Tag: love

Learn to do good.

Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.

Isaiah 1:16&17

Jim actually had verse 18 as today’s verse, but he referenced the whole passage, verses 10-20, which I loved poring over. This is SO GOOD. Go read Jim’s devotion.

So, God is speaking to the people of Sodom and Gamorrah here, but He could very well be speaking to us today as well. The people referenced here were seemingly doing all the right things – giving offerings, praying, having celebrations and feasts – God says they are vain offerings, a burden to Him. These people were living in sin and only doing these things to keep up appearances. Jim called it “playing church” and we’ve got to be careful not to fall into the same thing. We have to constantly check our motivation.

Verses 16 & 17 really spoke to me, though. For one, God doesn’t just tell them that they are doomed; in fact, He offers them a way out; he offers them salvation. Our town, our nation, our world is a scary place to be a lot of the time. Sometimes, it can feel like everybody has gone completely mad. Our little town has been overtaken by drugs. Over the last week or so there have been FOUR mass shootings in the United States. FOUR. It’s hard for me to fathom how someone can be so hopeless that they feel that kind of thing is the answer. God tells us that it’s not hopeless, and I’m so very thankful that it’s true and that I believe it.

I don’t think anything around here is going to change, however, if we don’t listen to what God says to do about it. If we’re only focused on ourselves, we’re doing it wrong. If we play at worship just to make ourselves look better, we’re doing it wrong. If we’re so focused on rules and traditions that we don’t see or do anything about the need around us, we’re doing it wrong. We need to learn to do good.

Spirit.

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.

2 Timothy 1:6&7

The version Jim used said, “…kindle afresh the gift of God…” and that just really resonated with me. I let satan, time and time again, distract me and allow me to forget the progress I’ve made in my relationship with God. I’m so very glad that I write down these thoughts – so many times do I begin to fall away, to question my motivations and my faith, only to eventually remind myself (through God’s amazing planning) that I’ve struggled with the same thing before and grown from it. I feel like I go through different seasons in my relationship with the Lord: sometimes I feel so focused on God and in tune with the Holy Spirit; other times, I feel like I’m clinging to God’s word, trying hard to remember His promises and my joy. At the moment, I feel somewhere in between.

I included verse 7 (Jim only had the first part of 6), because that particular part kind of stepped on my toes. I often blame my humanity for becoming distracted, feeling inadequate, or whatever the case may be. And yes, satan does play on our humanity. BUT GOD GAVE US what we need to overcome it – power, love, and self-control. Ouch. I don’t have an excuse. The Holy Spirit is my power when I feel weak or inadequate. He is my love when I feel judgmental or haughty. He is my self-control when I face temptation. All these things are inside of me – why do I walk around acting all defeated by the world? I shouldn’t. I don’t have to. In the words of my hubby (he often says this jokingly when I do something stupid), I need to “DO BETTER.”

More than these.

I’m back! After I started this thing with what felt like a marathon of posts, I’ve been semi-quiet in comparison over the last few weeks. Life has been an absolute rollercoaster, and as things calm down, I’m still processing everything. I’m still looking back and seeing new blessings and lessons every time I think about it. I’m still finding the words to say about it. In the meantime, I thought I’d revisit another old journal entry. This one is from April, and it made me think again this morning.

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?

John 21:15

Oh, Peter. He had denied Jesus three times before the crucifixion, but he was the first disciple to believe that Jesus had risen. I seriously wonder how much of that faith was built on taking Jesus at His word, and how much was on pure guilt; he NEEDED to believe that Jesus was back, because he was guilty of sending Him to His death.

Jim asked how many times God asks us, “do you love me?” And how many times have we told Him, “no”? Of course I love God. But then I thought about that last part again… “more than these.” Do I love God more than the most important people to me? Do I put Him before my husband, my child, my friends and family? Not always. I’ve told Him, “no,” more often than I’d like to think. Jesus died for our sins, yet we still deny Him with our actions. We need to be more aware that every choice we make is a chance to answer “yes” or “no.”