Thankful Thursday

 

 

The everlasting love of God

 

 

Salvation and the freedom that accompanies it

 

 

The beauty of God's creation

 

 

the gift of communication

 

 

God's provision and His knowledge of my needs

 

 

opportunities to invest in others and build relationships

 

 

answered prayer

 

 

music; He has put a new song in my mouth

 

 

peace that passes all comprehension

Thankful Thursday

 

 

God's grace...

 

A supportive and encouraging boss...

 

Friends who walk through life's ups and downs with me...

 

The beauty of springtime and the evidence of new growth; a reminder of the new life God offers

 

My children...

 

A wonderful wife--the evidence of God's favor...

 

The invitation to cast my burdens on the Lord...

 

Opportunities to serve others...

 

The peace of God which surpasses all comprehension...

 

Did I mention God's grace?

Gentleness

     I've had some lessons in gentleness over the past couple weeks.  I've always thought that character quality and being male didn't line up very well, but God has been teaching me otherwise.  There is no doubt that I have experienced God's gentleness toward me, and as I have pondered His gentleness recently, He has been calling me to a greater degree of it in my own life. One of the passages He is using is Eph. 4:1-3 where we read, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
     Since gentleness is a part of God's character, and He invites me to be an imitator of Himself, part of my calling is to be gentle.  Gal. 6:1,2 says, "Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted."  There are multiple layers to explore in this verse, but for our current topic, I am given clear instruction to exercise gentleness in my communication with others with the purpose of restoration in mind.  That's God's heart coming through.  He delights in reconciling people to Himself. (Col. 1:19,20)  He doesn't deal with me as my sin deserves (Ps. 103:8-14), but invites me to come with my burdens, to come with my insufficiencies and receive from His generosity. (Matt. 11:28-30; James 1:5)  And His promise is that He won't roll His eyes and express frustration or find fault with me, but He will teach me and give me what I need.  I really need to learn His ways!  So often my response is more in line with sledge hammer remodeling, trying to shame certain behavior out of people.  And usually it drives people away and causes them to not feel safe sharing their struggles with me, rather than opening a door to promote restoration and healing.
     Along this same line, Paul's instruction to Timothy in 2 Tim. 2:24-26 says, And the Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." God has rescued me out of captivity into the freedom of His glorious light, and now invites me to be a rescuer.  In order to participate, I need to practice gentleness.
     There have been tears along the way, but I think I am learning.  And I want to continue to learn, to grow in my conformity to Christ, to be the man God desires in my dealings with others.    

Thankful Thursday

 

So, my daughter, Allison, encouraged me to join her in taking time out on Thursdays to be thankful.  I think it's her way of rebelling against society and the throwback Thursday trend.  I thought it was a great idea since God encourages us to be thankful always.  Here goes:

The List

God's word

Men who stand in the gap with me

My family

Simple pleasures

New life--both physical evidenced in the springtime growth and spiritual given freely to all who believe in Jesus

opportunities to serve

encouraging words spoken to me by others--I need to learn from their example!

forgiveness

Goodness

     I've been studying the fruit of the Spirit for a class I teach.  Due to various circumstances, the lesson on goodness has been delayed for about a month.  It has given me quite a bit of time to ponder this fruit.  As I have looked at scriptural passages that refer to goodness, one thing has stood out.  As the opening line of the song Forever Reign states, "You are good, You are good, when there's nothing good in me..."; goodness is not found in people; only God is good.  Ps. 53:1-3 puts it this way,
      "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God,' they are corrupt, and have committed abominable injustices; there is no one who does good.  God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there is anyone who understands, who seeks after God.  Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one."
     I see the evidence of this in my own life so often.  Although I would never say, "There is no God," I recognize there are days when I live like it.  I'm cruising along in my own strength, doing my own thing, as though I need no help from God.  In reality, I desperately need Him to intervene in my life, to impart His goodness through His Spirit.  Otherwise I become self-centered in what I do and say, practicing corruption and injustice.  By nature, I am a sinner. 
     Thankfully, God is not like me.  He is all good.  Ps. 25:8 says, "Good and upright is the Lord; therefore He instructs sinners in the way." And in Ps. 130:3,4 we read, "If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared."  God knows my shortcomings, He sees my brokenness, and He offers grace and forgiveness to me as a free gift.  He lifts me out of the pit of despair; He calls me out of darkness into His glorious light.
     So the hope for goodness comes not from within myself.  I have no standing on my own.  But because of God's good work in me, He now invites me to walk by His Spirit and follow His example; to be an imitator of Him and walk as a child of light. 
     "for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth)" Eph. 5:8,9.  As I seek to understand Him, His goodness will fill me and flow through me.  Any goodness that others see in me is merely a reflection of God; His Spirit living in me, flowing through me.
     I want that fruit to be produced in my life.  I want to leave behind the path of foolishness and walk in the light, enjoying fellowship with God, the author of goodness and righteousness and truth.

I AM the true vine

This statement comes with an invitation as well as a warning.  Even though I know how valuable accepting the invitation is, living within its boundaries often eludes me.

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser...I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

What do you know about vines?  I remember driving through the Finger Lake region of NY as a boy, and seeing field after field of grape vines.  The vines themselves were pretty short, and didn't look like much, but the branches spread out over quite a large area. We usually made that trip toward the end of summer, so many clusters of grapes hung from those branches.  At first glance, the branches appeared to be the important part, but I also saw those same fields during pruning time when those branches would be cut back significantly, revealing the main stalk of the vine.  Another thing I noticed was the many miles of wire which supported and trained the branches. 

In this passage, Jesus refers to the pruning process.  It fulfills two purposes.  First, it gets rid of branches that fail to bear fruit.  Secondly, for the branches that bear fruit, it provides opportunity to bear even more.  What happens when a branch is pruned?  If cut back all the way to the vine, it dies and withers away, but if only part of it is cut away, it reproduces, and more branches grow from it.  This latter picture is what God desires for His children.  He invites us to abide in Him.  As we accept the invitation, we begin to bear fruit.  Then the pruning starts, and we have the opportunity to bring others to an understanding of the value of connecting to the vine.  Just as a vinedresser trains the branches using the wire that stretches through the vineyard, God trains us.  And oh how much we need His training!

The vine provides life for the branches.  In the same way, Christ brings life to us.  He warns us in this passage about becoming disconnected from Him.  We will not bear fruit, in fact, He goes so far as to say apart from Him we can do NOTHING!  And yet I often try to accomplish things in my own strength, forgetting that He brings life and strength.  I want to be an abiding branch.  I want to bear much fruit, bringing glory to God, demonstrating that I am a disciple of Jesus. 

I AM working

This statement by Jesus, in response to the reaction of the Jews to His Sabbath activities challenges me.  It raises a few questions in my mind.

"My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working."  John 5:17

What work is the Father doing?  Is Jesus referring  to His work of healing the sick, or does it go deeper than that?  If I am going to be a follower of Jesus, what are the implications for me in this statement?

Jesus goes on to talk about His dependence on the Father and His imitation of Him.  In verse 21 Jesus gives us a glimpse into the work the Father is doing.  "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life..."  God is in the business of bringing newness of life to those who put their trust in Jesus.  He delights in reconciling people to Himself. Col. 1:19,20.  This is the work God has been doing since the beginning of time.  He created man from the dust of the ground, "and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."  Gen. 2:7  This talks about God bringing physical life to mankind.  This life also included a spiritual side.  Man had complete access to and fellowship with God.  Then sin entered into the world, and along with it, the many effects of sin.  One of these effects was separation from God and another was sickness and death.  God works to remedy both.  Jesus' advent here on earth plays a major role in that plan.  He came to display God. "And He is the image of the invisible God,"  Col. 1:15.  "...Christ, who is the image of God."  2 Cor. 4:4.  Now, that role has been passed on to us.  "Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ..."  2 Cor. 5:18-20a

I believe Jesus conveys a message here about what is important.  God is bringing redemption into the world, and they were so caught up in keeping their rules and doing what was "right", that they couldn't even see it.  I wonder, how often do I miss out on seeing God at work because I'm busy focusing on the wrong things, or even the "right" ones?  I don't want to be guilty of that.  Jesus claims here that everything He does is a result of watching the Father act and following His example.  His power came from the Father. 

How will I demonstrate following God's example today?  As others observe my life, is there evidence that God is working in me?  What kind of image bearer am I?  I want to be working the work of God!