone told me about the sovereignty of God.  They told me that nothing happens that God does not allow, that every hair of our head is numbered and that God is the one who is really running the show.

Well, that caused a new problem for me.  How did I reconcile a sovereign, loving God with my life’s experiences? Because up to that point my experiences with God had not been so great. If God was really in charge then He had purposefully allowed some pretty rotten stuff to happen to me and knowing He was in charge didn’t make it any better. In fact it made it worse. If God did all that-what would He do next?

But this morning I realized how much knowing God has changed all that.

Knowing that God is holy, righteous, loving, gracious, merciful and all-powerful; that He is sovereign and in charge and that He loves me and has promised to work everything out for my good, allows me to live my life without the constant companions of fear and worry.  Of course they stop by now and then for a visit, but they are no longer allowed to be permanent residents in my life.

And knowing God is sovereign has given me a childlike faith I’ve never had before.

Because now I can walk in obedience to God confidently knowing that if I am accidently going the wrong way He will change the situation and get me back on track.

Love,

Jill

That Makes Sense

Proverbs 22:6 (ESV)

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Good morning Zebras,

Yesterday in church my pastor cleared up a question I’ve had for a long time.  And he reinforced a few things God has taught me.  He is doing a series on getting “Unstuck” and yesterday‘s topic was on getting unstuck in your family.

The key to getting unstuck in your family is, of course, giving God first place and he had a few suggestions on how to do that. 

First, if you want to give God first place in your family, you need to make sure your family has daily prayer and Bible study.  But then he said something that really encouraged me.  He said the goal of family prayer and Bible study is that each person in the family will develop the habit of going to God for themselves. 

I have struggled with the fact that my family did not do family devotions.  We went to Bible Study Fellowship together, we went to Awana together, we talked about God and the Bible and we would intermittently pray together.  But I always felt we could have done better.  I would hear people talk about what they did and I knew we were falling short.  Yesterday I realized that it wasn’t the method that was important it was the heart. 

Prayer and Bible study is not a “check the box” type of activity.  It’s something you want to model; it’s something you have to believe in; it’s something that should be a foundation of your family.  But it doesn’t have to be done every Tuesday at 5 p.m.

His second point was that you need to make sure your family is in church.  It is in church that children learn to worship and serve the Lord and they learn because they are watching you.  If you want your children to learn to worship, you need to worship. If you want your children to learn to serve, you need to serve. Modeling is true in all aspects of life. But it isn’t a guarantee. And that was what I learned.

Christian parents hold on to today’s verse as if it is a promise written in stone by God. If they will only do this…then their children will turn out perfect.  But I have always struggled with that.  If this is a promise from God then it should always work.  Parents who do A, B and C should always have children who love and serve the Lord.  But it doesn’t always work that way.  And yesterday I learned why.

This verse is in Proverbs, which the Bible dictionary defines as: a collection of moral and philosophical maxims of a wide range of subjects presented in a poetic form. This book sets forth the “philosophy of practical life.”  It is the book on how we should live, not a book of God’s promises. Proverbs usually prove true, but they’re not guarantees. That’s when the light bulb went on because that made sense.

If you raise your child up in the Lord, there is a good chance they will follow Him, and if they walk away, that they will return, but it can’t be an A+B=C type of result because that leaves out free will and the sovereignty of God.

Love,
Jill

No Fear!!!!

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)

For God has not given us a spirit of fear

Good morning Zebras,

Fear is a destructive thing and I‘ve decided it’s one of the best weapons in Satan’s arsenal.  Ever since God showed me that this would be the key verse for the next retreat, He has opened my eyes to how fearful His people are, including me.

We are afraid to witness at work because we might lose our job; afraid to share the gospel because people might think we’re strange; afraid to get involved and love people as Jesus commanded because they may take up too much of our lives; and we are afraid that if we fully commit our lives to Jesus Christ, totally throwing caution to the wind, resolving to do whatever He asks of us, He is going to take everything away from us and make us do something terrible.

Last weekend, Gary and I watched Moneyball.  It was a good movie but the scene that’s stuck in my head really has nothing to do with the main plot. It is a video clip of a frightened ballplayer.

This player is overweight and because it he’s afraid to run past first base.  I guess he is afraid because he runs so slowly that he won’t make it and he’ll be out, but on this particular day he decides to “go for it.”  He decides to be brave and try to get to second base.

Well, he hits the ball and starts running but as soon as he rounds first base he slips and falls.  It’s his worst nightmare come true and as he crawls back to clutch first base you can see the other players laughing at him. However they weren’t laughing because he fell, they were laughing because he’d hit a homerun and didn’t even notice. 

He is crawling around in the dirt clutching at first base when he should be up running his victory lap. 

And God revealed to me, “That is my people. I have hit the ball out of the park; I have given you the power of the Holy Spirit, the same power that raised Christ from the dead, but your fear keeps you from even trying to get to second base.”

Ouch.

I don’t know about you but personally I am tired of being afraid, I am tired of sitting on first base and I am REALLY tired of hearing Satan laugh at God’s People. And the only antidote to that is to be brave, trust God and walk in faith conquering one little fear at a time.

Love,

Jill

Trustworthy

Psalm 19:7 (NIV)  

The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.

Good morning Zebras,

Yesterday when I drew trustworthy out of the ornament box it was like water to a dying man, it was exactly what I needed to hear.  Being reminded that God was trustworthy made my whole day.

Then this morning I looked up the reference verse.  I expected it to say ‘God is trustworthy.”  So I was surprised to see that it said God’s Word was trustworthy. “That’s odd,” I thought, “ I bet I can find a better verse than this.”

But what I found is that all the verses say God’s Word is trustworthy.  And that started me thinking: God is trustworthy because what He says is trustworthy. The reason that people are not trustworthy is because they don’t always tell the truth.

Sometimes people lie because they have evil intent.  They are manipulative and vicious. They want what they want and they will do anything to get it. Even if it means telling the biggest lie possible. But that it not most people.  Most people end up telling lies without really meaning to.

For example, I told Nick I would take him somewhere today, but circumstances have changed and I am not going to be able to go.  I didn’t mean to tell a lie, but it became one because I don’t have the ability to control circumstances.  That never happens with God.  When God says something is going to happen, you can bet it will happen because no change of circumstance can prevent God from doing it.

Another reason people lie is because they are swayed by their sinful nature.  I once told someone I would come to dinner, but when the day came I was too tired and selfish to make myself go. Instead I called and told them I was sick, which was a lie. I hadn’t intended to lie when I promised to go.  I had planned on going, but when push came to shove, I lied rather than inconvenience myself.

But again that never happens with God. God does not have an old sinful nature.  God does not have an internal battle between good and evil because God is all good.

And sometimes people lie because it’s easy.

Originally I was going to use someone else for this example.  I was going to self-righteously point out how “others,” who shall remain nameless, say they are going to do something but they don’t follow through.  Obviously they are just big fat furry liars!

But God had other plans. He needed to humbled me a little and show me that I too am a big fat flurry liar when it suits my needs because he had me type and eat at the same time. And just like every other morning, my dogs showed up for their share.

My husband wants me to quit feeding my moodles (poodle mixed mutt dogs) people food.  He thinks it is bad for them, which it probably is, but I don’t think a few cereal flakes is going to hurt.  When he talks to me about it I halfheartedly agree to stop, but I have no intention of doing so.  I want to share my cereal with my dogs and I want Gary to leave me alone about it. A “white lie” accomplishes both.

But God never does that.  He doesn’t tell you something just to make you happy.  He tells you the truth; whether or not it is what you want to hear. And that is good.  Because in this world of half-truths and big lies, it is wonderful to know what God says is true.

John 17:17b: Thy Word is truth.

Love,
Jill

Christmas may be over-but the joy of Christ never ends. The rest of the decorations are packed away but the attribute tree has a new home in my living room to help me stay focused on the wonder of our God. Plus I still have eleven attributes to go and perseverance requires that I finish what I have started.  The next one is Trustworthy.

Impartial

1 Peter 1:17 (NLT)

And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time as “foreigners in the land.”

Good morning Zebras,

Last month my herd pondered on the impartial nature of God which is an attribute I haven’t given much thought to.

To be honest my first thought was “I don’t want God to be impartial; I want Him to like me best!” But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it really is a good thing God is impartial because if God was not impartial, He could like me best, but He could also like me least.

My daughter had a teacher once who was anything but impartial.  If he liked you, you got good grades, if he didn’t…well…  The first semester Katherine didn’t play the game.  She did her work and she did it well, but she didn’t suck up.  She got a “C”.  The second semester she changed her tactics.   She did the same quality of work but she went out of her way to make the teacher like her, this time it earned her an “A.”

God is not like that.  Verses out of Romans, Galatians, Ephesians and Colossians testify to the fact that God doesn’t show favoritism.  He judges each man’s work impartially and He rewards and punishes accordingly.  You can’t get away with doing something wrong just because He likes you.

God offers salvation, through the cross of Christ, to everyone regardless of their race, age, or economic status and He rewards everyone who accepts.  And He continues to reward those people who do His will and work here on earth, storing up for them treasure in heaven and giving them a peace which surpasses all understanding.

Which is great and it should motivate us to do more for the kingdom knowing at some point we will have to give an account to an impartial judge of what we have done with the blessings He has given us.  Like the story of the talents, God will reward those people who have used His gifts for His glory.

But it is also a little scary for the very same reason.  Who of us really wants to stand before an impartial God and defend how we have spent our lives?  Only Christ can stand before God having lived a life totally devoted to His service.  Everyone else is going to fall short.

Pondering the impartial nature of God has been a roller coaster of emotions: sad not to be God’s favorite, happy to know I would be rewarded for my good works, motivated to go out and do more, depressed to realize how little I’ve done, and finally grateful that I have been saved by grace, which is a gift of God, and not as result of my works.

Love,

Jill