FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT, KINDNESS, part two

July 30, 2016 | lindamowles

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT, Series Post No. 16

KINDNESS – A CONSTANT STATE OF READINESS TO HELP

PART TWO

So how do we show kindness to others – to whom should we be kind – what is kindness, after all? What does the scripture tell us about these questions?

The greatest kindness we can do for another person is to witness to them of the Great King Jesus and lead them as the Holy Spirit directs toward their salvation and spiritual growth. Most often, we do this by setting a good example as this is frequently the most effective witness of all, especially if, at the appropriate time, it is accompanied by our words telling of the gospel of the Lord Jesus as the Source of our life in Him.

For our brothers and sisters in the Lord, we help each other in faith and obedience and encourage each other when in trial or temptations. We can bring spiritual joy and strength to each other as we seek to live for Christ before meeting Him in heaven.

What does Scripture say?

We as Christians are to be kind, not only in a spiritual context but also physically, to both individuals and the world, whether or not they claim Christ as their Savior.

We are told to help others in their difficulties and calamities. See Jesus’ words in Matthew 25: 35-36.

Kindness for the Christian can be summed up as being kind in three specific ways:

By giving to them of those things that they need and we possess.

“Give and it shall be given unto you.”

Luke 6:38

By doing for them and making an effort to help them to improve their situation.

“For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.”

I Thessalonians 2: 9

“For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do;”

Hebrews 6: 10

By suffering for them and assisting them in bearing their burdens and in doing everything that we can to lighten those burdens.

“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

Galatians 6:2

“By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers”

1 John 3: 16

Now that we know that we are to be kind to others, who are the “others”? Or, another way to put it is, “to whom should we be kind?”

Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us to be kind to our neighbors, and it expands the definition of neighbor to anyone we meet along life’s way. Luke 10:29 and following.

That parable, however begs the question: what kind of people are our neighbors so that we can be kind to them?

We are to be kind both to the good and to the bad. Remember, the Holy Spirit is transforming us into the likeness of Jesus Christ … we are to imitate God. We should be kind not just those who we consider good in our own eyes.

“For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.”

Matthew 5: 45

In this regard, Jonathan Edwards has said:

“Some are proud, some immoral, some covetous, some profane, some unjust or severe, and some despisers of God. But any or all of these bad qualities should not hinder our beneficence [kindness], nor prevent our doing them good as we have opportunity. On this very account, we should the rather be diligent to benefit them, that we may win them to Christ; and especially should we be diligent to benefit them in spiritual things.”

It also goes without need for elaboration that we should be kind to our friends. But this duty of kindness also extends to our enemies!

“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”

Matthew 5: 44

And, we should be kind to the thankful as well as to the unthankful. Again, this follows the example of Jesus. Luke 6: 35 says He “is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil;” It is also consistent with the command that we should be merciful as He is merciful. Luke 6:36.

How does this apply to my daily life?

We do not deserve God’s kindness and yet He is kind every moment of every day –as He showers us with His blessing and love in Christ Jesus, as He provides for our salvation and eternal life with Him, as He has given His grace and mercy in forgiveness of our sins, even the ones that we keep on doing and which He knows we will continue to do, yet in His infinite love, mercy and kindness He continues to forgive when we come to Him.

Please remember that the Holy Spirit is transforming us into the likeness of Jesus Christ … and one of Jesus’ attributes was kindness that was extended to those he encountered throughout his life, even to his executioners, including you and me. He died on the cross because of our sins, and we put him there as surely as any Roman spear or nail. Such kindness freely given to us should result in an outpouring of love and kindness by us to others, not in our human power as just one more thing we have to do but through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Kindness – it is such a common term, so flippantly used, and yet such a profound witness when it comes from a heart prompted by the Holy Spirit. It is not a last minute thought or a flippant act of little consequence as the world describes; it is a life style of placing others first, of putting yourself in subservience to others so that their needs are met; it is going the extra mile and then some, because Jesus went all the way from heaven, to earth and then to the cross for you, and for me. Such kindness cannot be repaid by any action on our part, but we can illustrate it to others as best we can, with prayerful praise and as a thankful witness for Jesus Christ our Lord.

Blessings to you and I pray that you will continue to walk with me as we learn about the fruit of the Holy Spirit and as we mature in our transformation into Christian believers who speak and act as Jesus did and who share in the passions that Jesus had for the lost sheep and for the worship of His Father, the Almighty God.

FRIENDS –CHERISHED GIFTS FROM OUR LOVING GOD!

July 25, 2016 | lindamowles

Humanity has long known of the importance of friendships. People are social creatures, whether it is a family, a club, a church congregation. For some, even a gang provides the social connection that is necessary, although it is in a negative context. In short, friendships are important to our mental, psychological, and physical well-being. Animals understand the value of having friends, perhaps not in the same language as we do but in packs where each looks out for the other.

Dog - Two friends waiting for family

Two friends, our greyhound and chow/spitz mix, protecting the yard from squirrels and cats, while looking for the family to return.

Friendship has been on my mind this week because of our visit with a beloved lady who has been a dear friend for over 35 years. Our children were close friends through preschool and elementary school. Although she moved away and our visits were seldom after that, we have remained close through the heart bonds of love in our relationship with the Lord and with each other.

Although she and I have visited together in various locations, I have not seen her son in many years. We were reunited as we stood in their home with his wife and children around us. The years melted away and it was glorious. He explained to his children that when he was young, I was his second mother, Mama-J, and that I had also been his Cub Scout Den Mother! (That made me remember the pumpkin seeds that were strewn all around the family room after the Cubs hollowed out and then carved their Halloween pumpkins. But, since that was a fond memory, the seeds were worth it!) It was wonderful to see him face-to-face.

Scripture speaks of friends in numerous places.

In Exodus 33:11 we find:

“The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.”

Scripture even gives us examples of true friendships that were time-honored and God blessed.

In 1 Samuel we read of the friendship between Jonathan, Saul’s son and presumptive heir in line for the kingdom, and David, the one who God selected as the next King of Israel. At 1 Samuel 20:42 we read:

Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have sworn friendship with each other in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD is witness between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.”

The “Rest of that Story” is found in 2 Samuel 9. After the death of Saul and Jonathan, and after David became King, he looked around to see if anyone of Jonathan’s family had survived the battle and his ascension to the throne. Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s infant son at the time of the war, did survive because he was secreted to safety by his nurse. When the King called to have this sole survivor of Saul’s family brought to him, Mephibosheth rightly thought he was going to die.

Instead, King David brought Mephibosheth into his family, and he ate at the King’s table the rest of his life. Why? Because of the oath between friends that had been made years earlier.

“Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”

2 Samuel 9:7.

Sometimes, those we think of as friends do not act in a way that is good for us. An example of this is found in the actions of Ahithophel, King David’s close confidant and friend, who sided with David’s son, Absalom, in his rebellion against David. 2 Samuel 15-17. David’s pain at this betrayal is described in Psalm 55:

If an enemy were insulting me, I could endure it; if a foe were raising himself against me, I could hide from him. But it is you, a man like myself, my companion, my close friend, with whom I once enjoyed sweet fellowship as we walked with the throng at the house of God.

Psalm 55:12-14

We also see the example of Job’s three, sincere but misguided, friends:

When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

Job 2:11-13.

Often we think of these friends with disgust when we hear of them telling Job to repent of his sin while Job maintained his innocence. And, in the end, God upheld the honor and longsuffering of his servant, Job, expressing anger at the friends.

After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

Job 42:7.

Without focusing on their misguided advice, consider what these men did. They came a long distance to comfort Job. They wept for his condition. They sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. They did not speak one word to him because of his great suffering.

Have we done this for our friends? Have we sat at the hospital, even one day let alone seven, comforting them? Have we wept for their condition? Have we extended the gift of service, perhaps holding a hand or putting a cool cloth on a hot forehead? Have we honored them with our presence, sitting quietly and praying for them, without the disruption that constant talk brings? Have we repeatedly prayed for them bringing their condition before our Healing God in earnest prayer?

Jesus spoke of friends frequently in his discourses to the disciples and others around him. One of the most pointed statements is found in John 15:13-14:

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.^”

Friends … what blessings from God and how important they are to us as we grow, age, mature and remember. And, to be considered a friend of God, when we do what Jesus has commanded us to do, is beyond comprehension. It is a gift of grace, and grace alone.

Praise the Lord that He has procured our salvation through His righteousness. It is in Him that we can call Him friend and that we can stand before the Holy God and can say “Abba, Father”. Praise His Holy Name!

Father, we thank You for the gift of friends. We pray that we would be faithful friends who support and encourage each other in our walk of discipleship. We pray for those who feel that they have no friends, and we ask that you would enable us to befriend them in a meaningful way that reflects your love to them, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

EXCITEMENT AND CELEBRATION!

June 15, 2016June 17, 2016 | lindamowles

What excites you? What causes a sense of celebration and joy for you?

A child at a birthday party anxious to see what the package holds?

Watching fireworks at the park?

Fireworks 2 — Fireworks after baseball game!

Going on a vacation?

Cruise ship at distance — Cruise ship at a distance.

Going outside?

Okay, that question is really related to our MinPin daughter, Snickers, who cannot stand at the door to go outside. In her exuberance for getting outside, she, in all her 8 inches of height, will jump higher than the doorknob while she waits for us to open it.

What makes you glad? What excites you?

Scripture tells us of a time when David exhibited extreme excitement and joy in 2 Samuel 6. The cause of his excitement was that the ark was being returned to the City of David, and it had just arrived from the house of Obed-edom. Scripture says that David “danced before the Lord with all his might” [ESV] or “with great enthusiasm”. [Amplified Bible] When his wife, Michal, saw him dancing, she became angry because she thought his actions were undignified. She confronted him with his conduct and David responded, reading from the Amplified Bible:

So David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord that I did this, who chose me above your father and all his house, to appoint me as ruler over Israel, the people of the Lord. Therefore I will celebrate in pure enjoyment before the Lord.”

2 Samuel 6:21.

In the New Testament, Jesus talked of His joy:

“These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.”

John 15:11.

And then also we read what Paul says gives him joy:

I am acting with great boldness toward you; I have great pride in you; I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.

2 Corinthians 7:4.

This same verse is translated as follows in the Amplified Bible:

“Great is my confidence in you, great is my pride and boasting on your behalf. I am filled to the brim with comfort; I am over flowing with joy in spite of all our trouble.”

Having joy in spite of the troubles that confronted him. Wow!

The disciples, at the ascension of the Lord, watched Him go up into the clouds after He blessed them. Then we read, in the Amplified Bible, at Luke 24:31-32:

And they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy [fully understanding that He lives and that He is the Son of God], and they were continually in the temple blessing and praising God.

Worshipping with great joy.

That doesn’t sound like being the “Frozen Chosen” on Sunday Morning, sitting in the pew with dour faces, never smiling and singing through clenched jaws!

Rather that description sounds like:

people who are thankful to God, and to Him alone, for their salvation, who recognize how great the mercy was when the Holy Spirit touched their hearts through His grace alone!
people who put God at the center of worship and not their own feelings and opinions.
people who celebrate and praise God for His goodness through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
people who want to spend time with each other, who speak to and encourage one another!

So, I ask you, how do you worship the Lord and the Father Almighty? With great joy or with a sense of obligation or dread? Do you love meeting with other believers and fellowshipping with them because of your common bond in Christ, or do you spend the smallest amount of time possible at church because other “more pressing matters” are calling to you!

Worship is exciting because in it we are ushered into the throne room of God. Because of Jesus’ atoning work on the cross, and the work of the Holy Spirit in illuminating our hearts to the reality of our sin and to the blessing of His mercy. While in our own strength and power we would be cast out from before His presence because of our abject sin and spiritual poverty, because we stand before God in the righteousness of Christ, we can call the Holy One, the Creator of all things and the Lover of our Soul, “Abba, Father”.

I pray that we would have a renewed appreciation of worship and fellowship in the life of the Christian Church.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

John 13:34-35.

Worship and love – they go hand in hand. Worship denotes the reverence of and for God, stressing the feeling of awe or devotion. And, our devotion to the Lord should be evidenced in the love that we have for one another and for the world around us. Indeed, worship and love of one another are means of grace given to us through the Holy Spirit … let us not ignore them!

This week, may we remember that the worship of our God is exciting and is a joyful experience. Then, when we leave the worship service, may we continue in an attitude of love toward both our fellow believers as well as each person that the Lord puts in our path. Love one another — surprise them by your love and then point them to Jesus.

Father, forgive me when I have approached worship with a sense of obligation rather than with excitement about being in your presence. May your Holy Spirit touch my heart and may I come with reverence and awe at your majesty, power, omniscience, glory, and love. May I be accepted before You as I stand covered in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, my Savior. May I love You with my whole heart and may I worship You daily.

CLIMBING, HIDING AND SECURITY!

June 8, 2016 | lindamowles

Do you ever feel like climbing the walls? We saw a literal example of this several years ago when our grandsons would climb the wall – or rather door frame.

There certainly is no way I could do that, when I was his age or now (at a significantly older age!). But, the fact that I cannot literally climb the wall is not an indication that I have never wanted to do so! Tension, anxiety, questions, financial problems, health issues, decisions, worries, … you fill in the blank for your situation … all pile up and I would want to climb the wall, mentally if not physically.

Another response to tension or difficulty is the head in the sand attitude. In our house, it more precisely should be called the MinPin in the blanket response because each of our canine daughters will go to the blankets on the floor, lap or chair and, literally, wrap themselves up, sometimes with a nose sticking out, but most often they will be totally covered. [It is rather humorous when they begin walking out of the blanket, it looks like a blanket-ghost going along the floor!]

Snickers in blanket — Snickers wrapped in blanket with her nose sticking out, curious about what is going on outside the blanket.

I have felt like that too. “Couldn’t I just stay in bed and not face the day? It’s too hard, and there are too many problems to deal with, I just don’t want to face it … I can’t!”

Ralph Ransom is an American painter from Saint Joseph, Missouri who died in 1908, likely from tuberculosis, certainly struggled with problems. He said:

“All life demands struggle. Those who have everything given to them become lazy, selfish, and insensitive to the real values of life. The very striving and hard work that we so constantly try to avoid is the major building block in the person we are today.”

I would take Mr. Ransom’s statement one step farther. For the Christian, “the very striving and hard work that we so constantly try to avoid may be a major building block in our conformation to the image of Jesus Christ.”

In the Christian life, we often find that the time we struggled and had to work hard through a situation or problem was, in fact, the time when we grew the most in our understanding of the love, mercy, and all-sufficient grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:29 says:

“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.”

We are to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, and sometimes it takes difficulties to bring us into that image. The April 6, 2016, Presidential Prayer Team devotional, Vantage Point, was entitled the “Master Sculptor” and spoke to the connection between suffering and growth in our Christian life. In part it read:

A little boy watched a sculptor begin chiseling a large block of marble. The sculptor worked meticulously until the slab looked like the face of Abraham Lincoln. “How did you do that?” the little boy asked. The sculptor said with a smile, “All I have to do is chip away everything that doesn’t look like Lincoln.”

Pain, persecution, stress and accusations are some of the struggles that believers in Christ often endure. At the time, it may not be known exactly why the Lord has allowed them. However, the loving Father uses trial to chip away at flaws in character. He uses great care and thoughtfulness so that the end result will look like His Son.

Thank God, the Master Sculptor of your soul, for His work in your life and His dedication to your future. Whatever difficulties are happening with you personally (and in the nation), practice patience and trust that He will do His work carefully and creatively. Pray also that America’s leaders who are Christians will allow their trials to draw them to a closer relationship with the Lord and conform their lives to His purposes. [Emphasis mine]

When we want to climb the wall, when we want to hide under the blanket, when we just don’t want to face the difficulty any more – turn your eyes to the Father and thank Him for the problem. Take your eyes off the condition that confronts you and see the One who is in control of that condition. See the Father working in your life to conform you to the image of His Son.

As unbelievable as it sounds to the unregenerate person, thank God for the difficulty and rest in Him to carry you through it.

The reason we can thank God for whatever comes our way is the security that we have in Jesus Christ.

Picture hanging in our office — Picture depicting Jesus as the Good Shepherd holding His lamb in His nail-pierced hand.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

Romans 8:35.

Paul himself answers these questions in the following verses:

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

Life in this world is difficult … but we can be confident that the love of Christ will carry us from this world to an eternity with Him. This world is short-lived and temporary; eternity is forever, which by the way is a very long time!

During difficult times we tend to focus on ourselves and our dastardly plight! But, pull your eyes off yourself and look to the cross … look to the Savior … look to the Father who has you in His hands … look to the Son of God who secures you in Him.

Christian, be confident in the knowledge that nothing can separate you from the love of God through Jesus Christ.

Nothing.

Father, help me to remember that You are sovereign and in control of my life and all that happens to me. Help me to recall, during difficult trials, that I am secure in Your love because of my Savior Jesus Christ. Give me strength to face difficult times as I praise Your holy name for the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior.

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT, No. 5 LOVE, PART TWO

May 13, 2016 | lindamowles

Continuing our consideration of LOVE, we are thinking about love from the Holy Spirit, therefore it is love as God loves … Agape love. So we need to see what this love looks like, and then see if we have those characteristics in our life.

In Dr. R. C. Sproul’s teaching series Keeping in Step with the Spirit, CD Teaching Series; and Developing Christian Character, CD Teaching Series he identifies several characteristics of Agape love, the love that should be evident in our lives because the Holy Spirit is resident within us as Christians.

What does Scripture say?

Agape love gives us the desire in our hearts to worship God.

Without the Holy Spirit’s involvement in my life, worship would be far from what I would want to do on a Sunday morning. But the Holy Spirit changes all that. The Christian wants to honor and worship God – why? Because God is living within her, the Spirit urges her to honor and worship God and she responds by doing so. Jesus said:

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 4:23-24.

Agape love believes and trusts God’s Word.

Paul says:

“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”

I Thessalonians 2:13.

In Jesus’ prayer for His disciples, in John 17:17, he prays:

“Sanctify them in the truth: your word is truth.”

Agape love reads God’s Word, loves God’s Word, believes God’s Word, and trusts God’s Word. If God’s Word sets forth a standard that is difficult to follow, Agape love mandates that such standard should still be followed even if society cries out against it. God’s Word is inviolate, and the Christian gives it full credit and trust.

Agape love recognizes God’s absolute right to govern us.

Sovereignty – this is something we in the United States don’t really understand culturally, but it is grounded in our psyche – God put a desire for a sovereign in our very being – not for a physical king, but for HIM.

Indeed, in the Old Testament, God was the King of His people Israel, leading them through the wilderness and preserving them as they encountered enemies along the way. But then we read in 1 Samuel 8:5-7 that the people came to the prophet Samuel and demanded a king so they could “be like all the other nations around them.” Samuel objected to this demand but he presented the request to God.

And the LORD said unto Samuel, “Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.” [KJV]

What a sad comment from our God — “they have rejected me”.

David says:

“Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.”

Psalm 74:12

In 1 Timothy 1:17, Paul says:

“To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Of course, we also have the promise of Romans 8:28-30 that God will work in all things to our ultimate good, specifically that we will be with Him for all eternity through Christ our Lord.

Agape love says that God is sovereign and that He has the absolute right to govern His creation in all things, and that, Beloved, includes even you and me.

How does this apply to my daily life?

With Agape love in our hearts, we recognize that we are the creation, not the Creator. The Holy Spirit is in our heart and He is enabling us to worship and honor God as God. We desire to worship Him. We want to come into His presence and sing His glories, hear His Word and learn from His Spirit as it is preached to us.

The emphasis on our worship is God, not us. With Agape love, I will not be saying “I didn’t get anything out of the sermon today” because I am not the one that is to be the focus of worship. Rather, my prayer is that my worship has given God the honor and glory that He deserves.

With Agape love, we will want to read and study His Word. You would never fold a letter from your boyfriend or girlfriend and put it in your pocket without taking it out of the envelope and reading it. Rather, you would virtually memorize it, not out of an obligation to do so but because you want to have the words in your heart to cherish for all time.

The Bible is God’s Word to us, a love letter, if you will, given for us to read and learn of God, what His character is like, what He desires for His people, what He wants in worship. The New Testament continues the theme that began in the Old Testament, detailing the life of Jesus Christ, the fullest revelation of God that we could possibly ask for, the One who was fully man and fully God. The One who revealed God and His nature to the fullest extent possible. Jesus even explicitly saying:

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

With Agape love, we will acknowledge that God is Sovereign. He has absolute authority over us, to send us wherever He wants us to go, to have us do that which He desires. He is not a tyrant that He should gain glee in hurting His children. Rather, His plan for us is far better than that which we could imagine, with benefits that are eternal, not just for the here and now.

Listen to Isaiah 43:11-13 as presented in the song entitled I Am The Lord, sung by Ed Kerr on Integrity Music’s Scripture Memory Song Album entitled Hope of Heaven. Let the reality of these words sink into your mind and heart and think of them as you go about your daily activities. Agape love – the first fruit of the Spirit.

We will look at additional characteristics of this fruit in the next post.

COMMANDED TO LOVE

May 10, 2016 | lindamowles

Love is a hot topic in our world every day. We speak of “falling in love” or “having lost my love” as if love is something that just happens, whether we want it to or not. While the concept of marriage is under incredible attack in today’s world, love is still a hot topic.

We read in the tabloids of love between two people and then, one paragraph later, we read of the separation of two others. We celebrate the many years of marriage of one couple while we are hurting for another couple going through separation and dissolution of their marriage

Then, too, as parents, we love our children. And, as adults, we love our children and their children, and we love our parents, and miss them when they are gone.

Alice, Harold and Linda (C) — My Mother and Father reading my Golden Book, circa 1950

And, if we look carefully, there even are times when our children love each other!

USED Brother and Sister — Siblings showing affection, at least one is!

USED Brother and infant sister (C) — Brother giving baby sister some “love”.

While the children may not be as demonstrative as they get older, loving sibling relationships are precious.

We say that we love flowers.

USED Flower garden — Beautiful flower garden.

We love food.

Chocolate covered strawberries — Anyone for some chocolate covered strawberries!

We love to travel and take vacations, like a cruise going to faraway places in style.

USED Grandeur of the Seas Cruise Ship — The Grandeur of the Seas cruise ship in the Royal Caribbean fleet, seen from a distance.

And, it goes without saying, we love our pets.

USED Skipy hiding under the bed — Skippy, our Lhasa Poo, peeking out from under the bed, gave us 18 blessed years..

USED Goldie on sofa in rv — One of our retired racing greyhounds, Gold E Locks, otherwise known as Goldie, graced us with her presence for 11 years. She loved riding on the sofa in the RV.

And now we have our two canine MinPin daughters, Snickers and Cuddles.

USED Snickers wishing camera flash would stop — Snickers in dreamland on her favorite blanket.

USED Cuddles and her boy (C) — Our grandson and Cuddles, sound asleep, with just a little doggie grin, next to him, because he is “her boy!”

Our love for people, animals, objects and activities is a love that is conditioned on various factors. We love those related to us in a different way than we do our generalized acquaintances. We love some flowers and not others, and some like to eat lobster and others wouldn’t touch it! In other words, there is self-motivated volition involved in our love of things and others.

In stark contrast, this is not how we are to love our God. We are COMMANDED to love the Lord our God, and not just a little bit or for a limited time!

In Deuteronomy 6:5 we read:

“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

That essentially covers everything! It is repeated elsewhere in the Old Testament, for example: Deuteronomy 11:1 and 13:3, and Joshua 22:5.

We cannot shrug our shoulders and mumble, “Yeah, but that was okay thousands of years ago, not for us 2016!” Rather, Jesus reiterated that this was still a commandment for us in Matthew 22:37 when He repeated these exact words. But Jesus didn’t stop there — not only are we to follow the command in Deuteronomy, Jesus expanded it in Mark 12:29-31 by commanding us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.

Jesus takes love out of the mental/spiritual world and puts it into the physical/material world. This turns love into action, not just thought or emotion. We see our neighbor and we are to love him/her.

Loving God and loving our neighbor as ourselves means to serve others as Jesus Christ exampled for us, as He lived, and as He died in complete obedience to His Father. We surely cannot live a sinless life and comply with God’s will in all things as He did, but we can keep His commands on a day to day basis as we are enabled by the Spirit. We can love God; we can read His Word; we can meet with fellow believers and worship Him regularly; we can love others, if for no other reason than because He tells us to do so.

Note that our obligation to love our neighbor does not depend on whether the neighbor is either lovely or loveable – it is a command to Jesus’ followers that has no qualification as to the one being loved. It is between us and the Lord. “If you love me, keep my commands.” John 14:15.

There is no wriggle room. It is an “if … then” statement. If you love me, then you will keep my commands. Or, stated another way, if you do not keep my commands, then you do not love me.

This is not optional – it is not a suggestion. It is a direct command that indicates whether

I do or do not love my Lord and Savior,
I will or will not allow His Spirit to guide my steps through the day,
I will or will not follow His direction.

If I say that I am His, do my actions support my statement or do they undermine it?

What about you? Prayerfully consider these questions and seek the Lord’s face as you look at your life, your speech, your actions, your thoughts, your motives, etc.

“If you love me, keep my commands.” Am I one of His disciples or not? Are you?

Everything depends on the answer to that question!

Father, I pray that the meditation of my heart is acceptable to you this day. I pray that your Word would be used by the Spirit to illuminate the hearts of those who do not know You. I pray that you would forgive me when I have failed to love You with my whole heart, soul and might. Thank you for calling me to Yourself through the atoning work of your Son, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Fruit of the Spirit, No. 4, Love, Part One.

May 6, 2016 | lindamowles

When I started this study, I thought that the first fruit, love, would be simple to talk about. You know, sending people cards when they are ill, preparing casseroles when there is a need … all those things that we do under the name of love for our fellow man. However, as I searched Scripture about what the fruit of the Spirit of love was, I had to rethink my definition … I pray that you will see that Agape Love is way more than casseroles and cards!

What does Scripture say?

We know from 1 Corinthians 13 that love is a gift of the Spirit, and Paul calls it the greatest of all the gifts.

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13.

But love is not only a gift of the Spirit, it is also the first fruit of the Spirit that Paul identifies in Galatians Chapter 5.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:21-22.

Therefore, you might not have been given love as a gift of the Spirit, but you still must exhibit love because love is also the first fruit of the Spirit which is resident in you because the Holy Spirit is within you. In short, love is the only virtue that is both a fruit and a gift of the Spirit.

In considering the singular word “fruit”, the Wycliffe Commentary on Galatians says that this “tends to emphasize the unity and coherence of the life and the Spirit as opposed to the disorganization and instability of life under the dictates of the flesh.”

ORANGE - LOVE — LOVE – WAY MORE THAN CASSEROLES AND CARDS!

You will recall that we are using the orange as a representation of the fruit of the Spirit. Each believer has the entire fruit because the Holy Spirit resides in her heart. Therefore, each believer has each segment of the fruit. Here we are considering love.

So, what is Love?

We know that there are three primary words for love in the New Testament that enrich its meaning in Scripture beyond what our English translation can provide. First is Eros from which we derive erotic, or romantic love, sexual and physical; it is a love that desires to possess for personal benefit.

Second is Phileo from which we get Philadelphia and philanthropy, words that mean companionship and friendship.

Third is Agape love. This is the New Testament Greek word that describes God’s love for us. Agape love is the result of a decision that commits itself to the well-being of the beloved regardless of the condition or reaction of the one who is loved: this is the love that comes from God. One who is nice, compassionate, and even charitable, may be exhibiting a kind of love but, if these actions come from a non-believer, it cannot be Agape love.

Jonathan Edwards said in Charity and Its Fruits:

The Spirit of God is a Spirit of love, and when the former enters the soul, love also enters with it. God is love, and he that has God dwelling in him by his Spirit, will have love dwelling in him also.

Love is resident in the believer, in a way that the unregenerate person cannot understand or experience, simply because the Holy Spirit indwells the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. And, God the Holy Spirit is love. Jesus promised to send us the Comforter, the Paraclete, the Teacher Who would guide us as we live our lives as witnesses to Jesus’ power and glory. It is this Spirit that resides within us and it is this Spirit that transforms us into the image of Christ.

The person who is loved may not accept the love, they may not appreciate the love, and they may even despise the one offering the love; but the decision to love is unabated by the response or rejection from the one who is loved. It is for this reason that Agape love cannot be produced by us on our own nor is it resident in our spirits absent the presence of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

The supreme example of Agape love is described by Paul when he said:

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

Romans 5:6-10.

We, who were wallowing in our sin and were deserving of nothing but death and judgment from a Holy God, were granted righteousness and full pardon from the judgment that our sin surely deserved when Christ died for us. His sinless life, His death on the cross, and His powerful resurrection from the dead provides us with His righteousness because He took our sin and paid for it with His precious blood on the cross.

That my beloved is Agape love. Love for a being that can offer us nothing … supreme love that is contingent not on the person being loved but on the nature of the One doing the loving.

It is the love that our Lord exhibited when He took our place on that cross.

It is the love that is placed into our hearts by the Holy Spirit when He indwells us at our conversion.

How does this apply to my daily life?

The Wycliffe Commentary on Galatians also notes that the singular use of the word “fruit” may be “intended to point to the person of Christ, in whom all these things are seen in their perfection. The Spirit seeks to produce these by reproducing Christ in the believer.” Paul says later in Galatians:

“It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!”

Galatians 4:18-19.

So, how should I respond to this love? First and foremost, remembering what God did for us should bring us to our knees in humble thanksgiving and in renewed dedication to do His will and work in our world.

Second, this love should influence our desire to be in God’s Word and to pray in praise, thanksgiving, supplication and adoration.

Listen to this vocal offering of the song How Deep the Father’s Love for Us as sung by Damaris on her album entitled The Heart of God and think how it reveals Agape Love:

In future posts we will consider various aspects of this love! For now, bow before our God and thank Him for loving us and calling us to Himself. Then, consider whether your life exhibits a self-sacrificing love for God and then for others.

LAUGHTER, JOY AND LOVE.

April 2, 2016 | lindamowles

We live very close to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

Smoky Mountains vista — Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Picture taken of vista that is seen from Cades Cove.

In Gatlinburg, Tennessee, a town at the entrance to the Park, there are many things for tourists to do, and among them is having your picture taken while you are dressed up in old-time garb. The resulting picture in sepia tones appears to be very old, perhaps of people who bear a striking resemblance of you but who lived generations ago.

One of the requirements when the picture is taken is that you have to look serious. I am told that holding a smile for a period of time is more difficult than holding a frown. Before the days of fast shutter speeds or digital photography, it took time for the image to be exposed, for example, for a tin-type. In short, you had to be still. If you smiled, your mouth would be a blur – if you frowned, or at least were serious, your mouth would be in focus.

Here is one picture where the children had an incredible level of seriousness, while Mom, who probably glanced at them just before the camera snapped, seemed to be ready to laugh.

old time family picture — Tourist picture of family taken by photographer at an “Old Tyme” studio in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Laughter – Joy – Love. What blessings from the Lord!

Laughter

When I think of laughter in Scripture, the first thought is of Sarah laughing when the angel of the Lord told her husband that she would have a child in her old age. See Genesis 18.

Actually, the word for “laughter” is not often used in the Scripture, but the Bible is replete with times that people reveled in the joy that the Lord their God gave to them. I can’t help but think that, in the midst of the glorious joy that they had, the people in Scripture laughed – not in derision, but in sheer joy!

Joy

What can be more infectious than a child’s joy!

Happy baby girl (C) — Smiling baby girl showing her joy at her surroundings.

The Psalmist wrote numerous psalms about joy, of which this is an example:

Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Psalm 32:11 [ESV]

Paul wrote in Romans:

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Romans 14:17 [ESV]

Luke characterized the disciples as follows:

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 13:52 [ESV]

What can be more infectious than the joy of a small child? The Joy that the believer has in his/her Lord and Savior. It is a glorious gift from the Holy Spirit.

Love

The number of Scripture passages that deal with love are myriad – the love of God, the love of Jesus Christ, the love we should have for each other – love is written throughout the pages of Scripture. For example:

The Psalmist says:

But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Psalm 13:5-6 [ESV]

When I think of God’s love, the first thing that comes to mind is, of course, the cross. But the image that speaks to me about Jesus’ love for His sheep is this one that is hanging in our study at home. The lamb is resting so comfortably on His shoulder and it is being held so tenderly by the nail scarred hands of the Lord.

Paul, in Romans 5, provides this picture in words when he says:

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die– but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6-8 [ESV]

Sometimes we want to laugh but the occasion does not warrant it – but even then, our eyes can shine with the joy that we are experiencing. God did not create us without feelings – He clearly wants us to experience laughter, joy and love.

While the world experiences a type of joy and love, the fruit of the Spirit encompasses joy and love on an entirely different level. It is joy that is not based on circumstances but on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and His Spirit that indwells the believer. We will consider the fruit of the Spirit next week when the new series begins on The Ruminant Scribe blog site.

Ask the Lord to give you glimpses of His joy and His love through His Spirit. You will be glad you did.

Father, thank You for granting to us the incredible blessing of emotions and feelings so that we can experience the summit of love and waves of joy. And, thank You for being with us when we experience difficulties and trials, too. Thank You, Sovereign Lord, for providing us with the Holy Spirit Who gives to us your joy and love now and for all eternity. We praise your holy name.

ON THE RELEVANCY OF JOHATHAN EDWARDS IN 2016.

March 26, 2016 | lindamowles

In preparing a Bible study on the fruit of the Spirit, other than Scripture, one of the primary references that I consulted was an incredible book entitled Charity and Its Fruits, that compiled Jonathan Edwards’ sermons that he preached in the 18th century [edited from the original manuscripts with an introduction by Tyron Edwards, first published 1852 (The Banner of Truth Trust, 2005)].

Jonathan_Edwards[1] — Jonathan Edwards, Puritan Preacher from the 1700s.

Jonathan Edwards was born in 1703 and lived until 1758. [Picture from Wikipedia article, Jonathan Edwards (theologian) and from the front cover of the book Charity and Its Fruits.]

He was a Puritan theologian, pastor, and devout Calvinist, whose conversion centered on his coming to the realization that God is sovereign over all things. Many consider him to be the most significant American churchman of the 18th century, as he was a Preacher who was a leading figure in the (first) Great Awakening of the United States.

While I was in high school, I read one of his sermons entitled “Sinners in the hands of an angry God” that had been reproduced in my American Literature class textbook. I suspect many people know of this sermon, in which Edwards says:

“The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, abhors you and is dreadfully provoked.”

Clearly, his intent was to describe the reality and nature of Hell so that the hearer would turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. His writings are way more extensive than just that one sermon, however!

In Charity and Its Fruits, Edwards talks about the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian’s heart and virtually each page challenges us to live a life in the power of the Holy Spirit as we exhibit love [charity] to those around us.

Here are a couple of passages for you to consider today as you meditate on your Christian walk.

Regarding the Christian’s attitude about suffering and difficulties in this life.

From Scripture:

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 [ESV]

From Jonathan Edwards:

They that are truly Christians, have that faith whereby they see that which is more than sufficient to make up for the greatest sufferings they can endure in the cause of Christ. They see that the excellency in God and Christ, whom they have chosen for their portion, far outweighs all possible sufferings. And they see, too, that glory which God has promised to them that suffer for his sake – that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory which their sufferings for Christ’s sake work out for them, and in comparison with which, the heaviest sorrows and most enduring trials are but “light affliction, which is but for a moment.” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

Do I gripe about the sufferings that I must go through in this life?
Do I accept sorrows and trials in the knowledge that I am in God’s hands even then or do I search for answers to the “why me” questions that I posit?
Do I even stop, for one moment, to consider the suffering that my Savior, Jesus Christ, endured form my sake?
Do I count it a privilege to suffer for Jesus’ sake, or do I want my own creature comforts so much that I avoid suffering at all costs?
Do I really believe that the “excellency in God and Christ … far outweighs all possible sufferings”?

Easter in Canterbury (C) — Love is shown most strongly when we look at the cross and the empty tomb! Easter in Canterbury, England

On love as being the “sum of all Christianity”.

From Scripture

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant … .

1 Corinthians 13:4 [ESV].

And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Romans 1:28-32 [ESV]

From Jonathan Edwards:

A Christian should at all times keep a strong guard against everything that tends to overthrow or corrupt or undermine a spirit of love. That which hinders love to men, will hinder the exercise of love to God… If love is the sum of Christianity, surely those things which overthrow love are exceedingly unbecoming Christians. An envious Christian, a malicious Christian, a cold and hard-hearted Christian, is the greatest absurdity and contradiction. It is as if one should speak of dark brightness, or a false truth!

Am I jealous of the position others possess, or of their possessions, or their families, or their figure?
Am I hard-hearted, arrogant, boastful?
Do I empathize with the injured or hurt person before me or do I simply nod my head and then move on to the next topic?
Do I share of the abundance that God has given me or do I hoard it in case of a need down the road?
Do I speak unkindly of those I hardly know, simply to put myself in a better position with those to whom I am speaking?
Am I friendly to others, only to make malicious comments about them to my friends?
Do I hinder love to man, and then expect God to accept my offering of love for Him?

When reading Jonathan Edwards, it seems as though he is speaking to me directly, notwithstanding the hundreds of years since he penned these words. It certainly is clear that the human experience has not improved in the intervening years! Once again, repentance is in order so that I can be cleansed so that the mirror of my life will reflect Christ’s love to those around me.

Do you see yourself in Edwards’ words?

If so, Beloved, repent and be restored to fullness of life in the Spirit of our Lord and Savior.

Sovereign God, thank You for giving us men such as Jonathan Edwards who gave us a clarion call for repentance, for devotion to your Son, Jesus Christ, and for guidance in living a life in grace and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Father, forgive me when I have ignored your Spirit and have acted in such a manner as to mar my witness for Jesus Christ. May these words be used to bring glory to You today.