Love

 In a 1985 Grammy award-winning song written by Terry Britten and Lyle Graham, as performed by Tina Turner, took the airwaves by storm… “What’s love got to do, got to do, got to do with it? What’s love but a second-hand emotion.” i can remember when i first heard it on the radio. i was in Charlotte, N.C., riding somewhere in the heat of the day tapping my foot to a tune with a catchy lyric and beat. In my mind jumped the thought, “What do they mean, “what’s love got to do with it? It’s got everything to do with everything.” i remember thinking that surely someone with a bitter and disappointed heart must have written those lyrics in order for them to think love was a secondhand emotion. Maybe that was the point.

If you buy something “second hand” you’re buying used goods. But maybe another angle on what the song is talking about is, feeling something you’ve felt before, nothing went right, and it’s not so special anymore. Or it’s possibly saying, for women who are abused, what does love have to do with letting someone treat you like that? Many women stay in abusive relationships claiming that they “love him”, yet they keep being there where the other person is causing emotional and physical harm. What’s love got to do with the decision to stay in something like that? i wonder, is that really love as God intended it as a fruit of the Spirit, just something which keeps you chained, or only something you felt before and now it’s not so special? Nope, that’s not the Lord’s heart at all.

Today, i think to myself, “second hand emotion? Really?!” Is that all it is to so many, just an emotion, feelings, nothing more than feelings? What a silly idea to think love is just a bystander at a bus stop somewhere and then has to sit at the back like some insignificant thing, a secondhand emotion only worthy of minor mention when nothing else is going on.

Fruit of the Spirit. Love. Is it really a secondhand emotion, and more importantly, is it merely an emotion, a feeling? How can something which is sometimes considered “second hand” according to worldly standards, be a top priority with God and necessary for the repair of the universe?

The three fountains of God’s heart are love, joy, and peace. He oozes all three at a steady rate throughout the universe, consistent and repeatable in a continual outpouring.

We all want love, need love. Always looking for love, and when we find it we drink it in like greedy, hungry souls. We want to talk about love but often can’t find the words to feel as though we’ve expressed ourselves well. For some, “;ove” is a form of money paid for work or service that apparently justifies treating someone unfairly in order to benefit from their work. Love, in our society, is often another English word we’ve used everywhere, so often, it seems to have lost its value.

i want to know what God has to say. i think it’s more important than anything else in the universe and more valuable than all important worldly things combined.

People the world over love all kinds of things. Issac loved savory meats in Genesis 27:4, some love pleasure according to Proverbs 21:17, yet others love silver, money, gifts, and attention. Hollywood has proven, that to many, if people give you their attention it must mean they love you, and all that attention is such an addiction, many will do anything for it. Some even say they love death, but having never been dead, i doubt they know what their talking about.

There are righteous things to love also. As Example, Love the Lord with all your living, breathing, and feeling, love righteousness, justice, the truth, and peace to name a few. In Psalm 45, the writer says God loves righteousness and hates wickedness, and in Psalm 52, David accuses another man of loving evil more than good and loving lying rather than speaking righteousness.

Some say they “love”, what they call “their work” because it pays well, it’s emotionally satisfying, and pleasurable. For others, the goal is not to find work they “love”, but to make enough money to not have to work at all, then, yes then they will love what they do. Maybe.

We love a multitude of things in this world. For me, i love to chew, i just love good food and good conversation. i love the smell of fresh cut grass, cool evenings, sunrise and sunset, the deep woods, the smell of freshly turned soil, fragrant flowers, my wife, giggling children, little girls’ eyes, April showers, and the turning of the seasons. i love them all, but does my use of the word love actually mean the same thing as love in the sense of loving God? It’s just a four-letter word in English, and as i said, we throw it around like we’re fertilizing the lawn, but often, it does not mean the same thing twice.

i must ask myself then, what do i love, and what exactly is this thing God calls “love” and tells us in Galatians 5:22 it is the fruit of our life in Christ, one of the elements of how we know we are in the fellowship of the saints? Is it the same love for the rising sun as it is looking at the sunlight in my wife’s hair. Is it the same as loving Jesus for my salvation?

i believe we must be clear on what love actually is or else we will find ourselves lost in the pursuit of it, thereby losing our resolve. You know, we can pursue something so ardently for so long, we actually lose sight of what we’re doing it all for, if you know what i mean. When we chase after something without an understanding what it is we are chasing, it easily loses substance and effortlessly morphs into other pursuits. Some would call that rabbit trailing. Many times the Lord uses “love” as a verb, but my friends, it is more than a verb. To God, it is also a noun. To only leave it as an action item is a dangerous oversimplification in that if we reduce love to solely something we feel, we will miss love for what it is, at its source. i don’t know this, but i suspect by love only being made a verb, it will likely make us Pharisees, meaning we can talk and act loving without actually loving, like kindness without compassion is duplicitous, love without devotion, mercy, and grace is deceit.

1 John 3:18, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” We can appear to be fulfilling that scripture without actually fulfilling that scripture, that’s what i mean by saying, “It will likely make us Pharisees” if we only see love as a verb.

The kind of love the Lord is and speaks of is glory, the radiant weight of His presence. As Viktor Frankl stated when in the middle of an exceptionally difficult external situation, “…even the angels are lost in the perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory.”

1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

Love, as the fruit of the Spirit, is the core standard. It is God’s core standard, and all His operating procedures springboard from His love, and if we are in Christ then it must be our core standard also. i realize the world has a pretty different idea of love. i suppose almost everyone has their own tailored version of what they think love is. But let’s be honest, as long as the idea of love is up to us, based on our experience, it’s always going to be just another worldly definition. Friends, we need a better standard than our own self-determined idea of what drives the universe. Romans 5:5, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

That He poured love out on us makes the Lord the right standard. God owned love before anyone else which, to me, makes its very essence exclusively His to give.

1 John 4:10, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

i don’t believe that we would love anyone or anything if the Lord didn’t love us first. Oh sure, we may have some big-time feelings about someone or something, but the real deal, deep abiding, living love toward God would not have been possible without Jesus Christ. If He didn’t love us, then we wouldn’t be able to love Him. Because He gave it, then we get it, and if He didn’t give it, then we don’t get it. It’s pretty simple i think. Jesus is the answer, He is always the answer, and there’s never a time He’s not the answer, which is why all things come to rest at the feet of the Son. The love of God, as demonstrated by Jesus, is the crown of everything. His love is universe changing, demon defeating, earth re-polarizing, disease healing, and relationship repairing. Jesus is love and love is the answer of all answers, both noun and verb altogether.

The world says love is an intense feeling of deep affection, but oh, how far short that is. Again, the world’s definition is from a worldly point of view and leaves God out of the picture, but when we add the Lord into the picture to get a better view, the world’s idea falls drastically short.

Everything our society does seems to be based on right and wrong, and then, ultimately, someone wants to debate what is right and what is wrong. Just like every other fruit of the Spirit, we must look above our feelings, over the top of the pulpit to see God Almighty as the standard and definition.

i recently heard a man say we need to change our thinking from the basis of right and wrong to being near God or far from God. When we are near the Lord He influences all we say and do, but the farther we get from Him the more the influence of a fallen world inserts itself. Love is not a narrow legal system of right and wrong. All our conduct and decision-making needs to be God-based righteousness, not judgment-based right and wrong. As long as we do all things based on right and wrong we are still doing the Law. Does that make sense? i mean, i get it, but i’m not sure i’m saying it well enough.

Either way, with God in the picture, love, as a noun and verb, is like medicine given or taken to counteract a particular poison, and to me, that poison is iniquity, transgression, sin, and death. Too many seem to think love is contractual, a list of agreements, do’s and don’ts, but once again it is much larger than that.

Let’s look at the actual word itself because we really need to better understand what it is we’re chasing after.

The root Hebrew word for love is a verb and is used 208 times with its first mention in Genesis 22:2 of Abraham’s son “whom he loved”. It means to have affection for someone such that we breathe after the object of our affection, with that breathless devotion and kindness being like fragrant flowers whose bouquet fills the air of every breath we take. That is SO important, here it is again: Love, from God’s perspective is to have affection for someone such that we breathe after the object of our affection, with that breathless devotion and kindness being like fragrant flowers whose bouquet fills the air of every breath we take. Now, you’ve gotta admit, that is a long, long way from Merriam-Webster Dictionary. More than a few times in my life i’ve been in the weighty presence of God and smelled intense flowers, grapes, and vanilla, we all did who were there. Jesus is love – love healed the sick and lame, love raised the dead, love was kind to the desperate and the leprous, and gave His face to mankind, looking us right in the eyes for the first time ever. That says to me, with love as a fruit of the Spirit, we should be a sweet fragrance everywhere we go. It should be the way we are, not just something we do or feel. Like God, we must be both noun AND verb altogether because Love from God’s perspective is both a noun AND a verb, at the same time. The Father gave us the door of the cross to enter into His love. The first three letters of the Hebrew alphabet tell the story of love: The Father (aleph), sent His Son (beit), and by means of the Holy Spirit (gimel), makes an appeal to the poor and needy to receive the Love of God.

Isaiah 38:17, “… But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back.” Interestingly, Isaiah uses a different word for love than in other places.

His word for love literally means that with God-love in our hearts and as expressed to others, it is not bound by law, but is free to walk in and out, filled to running over with divine grace and holiness, and right in the middle, in the belly of the word, is a prayerful rainbow. Love crowns us with the sword of the Spirit and decides it is fitting to be generous to run after the poor; it is uninterrupted and thrives in perpetual faithfulness. Love is more than feelings of affection, it is a covenant word. Love is the sound you make before you make a sound, it is giving of ourselves to others, reflecting kindness, compassion, and grace all through the house. And hidden in the Hebrew word for Love is Mercy, grace, and hope for there is always the opportunity to return.

As a verb, you can see the action is in our heart posture toward God. The action of the verb is to reflect love. As a fruit of the Spirit is about character and action, so is the heart of the Father about character and action. The noun for love is the same spelling except there is the Hebrew letter Hei added at the end, meaning loves’ intent of grace makes opportunity for those who have wandered off to come home. That’s so good i want to say it again, and maybe you could say it with me so your ears can hear what your mouth is saying. Loves’ intent of grace makes opportunity for those who have wandered off, to come home

Do you have real love in your life? If not, remember, the longer we walk with Jesus, the more apparent He becomes, and the more apparent He becomes the more we become like Him. 1 John 4:17, “Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.”

Stop arguing with your lack and turn God’s love loose to flow where it will. As long as we try and control how God applies His love, where and to whom, we will be the encumbrance against revival and renewal we so desperately look for.

Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”

It is the motivation of Love to lift the burden of those who hoist the white flag of surrender and persuade those who have not yet abdicated their fortifications to come home singing the songs of returning to God. The source of love isn’t dependent on the loveableness of the one loved but on the one doing the loving. God’s love is not performance-based, we can’t be obedient or good enough to deserve it or obtain it. 1 John 5:12, “So, whoever has the Son, has life; whoever rejects the Son, rejects life.”

We can’t “good” our way into Heaven, no more than we can “bad” our way into hell. The position of mankind and eternity is based on our acceptance or rejection of the Love of God. The Lord gives it and it’s up to us to receive it, letting Him live His standard of love right out loud.

Love sets forth a vision of the ideal life which is characterized by mercy, grace, and hope. Did you know that the three elements of hope are direction, goal, and purpose?Well, love possesses the same three attributes, and how is that? Because the word for “hope” is hidden within the word for love. Love visits and heals the sick, gives to the poor, and offers hospitality to strangers. You know, i believe the Lord is the most hospitable person in the universe. He is THE definition of love, He is both noun and verb altogether. i believe, as Christians, we should be the most hospitable people on earth because of who first loved us. Love buries the dead as a mercy, and makes peace between God, ourselves, and others; Love is the ultimate reason for conflict resolution, and man oh man, do we have lots of conflict which needs resolving.

A quote from John Piper’s book “Desiring God”, “Love is the overflow of joy in God that gladly meets the needs of others” Now there, that is something we can get our hands around. An overflow of joy in Christ that gladly meets the needs of others suggests love is so much more than just intense feelings of affection. Everything the Lord does is right— the trademark on all his work is love, and according to Romans 13:10, love IS the fulfillment of the law, not abolished but fulfilled. Here, i’m going to draw a very distinct line, 1 John 4:8, very plainly states that the person who does not love does not know God, for God is love. The Lord our God IS, once again, the very best definition of love.

John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

The key phrase there is “God so loved the world, that”.

Just today i read something along the same lines in my thinking of love as not only a verb, but also a noun, THE noun of all nouns.

Even for those who feel they have no hope, God’s love can enter in and persuade that person to realize their lives are not ones of no consequence, there are no spare people in the Kingdom of God. The Love of God says “You matter, you are important, so much so that Jesus died for you.” If we need to be more important than that, we delude ourselves that we need MORE, that God’s love is somehow not enough, which is never true. The Lord is SO confident in His ability to love us back from the brink of destruction, that He staked the life of Jesus on His confident love. Amen, and think about it.

John 13:34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”

Ok, so check it out! A little lesson in grammar is to follow. Don’t let it throw you, just roll with it.

Jesus is speaking in John 13:34, as seen in “I give”, which is 1st person singular, present, active, indicative, meaning there is only one person speaking, the time is in the now, the Lord is the one taking the action, and what He’s saying is a fact, so pay attention.

The next important phrase is “you love one another”, which is plural, present, active, subjunctive, meaning not just a few but all of you, the time frame is in the now, you yourselves are the ones taking action, and in your action of love there are possibilities and potentials born. Let’s take the next important phrase, “I have loved”, which is aorist, active, indicative. Aorist, meaning the time frame is without regard to past, present, or future, Jesus is saying He is the one who took action, and again, He’s stating a fact that He Has Loved Us with no regard to the past present or future and it’s a fact, forever. Lastly, we come to “love one another”, which is plural, present, active, subjunctive, meaning not just a few but all of you, it is now, now, now, we are the ones doing the action, and it is filled with possibilities and potential. Do you get it? What Jesus is telling us is that if we will love everyone else as He loves us, giving of ourselves with passionate reckless abandon, breathing after others as He pursued us, if we’ll do it every day in the now, now, now, now … there are windows of endless opportunity, grace rainbows, and fragrant mercy flowers of potential and possibility that will come out of it all, we will be blessed and God will be glorified.

Do you get it? Play that again and get your head around that. It is huge and life-changing.

1 John 4:16-17, “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.”

i love that, “…as He is so are we in this world”. You know, i think many folks just think that’s too good to be true. We’re so stuck on being no better than just an old sinner, we seem to never rise above being a sinner, and we spend our time thinking and worrying about being a sinner, regardless of what God says about us. Ok, you can be a sinner if you want, but what about the rest of what God says? Sadly, i think most of us know more about what we are not, what we don’t, won’t, and can’t than about who God says we are, what He says we do and will be. i have spent so many years of my life being less than the Lord says i am, and honestly, it hasn’t gone well. Friends, as Cody says, i didn’t come this far to only come this far!

In light of that fact, i’m going to try seeing myself like He does, “as Jesus is, so am i in this world.” If the one who abides in love abides in God, then i’m going to believe i’m abiding in Christ, whether i feel like it or not, after all, Jesus is abiding in the Father, and as He is so am i in this world. Love has been perfected among us, Jesus is love and He is abiding in the Father, then as He is so am i in this world. How would your life be different if you tried not working your way to Heaven and simply took the Lord at His word? God went to a LOT of trouble to make a way for you and i, all the way to the shedding of His blood, maybe it’s high time we take Him up on His love that He’s extended to us. Do you get me? Amen.

This has been one of the nine feathers on one wing of The Dove. The Holy Spirit is seen as a dove in Luke 3:22, and on each wing, there are nine primary feathers, nine fruits of the Spirit on one wing, and nine gifts of the Spirit on the other.

This evening’s topic is love, God’s love that has been shed abroad in our hearts, He is both noun and verb altogether, the breathless passion who pursued us all the way to Calvary. His love is the fragrant fields of singing flowers, the long harmonizing notes of the wind in the tree tops. Whether you believe it or not, God’s love in your life is rising, like the early morning light … at first, it’s barely noticeable, but as it brightens, shadows give shape to the landscape until Love blinds you like a spotlight.

Thanks for joining me, drive carefully, let God’s love do what it does best, truly… love has everything to do with everything since the beginning. Amen.

          i had a dream where i went to a friends house. As i pulled into his driveway the first thing i noticed was that his house was surrounded by a tall wooden fence, high enough that you couldn’t hardly see anything of even the roof except the peak. i went to the gate, which had a buzzer and intercom, pressed the buzzer and told him i was there. In a moment, the gate unlocked. When i stepped through the gate, inside was another gate with a buzzer and intercom. There were many gates in a short space before i got to the front door. When he finally opened the front door he glanced around outside as if he was checking to see if anyone else was watching and let me inside. In the dream, from the front and back windows i could see his yard was a series of fences and gates. i thought why, oh why is there so much fencing, and fencing inside the fencing, mostly hiding nothing? When i asked him why all the extreme fencing, he said it was nobody’s business what was inside. i thought to myself, “But there’s nothing to hide but hiding itself.” As i woke up the Lord gave me a revelation. i realized his ardent fencing was built out of fear, fear that if anyone saw inside his yard they might use it against him, fear of shame, fear someone might “know” something. i thought to myself that truthfully speaking, there was nothing to know, and fear was driving all his constant guarding.

You know, i’ve discovered the hard way that we can be a friend to someone, even if they don’t let you in the gate, but it’s pretty impossible to have a relationship with them. As they sit inside their highly guarded, nearly insurmountable fence or wall, yes, we can talk to them through the boundary, pass notes back and forth, and even toss food and water to them over the top, but in the end, it is very, very limited, and totally controls any real connection, if any connection. We need to connect, meaning we must let God tear down the walls and fences of our own construction. i did NOT say boundaries were NOT good, because they are, they are God’s invention and even God has boundaries, obviously. But our constant walling out of the Lord and the very people we need in order to prosper in our efforts to secure life, and have it more abundantly, is driven by woundedness, and fears of all sorts. All the while, we sit in sustained, abject loneliness while feeling falsely secure behind our fencing, secretly wishing we could be free. We need to connect. Some are so dedicated to their fences, the term “immurement” comes to mind. Immurement literally means “walling in”, and is a form of imprisonment, in which a person is placed within an enclosed space with no exits, and if it’s allowed to persist, the prisoner will simply die from starvation or dehydration. It can be spiritual as well as physical.

Going to church is good, but is it really, truly, enough of a connection? When scripture says, Forsake not the gathering together of yourselves in Heb10:25, it doesn’t mean merely “go to church”, as we’ve been taught… it means to connect, and i mean for more than just 10mins before and after. The Lord didn’t make a law out of going to church in that scripture, we did. We’re the ones who made a law out of it all, yet we don’t make room for the real connections we need …and connecting takes time and maybe even courage. God is telling us to get ourselves to a group of like-minded people where we can freely express ourselves, be open and disclosing, and connect. Maintaining a complex fencing system denies us the connections we so desperately need, and i don’t care how tough you think you are, you can’t successfully do life unto the Lord, hidden behind your fences.

And what if we’ve been hurt by someone’s callous religiousness? Let me say that it’s bound to happen. Some people feel it’s their job to make sure others are compliant with the rules, and boy, do they love to tell people about all their rule breaking. In light of that, here comes the idea of “moral superiority” which inspires others to put up more fencing. “They’ve” been to church every time the doors are open and they really feel the need to ask, “i’ve been noticing you’ve not been here much. Why haven’t you been here?” “i’ve noticed you drink a beer occasionally, don’t you know it’s a s-i-n to drink?” “i’ve noticed you have some worldly music in your car. Where is God in your life?” “i’ve noticed you don’t bring your Bible sometimes. i thought you were a Christian.”

Regardless of those who feel obligated to make sure others are “fixed and complying” with some unspoken rules, we can look past them and address what’s going on with ourselves. We need to connect. Ever hear of stonewalling? It is a persistent refusal to communicate or to express emotions. It is common during conflicts, or when people attempt to avoid uncomfortable conversations out of fear that engaging will result in a fight, or someone will know something and use it against them. When we allow our fences to not only keep other scary people out, they also serve to keep us in. Every fence has two sides you know. Come out of your fenced in area you’ve built. God is calling you to connect. You think you’re gifted? You probably are, but, my friend, you can’t give away what you’ve got unless you are there to give it away. i’ll say it again, we can be a friend to someone, even if they don’t let you across the fence, but it is pretty impossible to have a relationship with them.

What do you think?

Honesty is like a magnet radiating a strong magnetic force; in the heart of God’s people it is a clear bell set on a hill; like a clarion call it draws truth-hungry people to engage. Honesty should be one of our chief most attributes, honest with God, honest with ourselves, and honest with our neighbor.

Is it possible a lack of honesty is why people are repelled by many politicians, much of corporate America, some church people, and even our government? When, in our spirit, we sense a distinct lack of honesty, or the nagging feeling something is not right and not the truth, we are repelled, sometimes knowledgeably, sometimes not, either way, people tend to go away when dishonesty is in the room. Like honesty, dishonesty has a magnetism all it’s own, it draws people with a deceitful character who don’t mind wearing a very loose belt of truth.

Some seem to believe that dishonesty is a shortcut to success and wealth. However, they seem to forget they can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time. Once their crooked and duplicitous tactics are exposed, they, the dishonest ones actually become the real victims. In my mind, they simply did it to themselves. And you know, once others see you as dishonest, it’s just hard to unstick that label from yourself.

Honesty is to truth and hope, as dishonesty is to lies and despair. Dishonesty is like false hope, and false hope is far more cruel than the truth ever thought of being. It is true, sometimes honesty is very uncomfortable, but i would rather be uncomfortable because my friend was honest with me, than to live in the dream world of lies and dishonesty. Deceit only has deceitful friends who are really no friends at all, but honesty is grounded with the faithful and has sure steps with the Lord. The Hebrew for “deceit” literally means to “steal away the mind” in the sense of saying one thing with our mouth, when we really mean something else in our heart. How important is honesty to you and how loud is it’s clarion call in your walk?

i believe the Lord asked me to ponder and study the value of honesty a short while back. i soon discovered that we can’t talk about honesty without talking about dishonesty too. Similarly, we can’t talk about white unless we talk about black, nor can we speak of up without speaking of down. Tonight, our topic is “The value of honesty”,

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts,.

In Genesis 30:33, Jacob states to Laban that his honesty will serve as a testimony of his character, to tell the truth and to do as he had promised.

2 Kings 12:13-15, “The money brought into the temple was not spent for making silver basins, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, trumpets or any other articles of gold or silver for the temple of the LORD; it was paid to the workmen, who used it to repair the temple. They did not require an accounting from those to whom they gave the money to pay the workers, because they acted with complete honesty.”

In other words, the workmen were steady, reliable, faithful, and practiced “moral fidelity”. i like that, “moral fidelity”. Do you think “moral fidelity” is common today in our leadership and the church, or is the lack of “moral fidelity” driving us to feelings of being disenfranchised, frustrated, and distrusting?

As in Jacob’s testimony of his character and of the workmen in 2Kings, i believe we can conclude that honesty is fertile ground for trust. To me, that would also mean, dishonesty is fertile ground for distrust.

According to Isaiah 33:15, the godly are those who have the privilege to “walk righteously and speak what is right…” or speak straight, or with straightforwardness … with honesty.

The opposite of righteousness is iniquity. A picture of the Hebrew word for iniquity could easily be understood as a “wrongness of character”, and righteousness as a “rightness of character” with “righteous” being a legal term defining our relationship with God. Iniquity and sin are two different words. Sometimes it’s true, the translators interchanged the words incorrectly, but today we have enough information that we can know for ourselves what the Lord says to us if we’re willing to study a little. Iniquity is to sin what righteousness is to holiness.

Where there is justice, where there is righteousness, where there is a hunger for truth down to the core of our person, honesty is easy to possess and live out. When there is no justice, iniquity stands guard at the door to our house, the truth is nowhere to be found, and honesty becomes a rare character trait. Isaiah 59:14-15 “So justice is driven back, and righteousness stands at a distance; truth has stumbled in the streets, honesty cannot enter. Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The LORD looked and was displeased that there was no justice.”

Honesty in our hearts is a sign of our character. It is our quality of sincerity, trustworthiness, and a devotion to the truth not just the facts, and there is a difference between the truth and the facts. And on a side note, we can be honest AND transparent, but unless we are vulnerable for others to speak into our lives, we are the same old brick wall we always were. i say where your H.A.T. every day, honest, accountable, and transparent and being emotionally available every time, every day.

When asked, “What is a lie?” Augustine responded: “Any statement meant to deceive another.” He also said, “No lie is ever justified for it sets up a dichotomy, a conflict, between what we say and what is in our hearts.” A mistake is not a lie – it is unintentional, a lie is an intentional deception.

Honesty: Out of all of the virtues that are available to the human character, we need to prize honesty above possessions, wealth, titles.

Honesty is defined as uprightness and fairness, truthfulness, sincerity, or frankness – straightforward.  It is also seen as a freedom from deceit or fraud.

i think it is important at this point to point out that there are two kinds of honesty: Objective Honesty which is truthfulness. This implies admitting ignorance if one does not know truthfulness, and Subjective Honesty: This implies that our communication is our opinion, not necessarily truthfulness, but it is “The truth according to me.”

Due to the fact that the majority of peoples’ communications are based in subjective ideas such as emotions and opinions, Subjective Honesty is probably the most common type of honesty. The difficulty is when we begin to call our subject honesty, or our opinion, the objective truth. Did you catch that? “Subject honesty, or our opinion, and calling it the objective truth.” When we begin to see our personal opinion of right and wrong as the overarching truth for everyone, the devil has found a foothold, it’s called judgment or to level the hand at as in aiming the finger. Let me add that the weight of an aiming finger is usually more than most people can bear.

To explain the value of honesty, let’s start with the opposite of honesty – deceit, lies, and fraud. A lie (also called prevarication), is a type of deception in the form of an untruthful statement with the intention to deceive others. Not a mistake for we’re speaking of something intentional. Lies and fraud have cognitive intentionality; it is a manipulation, meaning to “leverage the outcome in our favor at the expense of others”. The first letter of the Hebrew alphabet is “Aleph”, and one definition is “the sound you make before you make a sound”, it is intentionality.

People lie for many reasons, but one primary motive is probably fear of the consequences of telling the truth. We can all think of the cliché example of your friend asking you if they look fat when objectively, they are. Do you slip in a white lie to appease their self esteem, or do you be brutally honest and tell them the opposite of what they want to hear? Maybe you tactfully shift the attention of your friend being fat to something else about them that is more becoming.

If we tell our friend “Noo, you aren’t fat,” is that a white lie?

“Wait a minute! You mean telling a white lie is…WHAT?” No matter how we work that, the word “l-i-e” is still attached to it. That’s like saying “Oh, it was just a small sin”, although it may be small in someone’s eyes, it still has the word “s-i-n” attached to it. i think it would be prudent of us to consider carefully before we ask some questions of others. i figure if you’re brave enough to ask, i’m brave enough to tell. Of course with all tact and diplomacy, but we can’t get lost in our tact and diplomacy to the point of not being honest, and i must add, there is also no point in being cruel while claiming to be honest.

When we are not honest, we’re simply not honest, and that’s the truth, it deprives others of something which should be easy for us to produce. As i said before, honesty begets honesty, and dishonesty begets dishonesty. Luke 16:10 “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.”

Honesty is the opposite of deceit. A dishonest heart is deception and according to Romans 1, deceit and dishonesty are part of the list of “worst things”; it is personal and a breach of trust. If someone likes you when you lie and does not like you when you are honest, it is likely they qualify only as a “fair weather friend” who didn’t care for you all that much to begin with.

We shouldn’t think we are helping people when we are dishonest, no matter how innocent they may seem.

The word “judgment” has two meanings. One is in the sense of an ecclesiastical decision making authority, the other means to have a personal opinion of right and wrong, and opinions are markers of our imperfections, and they are partly what makes people be people. Opinions are good as long as we understand they are what they are: opinions.

“There are two types of secrets; those we keep from others, and those we keep from ourselves.”

i believe it is imperative that we also exercise honesty with compassion. Honesty without mercy and compassion seems to have the consequences of hurting people sometimes. i’ve got a little idea i try and live by: Be honest and kind and do no harm. Honesty may hurt someone’s feelings, but to me, it’s a better alternative to deceitfully leading people on.

In addition to compassion, humility is important to honesty as well. Not many things are as offensive as arrogance in the name of honesty.

          Jesus asked why often. What do you believe was His intent in asking “why” of the disciples and others? Was He confused? No. Was He needing an answer because He truly didn’t know or understand? No. i believe His intent was that He wanted us to get at the root of ourselves and be honest about what was really going on. The Lord wants us to be responsible and accountable for our thinking and behavior, and a key to doing that is honesty, which is something i believe is in short supply in America today. Ephesians 5:1, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children”, which means that God is honest about all things and we should imitate Him. If we find we have lives full of things we can’t be honest about, i think a paraphrase of 2 Corinthians 9:6 applies, saying, if we don’t like what we reap, we need to change what we sow.

i liked how John C. Jones in “Studies in the Acts of the Apostles,” written in 1878, speaks of the virtue of honesty. “Some people are honest in the strict sense of the word; but they habitually push bargains so hard that their honesty is suspected. They tread so near the line dividing integrity from fraud, that the public tends to entertain grave doubts respecting the legitimacy of their dealings. But it is a mandatory on every man to avoid the perilous extreme bordering on theft, and to appear honest as well as be honest. Aim at living not only above dishonesty, but above suspicion, as well. “Provide things honest.” Is that all? No; Romans 12:17 says to “provide things honest in the sight of all men.” Not only be upright, but be convincing to others of your uprightness, or that’s to say live it, don’t just tell about it. Let your life be honorable, entirely exempt from meanness and trickery. God sees honesty in the sense of being “properly beautiful”.

Being honest outwardly starts with being honest inwardly. i figure if i can’t be honest with myself and the Lord, i probably can’t be very honest with anyone else.

Personal honesty involves courageously recognizing the discrepancy between what we ought to be and what we actually are, between who the Lord says we are and what we actually believe. i’m going to make a statement which i suppose more than a few would like to argue – here it is: you don’t rule what you believe, what you believe rules you. Many easily get so entangled with religion and doctrine that it seems to relieve them of the responsibility of coming to terms with themselves. If we don’t face the challenge of being honest with ourselves and the Lord, putting off the idea of facing the growing discrepancy in our hearts, we possibly consign ourselves to a life of half-awareness.

The criminal element of our society typically believes they are more than they are. More often than not and contrary to public opinion, it isn’t bad self-esteem, but arrogance and a lack of honesty that believes they are somehow above the law – that somehow the rules don’t apply to them. Unfortunately, the church has similar criminal thinking and a distinct lack of honesty. That lack of honesty within ourselves often holds us at a distance from God and the relationship with Him we each wish so badly that we had. Sad but true. Is the relationship many of us have with God really what we’ve got, or is it more something we wish we had? Can you be honest with yourself about that? Do you see the value of honesty which the Lord calls us to? If not, then what is it which constrains you?

A woman on her death bed finally admits she was unfaithful to her husband 25 years ago. In the moment it seems like a good idea to get it off her chest, it was an honest confession. But on the other hand, she was honest at the time of no risks. She waited until her risk of being honest and telling the truth didn’t cost her anything.

We give away what we’ve got, not what we think we’ve got. If i tell everyone i have measles, but the truth is i’ve really got chicken pox, it doesn’t matter how loud i tell others i’ve got measles or how insistent i am, the only thing they’ll catch from me is chicken pox, because that’s what i’ve really got.

Isaiah 57:2 states, “Those who walk honestly and upright enter into peace…” Proverbs 24:26 “An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.” Isaiah 5:7, the Lord says, “I had hoped for honesty and for justice, but dishonesty and cries for mercy were all I found.”

i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation. This evening has been brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, His Heart Missions walking in adventurers in Jesus Name to all the world, and Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.

To cap the evening off, i believe, we, as human beings, are designed to respond to real values. Not things we have created, but things we discover of the Lord, like the value of His life, His love, or the value of honesty. Let us take the time and respond to the call of Christ to cherish and practice honesty, questioning and sorting out our own hearts before the Lord, making all efforts to resolve our internal conflicts.

Be strong and courageous, be honest and stand firm in His name. Amen!

Joy

Nehemiah 8:10, “Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our LORD. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

The “joy of the Lord”, wow, much more than being “happy”. One fellow asked recently, “Does the Lord actually experience “joy”?” HA! Are you kidding? It was HIS idea! i think a better question is “Do YOU experience joy?” i wonder…how many of us can even relate to the idea of “joy”? These days, we say, “i am happy”, or “i am glad”, but no one hardly ever says “i am joyful”, and if they do, most of us look at them thinking, “What an odd thing to say”.

Nevertheless, joy is a fruit of the Spirit, therefore it is one of the Lord’s details, one of His attributes, an aspect of His character, and one of the three fountains of God’s Heart. The last nine words of the opening scripture from Nehemiah are popular and easy to say, “for the joy of the LORD is your strength”. We’ve all heard it a lot. But, i must say i’ve thought of the “joy of the Lord is your strength” as something God gives, which is true, of course, but in the last several years i’ve realized it is more than that. It is something He not only gives but something He possesses and also experiences. He gives us joy because He is joyful, and is the source of joy. It’s not only a description of what He gives … but who He is.

This evening’s topic is the fruit of the Spirit: Joy. i hope the following will be a reflection of God’s joy and a source of true joy for each of us.

Joy is associated with gladness, which can be a wonderful habit-forming inclination of the heart … it’s just downright contagious. How many of us see the Lord as a grouchy, unspoken, judgmental, person who seems to thrill at taunting us with silence and faintness? C’mon, be honest, you know who you are that thinks that stuff, i know i sure have. i think it’s a great question. How many of us see Him as a demanding taskmaster rather than a jubilant master whose joy we can step into? The service He requires of us even now is to be accomplished joyfully rather than sullenly. i mean, we know the Lord is always going to square things up, so what’s the point in being all foot-dragging and begrudging, walking around long-faced, and bitter acting? If you don’t have to, well…then don’t?

One day when my son was young, he asked me “Dad, are you having fun?” Now, you’ve got to understand, it’s not like i’d ever pondered such a question, so when the Lord started giving me answers, it was like someone opened full a fire hydrant. At the prompting of his question, immediately into my mind flooded images of all the things i liked to do….and like lightning i found myself measuring how i felt in those times, questioning whether or not i was having “fun”, or not. After a few seconds, i had come to the realization there was a difference between “fun” and “joy”. i thought about mowing the lawn and how much i really dislike mowing the lawn, but also how much i so enjoy sitting on the porch in the evening, watching the sun go down and smelling the fresh cut grass. i thought about a myriad of things that i did not consider “fun” but how much i enjoyed their benefits. For example, i do not find digging a ditch fun, but i do enjoy the work of my hands. In that moment, i had an epiphany about myself…i don’t necessarily have “fun” per se, but i do enjoy almost everything i do. It seems to me “fun” rises and falls like a rollercoaster, in fact, i would say that “having fun” has become such a national preoccupation, it supersedes the pursuit of happiness.

Many people think that if they aren’t having as much fun today as they had yesterday, then they aren’t having fun. Today’s fun is often based on the measure of yesterday’s fun…the idea of “fun” seems orgasmic, it is here and gone again until next time. Fun is amusing and entertaining and is a very subjective term. My “fun” is not necessarily your “fun”, and my “fun” today may not be my “fun” tomorrow.

Joy isn’t like that, it is not the same as fun. From God’s perspective, it doesn’t have sharp rises and falls, like a sine wave, but it is always on the slow steady rise, and it persists.

Webster’s Dictionary defines joy as a feeling of great pleasure and happiness, as in “tears of joy”, or great delight. Once again, i find God’s idea of joy is much, much larger than that. Worldly definitions seem to reflect a world-limited view… as a result, God’s eternity isn’t part of anything this fallen world defines, the world has a knack for leaving God out of the picture. To have joy means to have jubilation, bliss, and most importantly, rejoicing. From the Lord’s view of things, joy is connected to illumination, and how do we come to possess such brightness? James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

Joy, as a fruit of the Spirit, is the melody of an illuminated heart, a brilliant gladness in our fundamental makeup. Did you get that? i like it so much, i want to say it again. Joy, as a fruit of the Spirit, is the melody of an illuminated heart, a brilliant gladness in our fundamental makeup.

The Lord is our light, perpetual, not dimming or ever fading. Psalm 27:1, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid.” Incidentally, the word “salvation” there is part of the noun for Yeshua, except not as a liberator, but literally as the personification of our liberty, meaning our Savior is not only the One who sets us free, but He, Himself is our liberty. In other words, we can’t be free unless we acquire Christ as Savior. We can’t work our way to liberty and joy, buy our way to liberty and joy, nor manipulate our way to liberty and joy. Liberty and joy are a person, not a thing.

In Esther 8:16, the Lord connects light, gladness, joy, and honor in one sentence, which says to me that with God’s gladness and joy, also comes light and honor. Even King Solomon came to the conclusion in Ecclesiastes 2:26 that the Lord is the one who gives joy. Not only is Jesus Himself our joy, but He also brings about a state of joyfulness in us.

With joy, comes light, and the root Hebrew word for “light”, as used in Esther 8:16 is “to be illuminated” which is made up of three letters, aleph, vav, and reish. Aleph – in this case, how you lean in your heart towards God, or intent; vav- the nail and connection; and reish is about a man’s head and choice. The picture is one of head and heart being connected by our purposeful choice, which to me means choosing Jesus. Oh man! When that happens, there comes spontaneous combustion, and illumination, making us to be bright. Rejoicing is the root word of joy. Can you see the relationships the Lord has built into it all, and at the center is Himself?

Those with joy have an illuminated heart, God-light at their center.

Joy is tied to gladness in Esther 8:16, although they are similar in many ways, the two are different words. i think it’s safe to say there is a shout in joy, rejoicing, and gladness.

Psalm 5:11, “But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name be joyful in You.” Rejoicing in the Lord inspires gladness which inspires joy, with continual joy making our foundations to sing. Ephesians 5:19, “…speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord…” Rejoicing is the object which causes joy in Psalm 48:2 as gladness is the substance that motivates joy in Psalm 45:7. i say that where there is rejoicing, joy, and gladness, there also comes a melody, rising from our heart. Joy is gladness with a shout in the middle!

The name of the Lord is revealed in God-caused gladness and comes with grace and kindness in its wake. A thankful heart is a glad and kind heart reflecting as a perfect mirror, God’s fruit of the Spirit – joy, as an overall disposition in association with our heart. Psalm 19:8, “The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.” i love that phrase, “Enlightening the eyes”, eyes wide open in amazement to see the Lord in the world around us…like the Lord waking us up into awareness, giving us brightness of the eyes.

The fruits of the Spirit aren’t attributes we go and get somewhere, they aren’t book learned, won as a prize, or some sort of mental ascension. They are all works of the Lord, attributes of Himself that He shares with us. Without the Lord, our spirit is in submission to our mind. With the Lord, the soul and spirit are connected, and the soul comes into right relationship with our spirit, submitting to the authority who is living in our heart. All that to say, when our Savior is on the throne of our heart, what is in our heart makes us more than a conqueror by the blood of Jesus. Like the persistence of leaven in dough. As a result, His qualities of righteousness become qualities of ourselves to shine in the dark world around us, offering salvation to those who are chained in darkness, imprisoned in chaos.

Isaiah 49:9, “That You may say to the prisoners, ‘Go forth,’ To those who are in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’”

Thankfulness is key to gladness and joy, after all, a morbidly thankful heart is not one of joy. It is impossible to have joy in our lives when we are morbidly thankful. Do you know what i mean when i say, “morbidly thankful”? It is a picture of a little kid who has to go wash his hands and he begrudgingly walks slowly to the bathroom, dragging his feet all the way, not realizing the blessing of having hot and cold running water or even a bathroom to wash up in. Can’t you see it? A snurl on his lips when his mother says to go wash his hands, “right now”, and he’s got a heart full of “don’t want to” with a downcast demeanor, he obeys anyway, but he just oozes with the attitude that if he didn’t absolutely HAVE to, he wouldn’t. The boy may say he’s thankful to even have a bathroom, but he’s so occupied with how much he doesn’t want to wash his hands, he misses the good things in his life. THAT is morbidly thankful. There is no joy in that heart posture. i’m not saying that when our lives have unfortunate circumstances in them we must dance and sing and pretend to be glad when all along we’ve got some dread going on. Friends, please be honest about your life and simply call things what they are. Nobody gladly enrolls in the school of affliction, but there is gladness and rejoicing in our hearts not because we’re going through a hard time, but because the Lord is with us, He won’t allow us to suffer more than we can bear, that His yoke is light, and that we will come out bigger and better than ever walking through a storm with Jesus.

The Lord and His salvation are cited more than any other reason for joy and gladness. i believe the Lord our God to be a happy person, consistently filled with joy, gladness, and a constant melody. i think many people aren’t full of joy about their salvation, largely because they have a very poor concept of what they are saved from and have a petty view of the Heart of the Lord. Oh sure, they’ll say all the right words, but the actions of their lives speak long and loud of an abiding cognitive dissonance, which means there are opposing ideologies consciously at work in them and they are at war with each other. On one hand, people say with a smile, God is good, God is love, and “Oh, how He loves us so.” On the other hand, they do things in the dark not believing God can see or hear them.

Friends, here this: Anyone who has no shame in the light, has likely been handled too much in the dark. Church, we need a better understanding of the Heart of the Lord and His details.

The Lord Himself is the source and fountain of our joy, with joy being the second of three fountains in the Heart of the Father. John 15:11, “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.” It is obvious that the disciples would have great joy, but what is not too obvious is that the joy and gladness they would experience were first and foremost, and it was something they would enter into. We step into the melody of God’s heart and His melody becomes our melody, His gladness becomes our gladness, His rejoicing becomes our rejoicing.

In Matthew 25, three servants were given money to invest while the master was away, and the ones who did well were invited to, “enter into the joy of their Lord”.

At some point, joy is a choice, and maybe it’s one of those choices we, wholeheartedly, make when we’ve come to the end of ourselves in living a life with no joy, no gladness and we can’t stand it anymore. Maybe it’s only then that we actually chase after Jesus to change our hearts. Joyce Meyer says we can either be pitiful or powerful but we can’t be pitifully powerful. As with joy, there is a choice in that. In the Matthew 25 account of the Lord and three servants, the third servant stated that the master was, my paraphrase, unkind, cruel, heavy-handed, and unfair, which were all gross misperceptions.

God is not a brutal taskmaster, who expects us to gain a profit where He has given us no supply or resources. He deals with us in grace and gives us the means to do that which He expects and requires. Where His appointment is, therein is His provision, and His joy and rejoicing are hidden in both the appointment and the provision. The idea of His provision is for us to advance the Kingdom of God, not advance ourselves. What’s more, we can only accomplish what He asks of us by His grace. The entire salvation system-ology is lubricated with love and grace.

i believe the Lord our God is a blissfully happy person, kind, longsuffering, always at perfect peace, and has done everything possible for us that we would enter into His joy. The reward of the servants of Matthew 25 was to enter into the Joy of the Lord, and i believe the last servant represented someone who was beggarly in heart and had no grasp, whatsoever, of God’s joy at all.

i wonder, how many of us have the same distorted view of God as the last servant in the parable did? Harsh, and unkind, hard to get along with? Nothing could be further from the truth.

Joy doesn’t come to us because we “got it right” or were SOO obedient we deserve God’s glad melody of rejoicing. Joy, like righteousness, occurs by abiding IN the vine, not working FOR the vine, trusting the vine to work and flow through us.

Joy, the melody of an illuminated heart is from being in Christ and living by faith in his power, grace, and wisdom.

Joy is always running out and returning to us, always dancing and singing with grace, close relatives with honor and blessing. As fear does not discriminate and affects everyone in the battle around us, so joy is equally contagious and has an outrageous knack of overcoming fear, if for no other reason than sheer attrition.

The persistent singing and gladness of God’s heart simply wears fear down, not because it is so powerful necessarily, but because joy is better than fear, grinding fear to dust through the sustained pressure of rejoicing.

Gladness and joy, apart from God, eventually fades back to grief which is the default setting of the world. Proverbs 14:12-13, “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death. Laughter can conceal a heavy heart, but when the laughter ends, the grief remains.” Laughter and pleasure often hide grief and sorrow. On a side note, rarely in the Bible, cover to cover, is God’s laughter used in the sense of being mirthful, or rejoicing. Almost every time, it is used in the sense of being associated with derision, “scorn”, or “scoffing”. i reckon the Hebrews just didn’t see laughter as something done when we’re happy which was called joy, mirth, gladness, and rejoicing. Think about this: If you were brutally honest, what is the foundation of things which make you laugh most of the time? Remember, i didn’t say laughing was bad, i’m only asking us to consider what is underneath it. i think most of the things we laugh about are usually at someone else’s expense, one way or another.

In Genesis 17, when Abraham laughed, it is a word which leans toward scoffing or making sport of. In Genesis 18 Sarah laughed, and the angel said, “Why did you laugh?”, she said, “Did not”, and the angel said, “Did too!” The implication of her laughter was like a “scoffing snicker”, not one of joyful rejoicing. The angels’ reply basically said, this is serious business, don’t make sport of the word of the Lord.

The root word of Joy means “to be bright and cheerful” which lifts us above the gravity barrier of worldly preoccupation. It is a man’s strength and upholds us when we wait upon the Lord. What i find most astounding is the visual i get when i read Isaiah51:11, “So the redeemed of the LORD shall return, And come to Zion with singing and a shout of gladness, with everlasting joy and the revealed glory and grace of God on their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy; Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” There is a shout in gladness, not just being happy but more exhilarating brightness and the dancing fire of rejoicing. Joy, as a fruit of the Spirit, is the melody of an illuminated heart, a brilliant gladness in our fundamental makeup. The total opposite of hard breathing conflict, sighing grief, struggle, and trouble. Wow! Not that is a vision to never lose sight of!

Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God, we are no longer content to simply say it in droll, plodding prose. We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus (Romans 5:11), and even though we’ve never seen Him, yet we love Him, trusting in Him, rejoicing, with gladness unspeakable, with joy inexpressible, full of glory. (1 Peter 1:8) Think about it, and amen.

With wind and fire, we have joy and gladness in the Holy Spirit, who comes to us with a melody in His glad heart, making us passionate to rejoice, regardless of our circumstances, even when the sky is dark, those in the fellowship of the saints have a naturally occurring brightness and singing which always finds a way to rise in their heart. Our illumination is The Lord who is our perpetual light, who is at no time dimming, never fading. He is a blissfully joyful person, kind, longsuffering, always at perfect peace, and has done everything possible for us that we would enter into His joy.

The name of the Lord is revealed in God-caused gladness and comes with grace and kindness in its wake. A thankful heart is a glad and kind heart, reflecting the Lord like a perfect mirror. God’s fruit of the Spirit – joy, is an overall disposition, how we lean in our heart towards the Lord.

Our hope is not to be just inspirational in topic but to inspire a deeper conversation amongst ourselves concerning God’s details and the landscape of Heaven. If we are in a relationship with the Lord, we need to know His details better than we know our own.

After much consideration, the fruit of the Spirit – joy, is a fire of gladness in our heart which has Ha’Shem the Name in the middle, making us a mirror of His kindness. Our God and King eternally has rejoicing in His great heart. He is happy and loves to sing goodness over His people. Joy is a choice we can either step into or allow ourselves to be dragged back to earth with our worldly preoccupation. …it is the blessing of the Almighty, rather than the direct object of our pursuit…it is the theme and refrain of a brilliant benevolence, bearing the blessing of an honorable and singing heart, in Jesus name.

Drive carefully this week, enjoy the life God has given you, take your time, and consider carefully when you pray for your neighbor. Read your Bible, and be strong and courageous. Amen.

Goodness

          Goodness is intrinsic and essential to good works. From God’s perspective, doing good things is not His definition of “good works”. In order to have “good works”, the foundational element of our character must be “goodness”… ”good” being born of God, because the Lord our God is the sole possessor of “good” in the universe… He is the standard of goodness. From God’s perspective, without His goodness in us, our “good works” are considered “dead works.”

Pretty radical thing to say huh? i’d say it sorta blows the whole idea of “i’m a good person” out of the water. i believe the world has redefined the idea of “goodness” to mean, “that which is morally right according to me, having the qualities required to play a certain role, a benefit or advantage to someone or something.” In my opinion, the world has lowered the standard of “goodness” to something achievable and born from its own effort.

Ultimately, all things will come to rest at the feet of Jesus… His judgment of things is where the buck stops, so to speak…..if that is true, and it is, then the idea of “goodness” must be according to His standards. His goodness is incomprehensible to the finite mind, and our best ideas of God’s goodness are not enough to adequately describe this detail about the Lord.

If we are the people of God, this particular fruit of the Spirit is central and elemental to our character. If the Lord is the true standard of what is “good”, then it is impossible to be a “good person” without the Lord living in your heart. Sometimes i think people declare themselves to be a “good person” more as a way of reassuring themselves they’re not really as bad as they probably are.

Goodness is a standard for believers. It’s more than stuff you do or things you think, as with all the fruits of the Spirit, it is the way we are, it is one of our character traits infused into not only all we do, and say, but how we conduct ourselves.

i do love my wife, so very much. i know her…i know her details, her little habits, the way she thinks of things and problem solves; i know how she typically sees the world around her and maybe can reasonably predict many of her actions. i have even learned her few annoying little idiosyncrasies….all of which make up the person i know as my wife. If you love someone, it seems to me, we should know their details – their favorite color, how they will come to their conclusions, what their standards are, how they tilt their head or curl their mouth to laugh, how they flip their hair, which shoe they tie first, their preferences in clothes and food, what makes them sad, what inspires them, and what makes them cry. When you say you love someone, those are a few of the things you would know about them.

We, who are believers, say we love Jesus, and we tell people we are looking for Him to return to take us home, but i don’t think we know Him like we say we do… too many don’t seem to know His details much, and if we love Him like we say we do, how come we seem to know so little about Him? He is not hidden like we often think. If anyone is hiding it us from Him, we were hiding in the beginning and we’re still hiding today, so much so, that our hiding impairs our vision. When we are hiding, not only does it make us hard for others to see, but it also makes it hard for us to see others.

We love talking about the value of knowing scripture, the importance of prayer, and being able to quote verse and address… and we love to quote His promises and judgments…don’t get me wrong, those are very important and necessary things… but what are God’s details? Do you know His details and How do you relate to God?

One of God’s details is His goodness…. it is one of His many infinite attributes…His goodness literally saturates His whole being. …it’s sort of always in the background of everything that we know about God. The more we know about the Lord, His details, and His Word…. the more we are going to understand what is truly good and what is not. We get to know “goodness” by being involved with the personification of “goodness”… Jesus… and the better we know Him and His details, the more of a sharpened gold standard of goodness we can live by.

Seeing as how God is good, all the time…what is good anyway? What do we mean when we talk about something being good, or decide something is better than something else? How do we decide what is good?

Think about it….there are many things we decide are good, and i have to add that most people think things are good as long as they get what they want.

Do we think people become addicted to drugs because they love being addicted? It’s not because they enjoy living under a bridge or going hungry, nor is it because they love the lifestyle, the poverty, or the ensuing depression. i believe it’s because, to them, the high feels “good”, though temporary, it is “a good feeling.” And the longer the addict uses, the more elusive the “good feeling” becomes.

In the idea of making money, doing business, or working a job, some business owners have an attitude of “If it works….do it.” It doesn’t matter whether it is legal, ethical, or morally right… they figure if nobody catches them and they can make a profit, it was a good idea… it makes them feel good and they are making money. They would say, “Business is good.”

In another way, there are many things that have been proven to be good for us that don’t seem good. Eating a healthy diet and exercising is good for us, but many of us have a difficult time doing it for long. Some medicine is good for us, and sometimes necessary, but it often tastes so bad we convince ourselves it’s not a good thing. Not many people take medicine because it tastes so good.

i don’t believe we, in and of ourselves, can define goodness… Why?… because we are inclined to explain our notion of goodness, based on what seems good to us. Our idea of goodness is so very self-centered and as a result, we must turn to a standard higher than ourselves for a definition.

All that to say… that our idea of what is good is so very subjective. We praise Him and say “God is good” when our prayers are answered, and when they aren’t answered like we think they should, we often lay awake at night questioning God’s goodness. Is He still good if He does not answer right away? When He heals us of a dire illness, we decide He is good…and if He doesn’t, we cry out with the question, “If God is so good, how could He let this happen to me?” We are a fickle bunch, i think.

Knowing what goodness is, from God’s perspective, is like getting to know the wind… it’s always there, moving things, and changing things, always in the background. For us to understand goodness we must know God and His details. This may seem odd to say but think about it: Goodness is both hidden and revealed, it is seen in the idea of “the greater includes the lesser” like a mother carries a child in her womb. Goodness has a way of bringing potential things into becoming a reality. AND…

God’s Goodness drives providence. i believe the Lord’s goodness is ultimately seen in His providence… so… i asked myself after making that brainy statement… self… what is providence? Honestly, it sounded really smart, but i had no answer… eventually, over the course of 4 years, i’m finally able to say the Lord did give me ideas.

Here it is: i believe God’s providence is His unfailing and continual instruction, His unfailing leadership, and precision navigation compelled by loyalty, love, and mercy…accomplishing His good pleasure through the power of His sovereign will. Kinda long, but that’s what i’ve got. His plan… is goodness in perfection because God is perfectly good… all the time and to infinity, and infinity means no left right, up down, front, or back. He is infinitely good past infinity. Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” His goodness is unwavering and unsullied by shadows, secrets, or indecision, nor can it be judged by our experience, for truthfully, our lives are not a very stable thing. First, we’re up, then we’re down…. like a wheel, and we go round and round with it.

Charles Spurgeon said that God’s goodness and providence is like the axle of a wheel. While the wheel’s outer edge is exalted and then made low, round and round, the axle is always the same and is always central to the rest of the wheel. No matter how far we run, or how fast we go, we cannot outdistance the goodness of God, it is at the center of all the wheel does.

Do you get it? So many times, we look at only what happened today, or even in a particular moment… today… our vision, being so short-sighted all the time, only seeing “in the moment”… and when His goodness is not in our face evident, from that we draw a large, generalized conclusion, “God’s goodness is not here. Afterall, look at how this situation turned out.”… all because we aren’t seeing it. It’s so very self-centered and subjective to think that because “I” don’t see His goodness, it must not be here…..then we cry “Boo-Hoo, God must not love me anymore.” We really MUST grow up church.

One reason God gave man the concept of “remembrance” was so we could look back at life in general and see the entirety of things, rather than looking at each little situation, one by one. Looking at life over a time span, you will see His persistent goodness… we’ll see that God is wise, and just, and He is goodness personified. Yet, here we are fretting about our troubles.

Remembering our days in the past we will see God’s heart instead of moaning around with our mouths full of “woe is me”… we will bless God for his mercies towards us, and how God’s goodness has saturated our lives. Indeed, God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good.

Why do you think it’s a good idea to believe God is good, and that His goodness lives in us through Christ, as a constant? There are many facets to this, but the first one that comes to mind is:

if, God forbid, He were NOT good… He would still be God… but fortunately for everybody, He IS good, and His goodness IS the standard by which we live. If we want to know goodness we must know God, and there is no way to understand what true goodness is without knowing God.

Often, we simply can’t grasp the picture of our existence in a wide enough view to see God’s goodness in our lives… for many of us, our “vision” simply isn’t wide enough. i say, let us ask the Lord to increase our “depth of field”, it is about the width of view at a certain distance, and is used to describe the optics in binoculars concerning the quality of the instrument. Lord increase our “depth of field” to see Your everlasting goodness upon the earth, Amen.

As previously stated, for many, it seems goodness is just hard to see from where we are standing. Many years ago when i was in the service, i went to a small Persian rug factory in Italy. i’d always been fascinated by the intricate patterns and incredible artistry involved, and in that little business, i’d heard they made some of the world’s most beautiful rugs, all hand dyed, hand-knotted, 100% wool… very expensive. As i walked through the area where all the work was going on, it was just so quiet… everyone was very focused. In a hushed tone, i asked the guide why all these rugs were so unattractive and just confused-looking? He looked at me for a moment, then chuckled saying, “Oh, you’re looking at the wrong side.”

Isn’t that how goodness looks to us many times? It’s so easy to become circumstantial when trouble is at the door.

When we’re looking for the goodness in God’s plan while we’re in the middle of a terrible storm, it’s just hard to see. Maybe it’s none of our business other than to simply have faith in God and trust that He is good and that His goodness is in us.

By the blood of Jesus and through faith, goodness is imparted to us….it is there, intrinsic to our character because Jesus is alive in us. Everywhere we go, everything we touch, everywhere we set our feet, the oil of anointing of God’s goodness leaves its mark. In every kind word and every good deed, His goodness is infused in it and passed on to the world around us.

Once i had a dream where i awoke in the middle of the night and walked into the kitchen. There, on the table in the middle of the room were glowing bottles of olive oil, sort of illuminated by the moonlight that was coming in the window. One bottle was a little more than half full and the other looked to be more exactly half full. For some reason, i thought to condense the two bottles into one. i poured one into the other but was left with about a third left over. In the dream, i wondered to myself what i was going to do with the extra… i shrugged my shoulder nonchalantly and decided to drink it, so i did just that. When i drank the remaining oil, instantly, i faintly glowed as the olive oil glowed and when i walked out of the kitchen, as i looked back, in my footsteps was a fine oil footprint on the floor which also faintly glowed. Where i had been in the kitchen, i could see the faint glow of oil on everything i had touched with my hands and every place i had stepped. It was the goodness of God, the oil of anointing, no…… more….it was an “unction”, the thick paste of anointing. That is how God’s goodness is in us and that is a visualization of how goodness, as a fruit of the Spirit looks from a spiritual perspective as we go forward into the world with the gospel of Jesus in our hearts.

While grappling for understanding on my part about “goodness” as a fruit of the Spirit, i’ve realized there are things of the Lord in which God Himself IS the explanation and definition. The only way to communicate some of His attributes is by metaphor and figures of speech, using phrases like, “It is like…”, “similar to….”, or comparing one thing to another.

Goodness subdues and coerces… subduing by way of God being so good to us we can’t help but love Him, and coercive in that when God’s goodness is poured out, even on the unbelieving, they are driven to their knees in honor of the King. Proverbs 25:21-22, “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For so you will heap coals of fire on his head, And the LORD will reward you.” God’s goodness is never still, like the wind… day and night it is always moving. When the sun shines it is moving up and down the hills, across oceans and deserts… goodness is never still. The moon shines and the stars light up, and still, it moves on. Even in darkness, when our eyes see nothing, goodness is still moving like the ocean waves; it is like when we are asleep, the forests and fields are still growing, we may not notice but His goodness is always marching on.

Romans 12:3, “…Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.”

Another aspect of goodness is that man cannot control it. The goodness of God which lives in us will always find a way to leak out of our cracks. i have long thought that God only uses cracked and broken things. In Luke 7 when a woman brought an expensive alabaster flask full of very expensive anointing oil, she broke the flask and poured the oil on Jesus. The oil ran out of the cracks and broken places all over everything, and isn’t God’s goodness like that?… it just runs out of all our broken and cracked places everywhere we go…even when we aren’t thinking about it.

Of course, it helps if we just let the Spirit flow and try not to control the proceedings… even at that, His goodness has a way of coming out of us…Jesus has a way of turning things into redeeming situations because He is good, and the Holy Spirit is always working towards our good.

Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

God’s goodness will never be restrained, not chained, nor managed by man….. it does what the Lord says and follows His will, like the wind or the sea, it cannot be directed by man, and is exclusively controlled by God. Man cannot alter it, and cannot change it; goodness goes before and after us like a cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at night. Psalm 23:6, “Surely goodness and mercy are with me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.”

Isn’t it beautiful that we get to possess this fruit of the Spirit? Goodness….it is the fruit of your character and life, evidence that we are the righteousness of God in Christ. Think about it.

In light of the goodness of God, i can’t see why some folks practice, what i call, a “comfortless gospel”… today they believe God loves them and tomorrow He hates them… a child of the King one day, reduced to a child of the devil the next. You’re in, you’re out, you’re up, you’re down… how does that work? For me, i could never believe a gospel like that, there is no hope or peace in it. But in the goodness and providence of God there is the stability of faith, and the strength of hope, for the Lord will, in no wise, cast off His people whom He has chosen. i would not want to walk like the world, void of His goodness… to live like that would be like living in such hopelessness, that all the people, in the end, would get the same worthless prize… and i don’t know about you, but i’d like more than that. The Lord has it, and i want what He’s got… Jesus, my beautiful and glorious Jesus.

i heard a man say he believed every particle of dust that danced in the sunlight doesn’t move an atom any more or less than God wishes. It is His goodness which makes even the dust dance in the morning light, provoked by the breeze, gently moving, always moving everywhere.

God is so good, He even provides many of His blessings to those who are not His children… His goodness transcends the worlds badness and is greater than all of the negative things that we see going on around us. The truth is, there are a lot of bad things that happen in the world, and those unfortunate things cause some people to question the goodness of God or even the very existence of God. Personally, i think it’s just silly for anyone to say, “Oh no, God doesn’t let bad things happen.” His knowing is NOT His ordaining…just because He knew something was going to happen doesn’t mean He made it happen. Think about it.

i believe every droplet of water has its orbit as well as the sun in the heavens, and that the dust from the broom of a janitor has a path just like the stars have their course. i believe the aphid’s footsteps over a fruit tree bud are as destined as the rain is not random but precise where it falls. If we believe in God, we must believe in His goodness also… there is no standing point between that and unbelief. If you do you do, and if you don’t, you don’t.

His goodness is the axle and we are the wheel, with the axle being central to all that happens with the wheel, whether or not the wheel understands or appreciates the axle… that is a picture of God’s goodness.

Be strong and courageous, take your time and breath… life is good, more than you know. Amen!

Gentleness

             i heard a story of a corporal at Valley Forge who was directing three men as they tried to lift a log into place. It was too heavy, but the corporal commanded again and again, “All right, men, one, two, three, lift!” A man in an overcoat came by and said to the corporal, ‘Why don’t you help them?” The corporal pulled himself up to full height, straightened his uniform in a curt fashion, and replied, “Sir, I am a corporal.” Without a word, the man stepped over, and with his help, the log went easily into place. The man was George Washington. He wasn’t too important to help, and his lack of a snide comment was an exercise in gentleness and self-control. Gentleness includes true humility that does not consider itself too good or too exalted for humble tasks and is never self-important but considerate, courteous, and modest, yet willing to try when a job needs to be done. Gentleness is defined as restraint coupled with strength and courage.

         How important is “gentleness” or “meekness”? As previously stated, God calls it one of the fruits of being righteous. Got fruit? Is it what you would like to believe it is or is it the real deal?

i often find that the translators of the Bible used a single English word to portray something which has a much larger implication in Hebrew and Greek…. in the case of Galatians 5:23, the translators used single words like “gentleness” or “meekness”, but the larger picture is “to have the attitude of a little lamb”…not, as many interpret “gentleness” as groveling, slavish, or pandering. What the Lord means is far from that. Gentleness is so very not cowardice or weakness, by any means, according to God’s values.

Ecclesiastes 8:1, “There’s nothing better than being wise, knowing how to interpret the meaning of life. Wisdom puts light in the eyes, And gives gentleness to words and manners.”

It is more about humility and kindness permeating all that we do and say…when “gentleness” is used as a verb it expresses how Jesus humbled himself by submitting to the oppressions of the ungodly. Isaiah 53:7, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers are dumb, so He did not open his mouth.”

Keep your seat, lend me your ears, and let the vision play in your head as we explore one of the Fruits of the Spirit: Gentleness.

Gentleness and humility … humility being the driving motivation behind gentleness…. they are two important words representing character attributes, typically, only obtained thru the school of affliction. i believe, one of the outcomes of affliction…IS humility. None of us, wholeheartedly, go there, but, you know, there are some things which are only gotten by going through difficult trials, not that we would ever wish trials on anyone, BUT….more often than not, it is the only way to get God’s character worked in us. Those who go with God and endure the “educational institution of unhappy situations” have their sharp edges rounded off by circumstances, with the character of Jesus slowly being revealed in them like gold sticking out of the ground. Gentleness is a grace all believers possess, or at least, it is the Lord’s intention that the fruit of the Spirit is evident in us. If Jesus has it, we can have it also…gentleness is…mildness of disposition, a natural inclination to kindness above violence and doesn’t spring out of, nor rest upon a sense of worthlessness. Ever. A gentle heart is not a victim’s heart.

2 Corinthians 10:1, “Now I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—who, in presence, am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you.”

i believe the words of the Bible not only represent God’s heart but that it says what the Lord meant for it to say in the order He meant for it to be. We should pay attention to not only the words the Lord uses, but the order….nothing in scripture is unintentional…..therefore i’m looking at how 2 Cor 10:1 is worded. In this case, Paul included the words meekness and lowly in conjunction with gentleness. These three words support each other and easily go together…they help to show that gentleness requires humility, and humility is accompanied by meekness….in contrast, with pride and feelings of superiority come rough reactions, stubbornness, and know-it-all answers. Honestly, among church people, i am weary of rough reactions, stubbornness, and know-it-all answers. i’ve come to expect it from the world, but from my own people? C’mon church, we can do this!

It is written, “Yet when they were ill, I grieved for them. I denied myself by fasting for them…” We need to also extend our gentleness, not just towards other believers who appear to deserve some “privileged compassion”, but even more so towards those who scoff and scorn. In Psalms 35, the Psalmist used this concept to emphasize the extent of his concern and consideration, even for his enemy,

Gentleness, as a fruit of the Spirit, is not just for us….. as with ALL of the Lord’s attributes, it is an extension to the world as a testimony of His love and the sacrifice of Jesus for our sins.

Gentleness isn’t just an external attribute like a washed face, instead, it is, what i call, an “inner worked grace of the soul”, born from the inside out, which we first and primarily practice towards God. And yes, i mean “to the Lord first”, He should be our first and last thought and action in our lives, every day.

James 1:21, “Therefore lay aside all criminality, immorality, wrongness, and abundance of vice and depravity, and receive with meekness, gentleness, and humility the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”

That is a profound scripture. It means …. not ignoring our wrongness of character, nor being distracted from it, pretending it isn’t there, but by accepting with a receptive heart Christ who is able to save us all together.

Most think of this beautiful attribute as, God in His kindness, mercy, and gentleness, extended to us, but gentleness also represents how we do what we do, not just what we do. In James 1:21, James, who is widely thought to be James the half-brother of Jesus, used the word “receive”, which means the fruit is born in us by God…He did the work……He gives, and we receive… He has planted Himself in us and we accept His word for our saving grace, meekness, gentleness, and humility. Again, not just what our faith and works are but how we exercise our faith and perform our works. We can easily establish that meekness and humility are associated with…. gentleness, the attitude and frame of mind with which we accept the Lord’s plans and implementations as a good thing, without arguing, fighting, or resisting.

­­­­­­­­Ephesians 4:2, “with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love”… we need to know that the humble heart is also the gentle heart….it does not fight against God, neither do they struggle and contend with Him. He is gentle with us, and we, in return are gentle with Him.

Our gentleness and meekness, as the fruit of righteousness, is to be displayed toward others….it is how we are, even to evil people who insult and grieve us. i realize it is hard when we are vilified and wrongly accused, but what if, somehow, we were of such character we were not offended, instead seeing the trial as an opportunity to be more Christ-like? Jesus gave no defense because He held no offense. We who are gentle know ourselves as the lowest of the low, and also highly favored as children of the most high God, like Jesus, with the character of a young lamb.

In John 18:22, Jesus endured with humility, the indignity of being unjustly struck, yet He endured, what is called, “the contradiction of sinners”, meaning the unredeemed don’t want to die but yet they also refuse to yield themselves to God. Jesus had learned to gently endure the afflictions and provocations with which others gouged at Him….yet He did not withdraw himself from the burdens which their sin imposed upon him. He meekly, humbly, and gently endured the sins of the world.

Sometimes the battle is won or lost not so much on the strength of the mighty, but on endurance. Titus 3:1-2, “Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.”

Simply being nice is NOT being gentle. Being “nice” is a very subjective term. If someone doesn’t give us what we want, often we say they aren’t being nice, but if we get what we want, we say that person is nice. Being “gentle” has a deeper foundation than just its own qualities….in fact, in my observation, gentleness can’t exist without meekness and humility. It is not possible to be arrogant and unyielding…. passing out “i know” type of answers, and still be gentle, meek, and humble…..it is contradictory.

…. there is that word again, “humble”. Humility is closely connected with gentleness, so i would think we also need to consider how God views humility. i believe He sees humility as essential for every believer, after all, scripture says humility does come before honor. James 4:6, “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble”.

The Lord resists arrogance and haughtiness, including our justifications for not being gentle to those who have offended us, been harsh to us, or who we don’t feel deserve gentleness. 1 Peter 5:6-7, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.”

My friends, if we won’t humble ourselves before the Lord, He will humble us for us, so let us all just go ahead and get low. We all want to exhibit the fruits of the Spirit, but humility is foundational to them all. We can’t have Godly self-control without humility; we can’t have Godly gentleness without humility; nor peace, strength, or love…humility is essential, right from the start. As i said, let all of us just stop fooling around and go ahead and get low.

The Lord is interested in us showing the same gentleness that Jesus showed to the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11). Instead of aiming our finger at the offender and self-righteously casting the first stone, quoting them the Law…..we are to follow Jesus, gently, and firmly saying to go and sin no more. God is overwhelmingly gentle with us when we sin or need correction, and He expects us to be the same way with others.

In Acts 17, starting in vs 16, Paul was in Athens and observed that the city seemed to be entirely taken over by idols. Interestingly, Paul didn’t rail on them, nor was he threatening and provoking. Can you imagine how that would sound? Do you think he’d get a positive response of repentance from the people?

Imagine him standing on a box in the middle of their gathering place, the wind blowing his hair back, robes sweeping, fire in his eyes, body arched forward in an accusing posture, aiming his bony finger at them and yelling, “You bunch of low down sinners! You have immeasurably sinned, you and your false, lying, ugly little gods! You are so ignorant about anything religious! What do you know?! You don’t know anything! Let me tell you something….fall down right now and pray, no BEG God for mercy that you evil sinners, monsters of iniquity may not be struck down and burned to a crisp right where you stand like the devils you are!”

Does that sound like a gentle reply to you? Would anyone you know be interested in screaming such words at people? Unfortunately, maybe. What do you think the probability of a positive response would have been? Let me say it again, God is overwhelmingly gentle with us when we sin and need correction, and He expects us to be the same way with others.

Proverbs 15:1, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

Colossians 3:12, “Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” He…chose … you, and this is a list of what we should wear as His people, representing His heart to the world.

Acts 17 is a wonderful example of how clever and appealing gentleness can be. When Paul began his message to the Athenians, God gave him wisdom and, i believe, he must have taken into account the background and situation of the people with their many gods. He obviously noted how they were very religious, and then proceeded to comment on one altar he had seen with the inscription “TO THE UNKNOWN GOD”. In vs 23, he tells them, “Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you”.

Rather than being a hammer to the people, Paul, diplomatically and kindly spoke the gospel to them…it was a gentle way of encouraging people away from the worship of dozens of false gods to their death and toward worshipping the true God to life. Even though some mocked…he endured their provocations, others asked to hear more, and some even joined and believed.

The lifestyle of gentleness we are being called to in Gal 5:23 is….. a pattern of grace only found in Christ Jesus, Yeshua, the Lord, Messiah, and God. The phrase “pattern of grace” is going to be repetitively used here for a while.

Why should we be diligent to become gentle in all our dealings? Because hate breeds hate, malice breeds malice, drama breeds drama, kindness breeds kindness, and gentleness breeds gentleness. We may have to be firm, if not straight out drawing lines and exacting solid boundaries diligently, but we can do it while being gentle. Gentleness is a heart posture, it’s the way we are and how we do life. It is a pattern of grace that is God’s template and only He can develop it in us. To clarify, the fruit of righteousness called, “gentleness” is not an attribute we act out, it is the way we are….. it is not just inward, but dominantly upward.

i think it is important for us also to consider the gentleness of God towards us so that we understand how we are supposed to act toward our neighbor.

The Lord is gentle towards our imperfect righteousness. Additionally, the Lord refuses to exact well-deserved penalties. In Psalm 85:5, the Psalmist asks, “Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations?” The Lord answers that question in Isaiah 54:9, “For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, So have I sworn That I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.”

The Lord keeps in mind what we are made of and measuresHis dealings with us by love and grace, expecting us to return that same love, grace, and gentleness to others, not just to those who agree with us or support us, which would be what i call, “privileged compassion”. Peter is a great example. Peter’s attitude was far from ideal, after all, he was, in my opinion, a rough fisherman who was used to working in semi-solitude…his social skills weren’t very polished. i guess we could say he often appeared to others as coarse and maybe even unpleasant. Even so, Peter had a heart that was tender towards God. Not only was the Lord gentle with Peter, but expected Peter to extend the same pattern of grace to others. Luke 22:32, “But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”

The highly forgiven servant in the parable of Matt 18:23-35….having known the gentleness and compassion of the master, was expected to return the same to his fellow servants. But, as we read to the end of the parable, we see that the exterior of the servant spoke one thing, but his heart was another….his lack of gentleness came back to bite him.

The Lord gave us His Son to free us from sin and death, to have life and have it more abundantly. That life was never meant for us to just lay in the sun and soak up all that goodness for ourselves…..it was given with the intent that, as He practices His goodness upon us, we should practice it to others. Think about it.

i was in a conversation a while back concerning the gifts and fruits of the Spirit and someone made a profound statement, so i wrote it down. She said, “Being filled with the Spirit is as much about character as is any use of Spiritual gifts. The Holy Spirit fruit is supposed to be apparent and visible in our lives every bit as much as His gifts are to be shown through us. It’s silly and lopsided to give attention to the gifts of the Spirit without giving attention to the fruit of the Spirit.” That quote may not seem relevant now, but in a few weeks, it will be more apparent as to why i’m throwing that in here.

1 Timothy 6:11, “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.”

Philippians 4:5, “Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.”

Abraham Lincoln said, “When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion…kind unassuming persuasion, should always be adopted. It is an old and true proverb that a drop of honey catches more flies than a gallon of gall.’ So it is with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say what he will, is the great highroad to his reason, and which, once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing him of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause is really a good one.”

Do you favor someone talking to you calmly and gently, or…. when they yell at you or speak aggressively to you? People respond better to gentle words.

Do you like it when someone shakes your hand gently and firmly or…. as tight as they can squeeze, being contentious and threatening? People react better to gentleness in touch.

Do you prefer when someone is helping you with a problem that they patiently work with you, trying to understand your difficulties, or that they insult you by putting you down and speaking roughly to you? People prefer gentle assistance.

Would you rather be around someone who is gentle or someone who is not?

If you are in leadership, you are called to feed, nurture, comfort, correct, and protect, and we should do these things with profound gentleness. The virtuous leader comforts their people, binds up wounds, and applies the balm of compassion and love. We need compassionate and gentle servant-leaders who will bear people’s burdens with them, empathize with their circumstances, exhibit patience, and encourage them.

Gentleness is a fruit of righteousness, it is the nature of a lamb. It’s not so much what we do, but how we act and who we are, not an inward thing, but an upward thing….it is God’s pattern of grace alive in us facing a conflicted and contradictory world.

Be strong and courageous, drive carefully, and be at peace and we’ll talk again. Amen.

Self-Control

          Oh my gosh! In this country do we even have any self-control, which literally means that our thinking is on a level path? One group thinks the other is on a downhill skid, the second group is absolutely sure they are on level ground and that the first group is totally off the wall. Neither seems to be willing to take into consideration they, themselves, could be off balance, out of bounds, or even twisted in their thinking, heels dug in, eyes shut tight, fingers in their ears while loudly saying, “La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la” so as to drown out all council but their own voice. i don’t know about you, but when i’m busy talking, it’s very difficult to hear anyone else, even God.

Lord, open our hearts and our understanding that we might get on board with Your idea of the Fruit of the Spirit: self-control.

The news, media service, and especially advertising largely drives public passions: have it your way, get what you want, or build it like you like with seemingly no thought as to the end result of unbridled passions and self-centered living. Today’s main stream world seems to be so inviting to people to just “let go and lose control” under the guise of “being free”. But it seems to me in order to “be free”, at least from the world’s perspective, i just need to do “whatever i want to do”, “when i want”, and “how i want”. i think we should question that logic. Although the worlds idea of freedom is called “being free”, is it actually freedom? If i’m being harmful and neglectful of the welfare of others, there are always some who believe that’s ok because it’s all under the banner of “self-expression”. For many, they’re good with whatever happens as long as it doesn’t happen to them.

Odd how those same people think another person’s “reckless abandon”, or “self-expression” is OK until it burns their house down and then it’s suddenly a bad thing.

How important is “self-control”? God calls it one of the fruits of being righteous. Think of all the terrible things that would happen if, not only did we have no self-control, but we did not allow God to teach us self-control, with us being left to ourselves and our own thinking to do everything, “our way!”

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts.

Many years ago, i used to have words from the Lord, visions, and dreams, i was diligent to write down things people had said or written which resonated with me…..i must have gotten discouraged with all the notebooks of things i had collected which God had given me and started not writing His words and vision down, preferring instead distractions when it was during the day, or favoring sleep if at night. Somewhere along the line i noticed the words, dreams, and visions weren’t happening too often anymore, so i asked the Lord, “Why?” By and by He replied saying He had noticed i wasn’t writing them down anymore and it seemed i must not be too interested.

Anyway, all that to preface this: i read somewhere that to gain “self-control” we can’t just ignore or renounce something to gain mastery. Ignoring bad behavior doesn’t make it anything other than ignored bad behavior, and declaring we’ll never do such and such again is a good start, maybe, but neither do things change simply because we declare it so. Sure, we can turn our eyes and attention to other things, but to allow ourselves to be diverted so we don’t notice our problem doesn’t mean we are actually exercising self-control. The best thing is to turn our eyes to the source of true change and real power that is outside ourselves. The key to self-control is not inward, but upward. “Self-control” begins with Jesus as a spiritual thing.

Proverbs 1:1-3, “These are the proverbs of Solomon, David’s son, king of Israel. Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise. Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair.”

The word “discipline” there is the English transliteration of the Hebrew idea of “self-control”. The O.T. uses that Hebrew word 50 times, and the English translators called it reproof, chastisement, or instruction. But in the sense of self-control, it is seen as discipline, correction, or personal restraint. In the New Testament, the word often used is “sober”, “moderate”, “temperance”, and even “discreet”, meaning to be of sound mind, self-controlled and sane. Ahhhh, there it is, from the Hebrew letters it means to be sane, “thinking on level ground”, or, “self-control”. The picture is one of fenced in passions and purposeful restraint.

The Hebrew word for “self-control” reveals God’s intent that we use it as one of our methods to enter into the “rising light of God” which will “wash over us like a wave”, empowering us to be even more disciplined; the implication of the word means we are to explore our real motivations in order to stand in the revealed truth of the Lord, knowing the Lord is our support to lean upon in order to conquer the passions of our flesh, and so much, if not all the battle for self-control is in our head. In the middle of the Hebrew word is a letter which, in this case, is considered “the belly of the word”, meaning in the belly of a man are the passions which need to be in subjection.

One method to bring those passions into subjection is honesty, understanding why we do what we do, getting God’s instruction and correction which is called education, something we, as a nation, so desperately need, not education in the ways of the world and men, but of the Lord and His values. The Lord IS our method for our feet to be on a level path, or exercising self-control. i remember struggling so often to not be so constantly disappointed, i would set impossibly high goals, too high for myself much less anyone else. Then when i failed to reach the goal, i was so disappointed in myself that anger would overwhelm me. Emotionally, i was like a steel ball just bouncing around in a box, slamming side to side, round and round, day after day, living life with such little self-control. For some reason, Romans 8:1 never occurred to me. “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”

In my perpetual disappointment, i was angry at everything, and rather than think things through, i just went round and round in life, acting and reacting in a horrible loop. i was so very not on a level path, and i had done it to myself.

And you? Is your thinking on a level path or is it driven by hot atmosphere, high emotion, and the erratic teaching of the world?

           In Genesis 39, Joseph exercised incredible self-control, discipline, and loyalty to God in order for him to endure his trials. In light of vs4, it says Joseph was a servant, had found favor, and was even made an overseer with all authority given to him. We discover in vs 6 Joseph was also handsome in his appearance. For a single guy who was smart, wise, had favor, and was goooood looking, i imagine the girls really had an interest in him. Ssadly, so did his boss’ wife. She, straight out, said, “let’s you and me have sex.” He put to use his discipline and self-control by refusing her advances with a very plain but diplomatic answer.

Genesis 39:8-9, he told her, “With me in charge, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house; everything he owns he has entrusted to my care. No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”

As the story goes on, the masters’ wife is hitting on him nearly everyday. At one point she got aggressive and even grabbed him by his clothes trying to force him to do what she wanted, but Joseph had a greater vision of how things would be because, i believe, he played the rest of the movie and saw how things would turn out. With full commitment to NOT participate with her, in vs 12, scripture says he ran away. He RAN AWAY, literally ripping himself away from her with such determination he left his shirt in her hands.

Friends, this kind of self-discipline, or self-control stood him in good standing and reputation in the years that followed. Serving the Lord was more important than serving himself. But let’s play the whole movie here. Had Joseph taken up the other man’s wife on her offer, for the moment all things would have been wonderfully delicious, but one way or another, and here’s a sticky statement: secrets have a way of coming to the surface, they have a way of not staying secret, and in the end, nothing would have gone well for him. Again, secrets have a way of not remaining secrets. Yes, it’s true, she was very vindictive, she lied and got Joseph in a ton of trouble, but in the end, the Lord honored Joseph and lifted him up above his previous station.

Let’s toss in the mix another example of self-control, one of the fruits of the Spirit. In 1 Samuel 26 David is being hard pressed by Saul. At one-point David suggests they sneak down into Saul’s camp, so he and Joab’s brother take off. There, they are able to sneak up on Saul as he slept, and rather than kill him, David practiced the discipline and self-control to not kill the sleeping king. Instead they took only Saul’s spear and a jar of water so that Saul would KNOW David could have killed him but he didn’t. David saw the value of his restraint. It may seem to the reader that David, quite possibly could solve all his problems by pinning Saul to the ground with one stroke of the spear, but David also knew better than to assault God’s anointed one.

Both Joseph and David were motived by spiritual principals. Serving the Lord was more important than serving themselves, and not only did they believe self-control was spiritual, but they lived it out.

1 Corinthians 9:25-27, “All athletes practice self-control in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. I run with purpose in every step and i’m not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.”

           A really good paraphrase of Proverbs 5:22-23 is, “An evil man is held captive by his own wounded conscience and gives power to his flesh over his spirit; they are ropes that catch and hold him. He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his thick headed foolishness.”

How many alcoholics and drug addicts do we hear about, who, due to their addiction, have very little self-control and eventually die? How many people do you know who are addicted to drama? Their lives are constantly filled with drama and hang out with other people who are also addicted to drama, so much so, that when we are around them we just want to run away. Addicts self-medicate, it’s a way of avoiding personal pain. Whether it’s drugs, alcohol, sex, drama, feelings, or even an addiction to “explaining ourselves” because of the constant feelings of being misunderstood, or whatever our addiction is, the lack of self-control drives us further from the very relationships we so desperately wish we had.

In an attempt at some sort of control in an out of control life, i believe many do almost everything they can to silence their conscience, which is a built in

God-mechanism given to help us navigate life. Sort of like a compass when it comes to maintaining some self-control and doing the right thing. But when that “compass” gets muddled, and there is no clear sound or vision, we try driving it to silence because we have, given power to our flesh over our spirit. Our flesh “wants” and we just give whatever it asks. If our conscience nags us, we self-medicate in one fashion or another until our internal compass is noiselessness. We can be silent to others, and can possibly silence our state of mind, but we cannot so easily silence our conscience. i’d say it’s a pretty fair assumption on my part that the only conscience which is silent is a reprobate conscience.  Without a conscience, conviction has no foothold, and condemnation has full run of the field!

Not being responsible for our actions, not utilizing self-control inspires a diminishing conscience and a lack of sensitivity to God’s conviction, eventually ending in a “crisis” of faith. Paul speaks many times about the value of owning a good conscience for a good reason.

David Mathis wrote that, “True self-control is a gift from above, produced in and through us by the Holy Spirit. Until we own that self-control is received from the Lord rather than whipped up from within, pulling ourselves up by our own boot straps so to speak, the effort we give to control our own selves will come back only as self-glorification, rather than God’s. But we also need to note that self-control is not a gift we receive passively, but actively, we must be involved with the Lord, diligently pursuing the Fruit of the Spirit. We are not the source, but we are very personally involved. We open the God’s gift and live it. Receiving the grace of self-control means eventually, we must go out into the actual exercise of grace.”

And to quote one more, Ed Welch wrote, “As the Hebrews were promised the land, but had to take it by force, one town at a time, so we are promised the gift of self-control, yet we also must take it by force.”  In other words, to gain the fruit of self-control we must participate with God in actively pursuing restraint and discipline.”

2 Peter 1:6-7, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.” One-way i read this is that if you gain knowledge from the Lord, that knowledge will help you gain the fruit of “self-control”, and you know, the Lord doesn’t tell us stuff just we can know stuff, nor does He give us gifts so we can keep them a secret and not share. Ephesians 5 says one of our goals is to build up the body of Christ.

As believers, i consider that self-control is not about bringing the belly of our passions under our own control, but under the control of Christ by the power of his Spirit. Because self-control is a fruit which is produced in and through us by God’s Spirit, Christians can and should be the most hopeful people on the planet about growing in self-control. We are, after all, brothers of the most self-controlled person in the history of the universe, Jesus.

Proverbs 25:28, “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls”. A man who cannot control, discipline or restrain himself is very vulnerable, like a city whose walls have been broken down. Under our own steam, in our own attempts to have control, we lose control.

Bringing our passions under our own control may seem like a good idea, and it certainly isn’t a bad one, but by ourselves alone, i don’t believe there are any who have the strength to effectively, with long lasting results, bring themselves into subjection to their own authority. Authority is no better than the weight behind it and if we are our own weight or authority, then i believe we are doomed. The idea of bringing my passions, which i can’t control, under my own authority is thinking in circles, it is monotoned and “thin thinking”. The truth is, no one is smart enough to actually run their own life. Just not. For starters, too many of us have boundary problems, meaning the passions we felt we had under control yesterday, we may not want to control tomorrow, which is what i call “a momentary truth”, meaning what is true today probably will not be tomorrow.

For many, the lack of self-control is very destructive, and if it’s not immediately and obviously destroying us, over time our destructive behaviors literally wear us down. God’s plan is for us to prosper, not to be slaves to our passions.

In recovery houses around the country, people who still wrestle with their addictions, typically aren’t allowed to live there. Why? Because human beings tend to spiral downwards to total lack of self-control, not spiral up, and when someone who is not determined to practice self-control lives in the house, that out-of-control person is inclined to persuade the entire house, simply due to their life’s motivation, thereby putting the whole house at risk.

1Corinthians 9:24-27, (my paraphrase) “Do you not realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? If we all must run, then run to win! All athletes exercise self-control in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just swinging in the dark here. I discipline my body and keep it under control, training it to do what it should.”

Everybody serves somebody or something. Oh yes we do. One way or another we are bound to Christ, for life, or bound to ourselves and this world to death. Choose today whom you will serve. In Romans 6, Paul wrote, “Do you not know that to whom you put yourselves at the disposal of as slaves resulting in obedience, as slaves you will be to whom you render habitual obedience. We can either be slaves of the sinful nature resulting in death, or obedient slaves resulting in righteousness?”

Will we be slaves or will we be free?

In 2 Corinthians 10:5, scripture says “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

If we don’t practice self-control with our passions, then our passions will practice control on us, or, if we don’t take those thoughts captive, and that is ALL the thoughts not just the ones we don’t like or approve of, then they will take us captive. Either way, somebody is going down in chains as a captive.

Primarily, “the love of Christ controls us”, and when we get our arms around the truth that He is our Savior and ruling authority, in Christ we have the power and strength to walk a level path. In the person of Jesus, “the grace of God” has appeared, training us” — not just “to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions,” but “to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.”

Titus 2:11-12, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present…”

i will be the first to admit, disciplining my passions and practicing self-control is no fun in the here and now, possibly even painful. How well i know the struggle to not eat just one more donut, understanding full well that the sugar is not my friend and my stomach may bother me. Yet, oh, how i want it; but if i resist, that discipline will yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by grace. i think to myself occasionally, what a shame i had to get this much older only to discover that not eating yet another donut was a good idea. Therefore, strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight, level paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. When we allow the power of Christ to help us practice self-control, suddenly we are where we are going, and we find our feet on level ground. Think about it.

           Galatians5:22-23, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Gaining knowledge and understanding concerning self-control and then actually doing it, to me, is one of the hardest things in life, !BUT!, it is a fundamental necessity for a life well lived.

All of His life, Jesus was without sin. 1 Peter 2:22 says “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.” He stuck with the purpose and plan even when He was in agony and sweat came like drops of blood. In the middle of His trial the Son of God had the wherewithal and self-control to not refute the false charges or defend himself. He didn’t neeeeed a defense because He held no offense. When accused and vilified, He did not abuse and malign anyone in return. Matthew 26:67 says “They spit in his face and beat him; some slapped him with their open hands.” Then, they scourged him. In every trial and temptation, “Jesus learned obedience through what he suffered”, and at the pinnacle of his self-control he was “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Stand up church! Get to your feet.

i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts.

Self-control is one of the Fruits of the Spirit, therefore, if we are believers it is also one of our attributes, enough so that others can see that part of our character. We can do this church. The Lord has given it to us to follow in His footsteps with success. Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, and by Him, we are of sound mind, self-controlled and sane….thinking and walking on level ground.”

Be strong and courageous this week, be mindful of the needs of others. Enjoy your evenings, we’ll meet again on the trail of the lonesome pine. Amen.