Faithfulness…What is it?
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 28: FAITHFULNESS”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Proverbs 3:3-4 “ Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.
Happy Mother’s Day…a day late! Yesterday we had a chance to celebrate the gift that moms are in our lives. Sure, not every experience as a mother or with a mother is great or perfect. Some of you are missing your mom’s because they are no longer with you. For the most part, moms are special people.
Moms are selfless. They give time energy and effort to raise their children the best they can. Moms sacrifice their time, their resources, their priorities to make sure their children have what they need.
How would you describe your mom?
This week’s passage combines two terms which I believe are great descriptors of my mom and honestly for many moms: love and faithfulness.
These two terms are often used in the Bible right next to each other. So closely related they are that you can’t have one with out the other. You can’t have love without faithfulness and faithfulness without love.
Love is not just an emotional high, it is a commitment to sacrificial service. It is a willingness to give all on behalf of another (great word for moms, right?)
Faithfulness is a word that has at its root, “truth” and “dependability.” Perhaps one might think of it in these areas.
Faithfulness is being true to one’s relationships. Faithfulness is commitment to stay with a person through life’s up and downs. Husbands and wives promise faithfulness to each other on their wedding day. No other person is to get between them.
Faithfulness is being true to one’s word. Faithfulness is doing what you say you will do and always speaking with honesty and integrity. Faithfulness exhibits as our words are true, even if the message is tough to share.
Faithfulness is being true to one’s tasks. Faithfulness is doing as you committed to do. Faithfulness completes the job you indicated you would do.
Faithfulness is also being true to one’s Savior. As we will see in this week’s devotions, that love and faithfulness originates in the Lord himself. He said to Moses to share with the people, “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,…” (Exodus 34:6). Love and faithfulness are characteristics of God. Only his love and faithfulness to us enable us to exhibit love and faithfulness in our lives.
It fits, right?
Only God has perfectly been true to his relationships. He made a promise to Old Testament Israel to be their God as they walked with him…he never deserted them. He was true to his word…always speaking truth, never lying. He was true to his tasks…if he promised, he acted.
Love and faithfulness do go together. To carry them out will need the power and gifting of God’s Spirit to produce faithfulness more fully in us. I pray the reflections this week on God’s faithfulness encourage and guide us to grow in the area of faithfulness ourselves!
Apply: What category of faithfulness is your strongest? Which is your weakest? (Relationships, Words, or Tasks)
Prayer: Lord, thank you for being perfectly loving and faithful to me. I ask that you forgive me for my unfaithfulness to you and others. Cover me in the love and faithfulness of Jesus and empower me by your Spirit to grow to be more faithful in every area of my life…especially in my relationship to you. AMEN.
Kindness…Don’t give up!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 27: KINDNESS”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
I’m way behind on planting a garden this year. In Texas, if you are on top of your crops, you can plant in early spring and in late summer and get two harvests. But if you don’t plant anything, there will be nothing to reap. (Ironically some seeds from last year’s dried up plants have germinated and I have carrots, beans, and cantaloupe growing without my help!)
“A man reaps what he sows.” It would be foolish to expect green beans to come from cucumber seeds. If one plants cucumbers, you will reap cucumbers. If you plant beans, you will reap beans. It would also be foolish to tell another gardener that you planted carrots in their garden as they asked you to do only to find out a few weeks later bean plants were coming up. What comes out of the soil will give evidence of what was planted in the soil.
So the Lord says, “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction.” So if I plant “sin seeds” I can expect to reap “sin fruit.” I can’t expect to plant “sin seeds” and reap eternal life. Eternal life does not come from the sinful nature – destruction does.
Unfortunately, “sin seeds” are really abundant and really easy to plant…and grow pretty easily too. Our sinful nature loves to be pleased with selfishness, things I want, and everyone else serving me. It doesn’t like to think of others, be kind, or give generously (and many other things!).
So the consequence of “sin seeds” is a harvest of destruction.
We don’t want that…so what is the alternative?
Plant “Spirit seeds.” “The one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” What pleases the Spirit? It’s really all the seeds we have been talking about…seeds of love, joy, peace, patience, etc. The Spirit of God loves to work in us and lead us to plant seeds that produce the fruits of the Spirit. It is rewarding when we are able with the Spirit’s help to please the Spirit. The result? “from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” Now that’s the crop I desire!
But it’s hard.
We are constantly fighting against the weeds of sin seeds that crop up, grow up and are hard to uproot. The battle is constant and the struggle is real.
But the harvest is worth it…so don’t give up. Don’t weary in doing good, doing the things that please the Spirit of God. God sees them as fruits of faith and will recognize them.
When you plant seeds, the harvest is a way off – sometimes it’s predictable, other times not. But the reality is, the harvest will come as the seeds are planted.
So as we have opportunity, plant “Spirit seeds.” “…let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
Kindness has its blessings. It is a “Spirit seed” that blesses others and is the fruit that pleases the Spirit. With God’s help keep planting more and more seeds of kindness…with your brothers and sisters in faith and with all the people around. You will, by God’s grace, receive a harvest if you don’t give up!
Apply: What makes sowing “Spirit seeds” hard for you? What blessings have you realized as you planted them?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for the kindness you have shown to me in Jesus. Use that kindness in me to plant seeds that please the Spirit, then as you promised allow me to enjoy the harvest of eternal life! AMEN.
Kindness…Solve evil with good!
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 27: KINDNESS”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Romans 12:17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
I will admit that it is difficult to know what to do when evil affects you and your family personally. Emotions tell me to strike back. My hurting soul wants to make them hurt more. A lack of trust in the judicial system leads one to try to settle the score.
Repaying evil for evil…or sinning when you’ve been sinned against never is a good idea.
Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “26 “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 and do not give the devil a foothold. (Ephesians 4:26-27)
Hard…right?
When you are wronged, the natural desire is to even the score which usually if not always involves sinning in return. I don’t know how many times I was called for a “retaliation foul” in basketball. I felt I was fouled. The ref didn’t call it, so I figured I would “get even.” Which I didn’t…I just got caught.
This doesn’t just happen on the basketball court, it happens in life. We get cut off in traffic, the temptation is to zoom ahead and cut them off. We are harmed by a bully, we want to strike back. It is so hard to NOT repay evil with evil. It’s what comes so naturally and easily.
Yet the Spirit of God through the Apostle Paul encourage us to do the following:
- Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Being sinned against is NOT an excuse to sin in return.
- Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. I don’t think this is encouraging us all to be “people pleasers” but it is reacting and interacting in a way that is consistent with the love and mercy of Christ.
- If it is possible, live at peace with everyone. It may not be possible, but our effort and desire is to end the conflict and restore a functional relationship in the body of Christ.
- Do not take revenge, but leave room for God’s wrath. God didn’t make anyone of us his judge, jury and executioner, so to speak. Sometimes we have to allow injustice to be and understand eventually that person will have to answer to the perfect holy God. Here’s a word of truth from the Prophet Nahum (1:2-3)
2 The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.
The Lord takes vengeance on his foes
and maintains his wrath against his enemies.
3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power;
the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.
- Rather show kindness to your enemies. Why? In this way it will accentuate the evil they have done. It will show you are not willing to hit back. It is showing confidence that you don’t have to settle the score…God will if there is a score to be settled.
- Finally, repay evil with good. This is so hard, but it keeps you from sinning in response to sin, it shows your trust that God will sort it out, and it will show that you recognize that God has loved you, even though at one time you were his enemy.
Showing kindness is hard, but a powerful witness of God’s truth, character and love and the solution he gives for evil.
Apply: What situation is in your life that it is hard to think about showing kindness? What kind act might you show to someone who has done evil to you?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for showing love to me even when I was not showing love to you. Strengthen me, Spirit of God, to repay evil with good…always. AMEN.
Kindness…What did Jesus do?
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 27: KINDNESS”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
Titus 3:3 At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. 4 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
Which of these groups of people would it be easy to be kind to?
- Foolish people?
- Disobedient?
- People entrenched in personal passions and pleasures?
- People living in malice and envy?
- People full of hatred?
NONE of them!
I would have a hard time being kind to any one of these individuals or groups of individuals! It is so hard to be kind to people who are full of hatred for you, into themselves, or just living a lifestyle set on pleasing themselves.
My kindness would have a hard time appearing in those situations.
If I would act that way, I would suspect it would be hard for people to be kind to me.
I can’t dismiss this list and detach myself from acting in a foolish, disobedient, self-centered way. I have to admit I fall into this category as well.
So what would God do with me and these people? Completely opposite of what I or others would deserve.
But “when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared…”
What did he choose to do…to me?
He SAVED me!
When God’s kindness showed up it was all about me and what I needed to stand right with God. The Spirit inspired Paul to write:
Philippians 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!
God was willing to go to the cross for me to pay the price my foolish, disobedient, self-centered heart deserved. What drove him to do this? His mercy. His kindness. His love…for me…for you!
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
This mercy is what we will build on to show mercy and kindness to others!
Apply: What does the kindness of God mean for you?
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for taking the punishment our sins deserved so that we might experience and living in your saving grace now and forever! AMEN.
Kindness…Why is it so hard?
Devotions this week based on the Message: “BELIEVE: Week 27: KINDNESS”
(NOTE: This sermon series and devotional series is based on a book by Randy Frazee entitled, “BELIEVE.”
You may choose to download or purchase the book as a supplement to your worship and devotional emails.)
“Be nice.”
“Was that kind?”
“What would be the nice thing to do?”
These phrases echo in my mind from childhood and beyond. Which means one thing…I wasn’t always kind.
Kindness is “responding to others from a deep, moral inner conviction of what is the right thing to do for the sake of the other person.” (Randy Fraaze, Believe)
Kindness is tough because it means thinking of what is best for the other person…and we don’t do that naturally.
The Apostle Paul was inspired to write: 1 Thessalonians 5:15 “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.”
The fact that the Spirit of God had to record for us, “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong” means that happens…all too often!
Why do we believe that repaying wrong for wrong will help? Perhaps it’s one of these reasons:
- I will solve the problem by striking back.
When someone cuts me off in traffic, I just zoom ahead of him and cut him off. There, I’m back in front. Really my striking back really doesn’t solve anything. It more than likely makes it worse…just for a split second I feel like the wrong is righted.
- I will settle the score by getting even.
This is probably the biggest reason we feel that repaying wrong for wrong is right. When we are wronged it creates an injustice. Often the wrong is not something that was “deserved” or “provoked” but someone just felt OK hurting me or someone else. So, our response? Make them feel worse or suffer worse than they did to me. Our inner sense for “justice” wants to take justice in our own hands and we become the arbiter of what is fair in response…usually it’s just adding sin to sin.
- I will stand up for myself
Repaying wrong for wrong seems like the manly thing to do. We don’t want to be the “softie” or get pushed around so we stand up for ourselves and fight back. (I’m not saying their might be legitimate times of self-defense that are necessary.)
All these really are lies of the devil to trigger our sinful nature into action and convince it that repaying wrong for wrong is the right thing to do.
It isn’t.
It just makes it worse and I’m sure we all have stories of “getting caught” as the person responding to a wrong someone else first inflicted.
So when we are wronged, what is the response?
Jesus taught, (Luke 6:27-31) “ 27 “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Admittedly it is hard to repay wrong with kindness. It just isn’t natural…but it’s God’s way. Tomorrow we’ll find the reason why we don’t have to repay wrong for wrong, but repay wrong with kindness.
Apply: What leads you to want to repay wrong for wrong?
Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for repaying wrong with kindness in our place. All too often we lash out and simply repay wrong for wrong. Forgive us and empower us by your forgiveness and example of one who was always kind, acting in the best interest of the other person. AMEN.