A draught of kindness

We are living in a time in history unlike any I have ever known. We are living in a time when there is a draught of kindness.  

As I watch the news and read the morning headlines I see anger, harshness and cruelty. It seems we have become, as C.S. Lewis described it, "Men without chests."  We have lost our identity as a part of humanity, we have lost all heart and kindness for others and now we see the results.

We are now seeing what happens when we take God out of our lives and culture.  The outcome?  Men have become animals devouring one another with words, anger and weapons if possible.  We have lost our humanity and with it we have lost the essential ingredient of civility- kindness.

Somehow our culture assumed they could ignore God and suffer none of the consequences of such a decision, but when you remove God from a life you remove all that God is- love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness....ETC!  And what we end up with are animals walking on two feet fighting, biting and devouring one another.

What did we expect? Did we think we could ignore God and suffer none of the withdrawl that would go with it?  

Without God we lose the one thing that makes us different from the animals- our humanity!  Now that we have lost what makes us uniques God has turned us over to the outcome.  

Much like a good zombie movie we have become cruel, mindless and abusive with only one goal- devour one another.  It seems the zombie apocolypse has happened, but not as we imagined. 

But God invites us to a different story, a different outcome when he says, 

"Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."

What we are missing today is the "just as..." part of this passage from Ephesians.  When we dismiss God we also dismiss all he has done and we lose the model, the example of how we should live with each other....we lose the example of Jesus.  And now we see it....a culture without God and all the side effects that go with it.  

Only in Christ will we discover our humanity again, only as we follow him do we live as he designed us.  In a time when there is a draught of kindness imagine what your kindness will taste like to someone dying from thirst for it. 

We dare not look like the world around us.  Instead we are called to a higher place when Paul wrote these amazing words, and in these words is the cure for the draught around you as you go through your day,

"Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma."

And how can we finish without a word from Solomon?  I will close with his words,

"Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart."

(For further study  on this topic read Jesus' words in Luke 6:27-38)

He's on your side!

"Do not be afraid, for I am with you."

-God, Isaiah 43:5

Do  you realize the "why" is often more important than the "what?"

Why would I worry about money IF I have millions in the bank?

Why wouldn't I enjoy life IF I knew everything would work out?

The why of things makes the what easy!  If my "why" has enough substance then my "what" will be much easier.

And so, God gives us this simple what:

"Do not be afraid"

It's a big what really!  Imagine someone saying that to you in the midst of a tornado.  Don't be afraid? 

Are you crazy? Do you see the storm around us?  

But what if the "why" made their "what" perfectly reasonable?  What if...after you tell me something like that....your reason I can do that makes me reply, "Ohhhh, of course, I can do that!"

Why shouldn't I be afraid?  BECAUSE GOD (you know...the one who made everything...the one who is in control of everything....the only God who can do anything...you know..that one)...because God is with you.

If you have that "why" then the "what" is really pretty small, isn't it?

As my dear mom reminds me when we talk, "Don't forget, God is on your side, he's for you!" 

Now, relax, enjoy your day.  There's an amazing God ruling and reigning....don't worry.

The BIG question

There are verses in the Bible that trouble us. 

They were meant to give us pause and make us think.

They were meant to make us ask questions.

Here is one of them,

^{Revelation 20:15} Anyone whose name 

was not found written in the book of life 

was thrown into the lake of fire.

Our culture will scream in protest at this verse.  It's a very serious verse!  It is meant to sober us, to make us think, to make us aware of a bigger reality.

I can imagine the protests and questions as I write this, "How could God be so unfair?"  "I've lived a good life, why isn't that good enough?"  or "I don't even believe in God, what right does he have to judge me?"

The questions flow as I think about a response from the world I live in, but there is only one question that we should be asking, one question that puts this all in perspective-

How do I get my name in that book?

That is the BIG question we each must ask.  And it means we must deal with a God who says there is only one way to get your name written in the book of life, only one path that gets you to the goal.  In a world full of religions God tells us you must come my way, you can't get here any other way.

As a Christian I'm considered narrow minded, simple, ignorant, politically incorrect and a dozen other adjectives that culture would throw at me, but IF there is a God in heaven doesn't he get to make the rules?  And, honestly, there is a God who made everything, rules everything and tells us he has written a book....

so I come back to this key question, this most important question, How do I get my name in that book?

That's the BIG question.

Just thinking

Here are a couple things I've been thinking about this week.  I'll add more as they happen.

"Everyone believes in absolutes. You can dismiss them if you wish and do as you please, but absolutes have consequences and you can't dismiss those quite so easily."

"Most people's lives are like a ship at sea without a rudder. They are moving through life well enough but have no idea where they are going or why and when they find themselves broken on the rocks of a distant shore they blame God instead of the real culprit- themselves."

Change

Whether you like it or not things will change.

Your life will change,

your job will change,

you will change.

It's part of life.

Change is ahead, are you ready?

Will you embrace it or run from it?

Will you look forward to the adventure

or fear something new?

Every new day is a step towards

something different,

something new,

something unknown.

Every day change is happening...

whether you like it or not.

Do you look forward to it

or

dread it?

That one question will tell you a lot about

your view of "today."

Don't hold onto today too tightly,

soon it will pass

and

tomorrow will come...

and it will be something new!

Isn't that exciting?

Tears

Tears

They speak of pain

hurt

loss

grief

They speak of brokeness

They tell you

as they wet your face

that things are not as they should be

They are the tears of woundedness

of wrong done

of loss suffered

of pain ongoing

of lonliness haunting

They tell me things are not as they should be

Not as they are supposed to be

They tell me something is wrong

a heart is broken

and the tears remind me...

THIS IS NOT THE WAY IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE!

But

One day

Perhaps today

Tears will be no more

Can you imagine the implications of that?

Can you imagine what that says 

about the days ahead?

One day

Every tear and the reasons for them

will be done away

One day tears will be a distant memory

because

the reasons they came

will never haunt us again!

One day...

Perhaps today

It's Monday!

It's Monday morning, I can't believe how quickly things are moving.  I haven't written anything of substance in weeks.  It appears my pen is dry as is my mind.  I loved the days of rich thoughts flowing, but now I'm trying to simply navigate a day.  Strange how the cycles of life go.  Up one day, down for the next month.  It's part of how life goes.  I do look forward to the days of rich content, but I need to celebrate these dry days and really listen as God speaks.  Even in the desert God works.  Even when you think nothing is happening it is!