July 2021 Archives
Continuing through the Psalms
Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way. ~Psalms 25:8-9
God even instructs sinners. They don’t realize it at the time but when a person comes to know the Lord, I bet they can often look back and see various ways that God was leading them in decisions they made, places they worked, etc. He looks for those who have humble hearts that are open to Him and then He begins His good and perfect work.
I can hear someone saying, “I was proud when God found me.” Yes. You didn’t know the Lord and yet God could still see a heart that was sick and tired of life and ready for a new beginning. And so He lifted you out of the mire and revealed Himself to you.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. ~Psalm 51:17
Oh, to continue to grow in humility, to not have to have life constantly revolve around me and what I want, to keep growing in quick and absolute surrender to my Father, to be quick to repent when I realize that I have displeased Him or hurt one of my Brothers or Sisters.
The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net. ~Psalms 25:14-15
Have you ever thought about the fact that you can actually be friends with your Master? You can. He desires a genuine relationship with you. Not one-sided where all you can talk about is yourself but one where you are willing to listen to Him as well.
Humility begins in the heart and then exhibits itself in how we treat those around us. If you struggle to hear God’s voice, I encourage you to look at your heart and see if it is full of pride or a genuine willingness to know what God desires and to follow Him in all things.
Photo by Anthony Intraversato on Unsplash
The Path of Righteousness
He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. ~Psalm 23:3b
A couple of years ago, my sister and I attended a Bible study on Psalm 23. At the time, I felt like, although it was encouraging, it was just fluff, and I wanted something deeper. As I read this chapter again today, I realized that there is depth if I read slowly instead of breezing through yet another well-known passage of Scripture.
Verse 3 especially caught my eye.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
I’ve divided this into three separate sections for you to ponder. If you are following God, He will lead you down a path of righteousness. This means that if you are living a life of unrighteousness, you are not following God. However, living a right life isn’t just to make you feel good and give you a clear conscience (although these can be great benefits); He desires that His children live righteous lives so that they do not bring Him shame. (It’s not all about us!)
As you follow Him down that path, it is then that you can know assuredly that goodness and mercy will follow you for the rest of your life. This doesn’t mean that everything will always go your way, but you can rest in the fact that your Father will always be good and merciful to you. What a blessed assurance!
I don’t know where you are at in this journey toward the Celestial City, but I pray that you are staying on the straight and narrow road, not looking right or left or backward but focusing 100% ahead.
Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ~Philippians 3:13-14
The Lost Art of Longsuffering
But the fruit of the Spirit is … longsuffering … ~Galatians 5:22
Charity suffers long and is kind. ~1 Corinthians 13:4
Up until a couple of weeks ago, I was staying at some friends’ house at night while the house I live in is under renovation. I was there about a month before I took a pre-planned trip to visit some friends for a few days and then spend a month with my dad. When I go back home, I expect I will go back to my friends’ house for a time until our house is ready for me to move back into.
I rely on other people’s grace quite a bit, and I do not take for granted their willingness to sacrifice their own comfort and routine to accommodate me. That said, I have observed many people who are not that gracious and longsuffering, and I seek to figure out why.
One thing I know is that it is a lot easier to be patient with others when you realize how patient people are with you. People like to talk about how hard relationships are, but I don’t think they should be. Yes, you have to give and take but if both parties are giving and taking, it shouldn’t be drudgery. It is easy to say “I love you” to people who don’t live with you, but the true test of your love is how you treat those that you see day in and day out.
I have plenty of friends and family that don’t agree with me in every area. Most areas are not hills worth dying on from my viewpoint. I will listen to their side and often still disagree when they’re done but if they continue to want to be friends, I am willing to do so.
I am in no way recommending that people have no convictions and become accepting of sin, but most of the things that the Church gets up in arms about do not fall into this category. The key is in being led by the Spirit. If God places someone in your life, you need to work on being longsuffering with that person. Don’t just say that you love him or her but show your friend how much by how you treat them. Begin with those in your own household, and I expect it will be easier to show love to those around you.
Is God’s Love Really Unconditional?
I bristle when I hear people talk about God’s unconditional love. Typically, it is used in a context of borderline bragging about how it doesn’t matter what a person does; God still loves that person “unconditionally.” And, of course, the implication that follows is that we must love people unconditionally as well. After all, we are supposed to be like God. So I would like to ask a couple of questions. Does God really love unconditionally, and are we to follow suit?
On the surface, the answer to these questions would be a hearty, “Absolutely!” Just as God loves us, we are to love others. But I feel like we need to define “love” and what that looks like.
A parent may love a wayward child, but sometimes the most loving thing they can do is distance themselves and let the adult son or daughter make bad decisions so that they ultimately learn better ways of doing things.
Someone who ministers in a prison may feel compassion for those locked inside, but it would not be right or necessarily loving to let them all loose and trust that they won’t hurt anyone else.
So it is with God. He is grieved when the people He created ignore Him and disobey His Word. He may not stop loving them, but He will withdraw from them and, if they don’t repent, He will cast them from His sight forever. I am in no way desiring to take away from God’s love. I long to fully understand the depth of that love so that I can better love others, but I do not want a distorted view that would propel me into eternal torment.
I am currently reading through the New Living Translation, and I like how it refers to God’s “unfailing love.” The King James and English Standard Versions use the word “steadfast.” His love is “resolutely firm and unwavering,” but He still expects His children to love and obey Him in return.
When you are telling someone how magnificent God’s love is, I would encourage you to consider substituting “unconditional” for “unfailing.” Anyone can “love” someone unconditionally, overlooking sin in the process, but God’s love goes deeper than that. He has laid out conditions for His followers, but His love is so pure and genuine that it is worth doing what He asks. When we accept God’s love as it truly is instead of how we imagine it or would like it to be, I expect that we will grow to love Him more in return.
