A friend of mine told me this story, he said: “In the morning, every morning, at the moment my eyes open, i try to make God the first person i speak to. i’ve got this idea in my head to give Him more than just an offering of money, but give my first fruits in everything. In light of that, i’ve been making an effort to give Him my first words in the morning and my last words at night, actually making Jesus my first and last of everyday. It’s more than praise with words, it’s attitude, it’s worship born out of the intent of my heart. Sometimes i have to think to speak, but more and more often i see that changing to something more natural and flowing.” Then he continued, “Like this morning, as i opened my eyes, before i even stretched and considered to myself if i had slept well or had any dreams, from my mouth i heard, “Thank you Jesus. You are the Lord, who is beautiful and strong in me.” The work of the Lord in my heart was evident in the moment, i couldn’t help but smile to myself.” When i heard his words, something deep resonated in my heart.

So, i thought i would give it a try. Amazingly, it wasn’t long before … i found myself feeling a deep satisfaction that worship was evident in me, praise and thanks to God was first in my mouth. After many days, i noticed that i didn’t always have to think to make it happen, i didn’t have to remember to speak to God first and last, as if it was an obligation. Speaking first to Him was a pleasure, out of the abundance of my heart, my mouth spoke. To reiterate, for a while, i did have to think to remember to speak to God first, and i did have to think to speak to Him last, but the intent of my heart was a righteous one, and slowly over time, i began to address God without having to labor to make it happen. A thought gradually dawned on me … this was a gift.

How many of us give God our first fruits of anything? The idea of First Fruits was a religious offering of the first agricultural produce of the harvest. In classical Greek, Roman, Hebrew, and Christian religions, the first fruits were offered to the temple or church. It was a kind of tithe, with the word tithe literally meaning a tenth, the concept meaning to … give a tenth part, especially for the support of the church. First Fruits meant to appropriately mark a portion of the produce of the field as belonging to God. For most American Christians, the first fruits offering has been reduced to merely giving part of our money, and i think for many if not most, even that is reluctant.

?Do we appropriately mark a portion of anything we say or do as belonging to God? ?Does it always have to be exactly 10 percent? Some folks seem to always be worrying over 10 percent of their money. Their attitude is “10 percent for God, and NINETY percent for ME!” And somehow, in our minds, giving a portion to God always centers around money. Oh boy, money, money, money. The chains of chaos and the hypnosis over money is amazing isn’t it?

Anyway, what about other parts of our lives? Does it dawn on us to give God a part of everything we do? Jesus said in Mark 12:29-31, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Hmmmm, i don’t see anything in that which speaks to a percentage of just our money. In fact, i don’t see the idea of percentage at all. Jesus said, “all”. All your breathing, all your thinking, all your feeling, and all your momentum. Oh, and love your neighbor as yourself. How you treat yourself is how you’ll treat your neighbor, so how do you love yourself? If we’re brutal to ourselves, chances are good we’ll treat our neighbor similarly, and if we’re kind to ourselves, again, chances are good we’ll be kind to our neighbor also.

It’s peculiar to me how, although we claim to believe the law is finished and accomplished, we use it, when it’s convenient, to define how much we give. Jesus said, not only “Follow me”, meaning “do life my way”, but to give Him our all, and let Him decide how much to give.

?What if we gave God the first fruits of our mouth everyday? ?What if, we who say the Lord is God and we live our lives in Christ to glorify God, what if we gave him our first and last words, everyday? That certainly doesn’t impact anyone’s wallet, so it shouldn’t be a big deal to do, right? Putting God first in the beginning and end of each day, wouldn’t that be a kind of first fruits?

This all may seem small, but try it, put God first and last in your day. Strangely, it’s not easy, but i can’t think of anyone, anywhere that i would rather have first or last in my day. And just exactly why do i think it’s not easy? Well, honestly, i think most of us are far more taken with ourselves than God. i believe that we think of ourselves, for ourselves, about ourselves far more than we think anything of God. i believe that we say with great words, “The Lord reigns supreme in my life,” but the actual details, if they could be seen and charted, tell another story.

Let’s try something: think of other ways we can make God first and last in everything we do. How about if God was the FIRST person we consulted before we called someone to get advice, instead of the last person we look for AFTER we’ve searched out a matter, AFTER the advice of our friends, AFTER we’ve looked it up on the internet, AFTER we’ve struggled and grappled with our circumstances? Maybe even AFTER we’ve completely failed, THEN we get around to asking for God’s counsel. What do you think so far? Here ends part one.

C’mon friends, let’s get to the bottom of what it is which holds you back. The Lord has indeed called you, so why are you so tethered to this earth, like someone with no connections to eternity? Maybe you don’t know precisely what the Lord is calling you to, but you can position yourself in the mean time. The idea is not get to your destiny, but build your relationship with the Lord, who is God of your destiny.

i’m speaking of constraint in a negative sense, because Paul does write about being constrained by Christ in 2 Corinthians 5:14 in a good way, but what i mean is more in the sense of something which binds us in place and doesn’t allow us to advance, closes us in, enclosing us in a compressing embrace which doesn’t permit us to breath well.

What are the spiritual restrictions or limitations, the things which impose a narrowed view of the Lord? i remember a line from Peter Pan where he said, “If you have faith, you have wings,” yet so many believers operate more like a bird who’s wings have been clipped so it can’t fly properly.

Sure, it’s easy to say “If they would only recognize my value, i would find my true north.” Ok, let’s suppose they don’t give you the recognition you think you deserve. Is recognition by leadership really what binds you up and won’t allow you to enter into God’s plan more fully? Are they really so powerful they can keep you from the Lord? No. If you’re waiting on leadership to make a way for you, my guess is you’ll be waiting a very, very long line. Ply back the layers to find out what constrains you. i’ve been told i’m a little too direct, too honest, but truthfully, i don’t know how to approach getting closer to Jesus without a most definite amount of directness and honesty. i reckon being told we’re too direct or too honest actually, actually really means we didn’t schmooze and romance enough to make the other person feel comfortable in their own skin. i’ll tell ya, i love my brothers and sisters in Christ, but if they want to get more involved with Jesus, they’ll have to pick up the pace.

Jesus said “Follow me”, not, “Follow an important person who follows me.” If you’re leading a lifestyle where you are constantly having to divide out if what you’re doing is right or wrong, it’s probably wrong. Think. If you have to wonder, it’s highly likely God is posing you the question as an inspiration that you’ll begin to possibly address your permissiveness, or step up with increased honesty and transparency. Friends, step up or step off.

Ask yourself concerning what you’re pondering to do … does it bring me under the power of a situation which the Lord says is wrong? Do you find yourself reasoning around the obvious? If your actions cause you to lose your relish of righteous things, sadly i can say from personal experience, it’s not a good idea and life will increasingly feel like the brakes are on.

What keeps you back from just going all in for Jesus? Other people? Nope, they don’t have that kind of power. Your schedule? Nope, you made your schedule, so it’s not your schedule. i can assure you God will wipe out your entire schedule to get your attention if He needs to. What prevents you? Is it fear? Fear is powerful and can be subtle so we’ve got to dig under the surface to deal with those things, maybe even get professional help. Maybe it’s a lack of money. Nope, if more money would get you into your destiny with God, many would have long ago entered Heavens gates. Could it be your family? Nope, public and familial opinions should never surpass the call of God. We are choosing friends. And i know we can’t, in and of ourselves, bust down the gates of Heaven, but we certainly can position ourselves, and start steady rowing the boat in God’s direction. i guarantee you if you’ll look for Him, He will find you.

Kelly Balarie wrote: “When I look at my life, I see a whole lot of blessings, but I also see a whole lot of comfort. Comfort that wraps me warm and snuggly. So warm, that sometimes I don’t want to look beyond my TV – or even the walls of my house. Comfort that second-guesses spending time with others. Comfort that makes it difficult to give and to let go. Comfort that doesn’t allow me to see all that God has for me. Comfort that keeps me stuck in convenience…and we in western Christianity have gotten oh so comfortable, even to becoming complacent.”

Is it possible your constraints are simply a huge fear of risk? For many it is too risky to believe God speaks directly to them and can orchestrate their steps. It is too risky to not have the approval of someone in leadership. You are a child of faith, and God is on your side, always. Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Cut the cord baby, and get moving.

Sure, what if you step out and get it wrong? Well, then i reckon you’ll just back up and try again. God is not sitting w-a-y up high as you struggle w-a-y down below, and when you mess up, He smirks and little smirky smile and says to Himself, “Yea, i didn’t think so.” No. Never.

Jesus said, “Follow me”, so let’s get out there and risk with God again. Did you hear that? Take a chance with God again. He has not failed us in the past, nor will He in the future. The Lord has helped us, and will help us. He has guided us and will guide us. He always shows up, although we may not be aware, He is there. We need God’s endorsement, not the endorsement of leadership. Hebrews12:1, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” What is it which constrains you? Cut the cord baby, and get moving!

What do you think?

When you spend time on a river, you get almost every imaginable condition – heat and rain, high and low, hot and cold.  Any given day can be a challenge, but on average: every day is beautiful! In the evening there is the occasional fisherman launching out for a time of trying his luck, often without success but still satisfied to casually float along – even from here i can see the water swirls of blue and brown around the boat with the fisherman bending over to steer with the rudder, getting clear of the shore line and trees.

i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts. i’ve got my coffee, a comfortable chair, a beautiful view and good conversation … ahhh yea, it doesn’t seem to get any better than this!

Aside from having Christ as the center of our lives, what are some other attributes which are imperative for us if we are going to live upright, Godly lives before the Lord. All my days are before the Lord and none of them are hidden from God, the one who’s eyes see everything, all potentials and all possibilities, from beginning to end, all at once.

i have three of God’s imperatives in mind, things we absolutely must have as essentials, they are Wisdom, Hope and Love. Don’t you know you need it, gotta have it, can’t live without it.

On a side note, as sub-imperatives aiding us to live out God’s three imperatives, the first one is learning the value of letting yourself bend your knees to the Lord, getting yourself some humility, now that’s a good thing, after all, humility goes before honor, and if you want to have some honor, you’ve gotta get low first. That’s if you want the honor as God would give it to you, otherwise, let’s be honest here and ask the question, is it more important to you to get honor from people and fit in, or get honor from God, regardless of people? Tough question, that’s if your honest.

God’s grace is sufficient to see us through life, and it isn’t written as entertainment, it means we need to get low, that we cannot go through things in our own strength. Humbling ourselves before the Lord goes a long way to living well where you are. Mind you, God’s grace is NOT white out meaning we’re still responsible for our behavior.

Another sub-imperative is for us to take the time to let God change our perspective. It takes time, just let Him do it. A friend came back from the mission field. At a meeting one evening someone was complaining about their potential problems next year, as they foresaw them. My missionary friend spoke over the top of the room saying that if we have heat, food for more than a day, shelter, and water, then we are probably ahead of 80% or more of the rest of the world. It was quite a piercing moment.

i’ve been told i’m an independent fellow, and what they mean is that i come off as not allowing anyone help me. i don’t know about that, maybe what’s closer to the truth is, it doesn’t actually occur to me that i need help. But i can tell you this, in addition to God’s three imperatives, it should be no skin off our noses to ask for help. i don’t mean cry wolf every time things aren’t easy, or asking for help because we need someone to do something in order to make us ok, that’s co-dependent victim living. But learn to recognize when someone besides yourself knows stuff you don’t. Learn to ask for help. It’s not demeaning, it’s the truth. Learn to ask for help and accept the help when it comes.

And lastly, learn to trust God that He will bring good out of every crisis. Now that won’t avert conflict and crisis, but we really need to know nothing passes though the nail pierced hands of Jesus without His allowance. Romans 8:28 says, “… all things work together for good, for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” Here’s the summary of the four things which will go a long way to achieving God’s three imperatives: Get low, get a better perspective, ask for help when you need it, and trust God to bring the best from your circumstances. It’s the truth to say, “God’s got this”, but we’ve got to join Him in His redemptive work. He want us to participate in our own well being you know.

There are a few things God refers to as “above all”, meaning first and foremost, greater and higher, before anything else. 2 Peter 1:20, “Above all, you must understand…” there is no doctrine or prophecy which is of a private interpretation, meaning sound doctrine applies to the entire body of Christ and not just an elite few. Those with understanding are able to extract the meaning out of information at the revelation of the Holy Spirit. They “see through” the facts to the dynamics of what, how, why, where, and who. Understanding is a lens which brings the facts into crisp focus and produces principles, except, let me add, we can see the crisp focus of the facts in our telescopic vision, but we don’t have much unless God gives us an ability to connect the dots to see through the facts to grasp the dynamics. i know some very smart people who know lots of facts, but they have yet to connect the dots, so there they sit, unredeemed regardless of all they know. Sincerity is not following.

The phrase “above all” is used, on the average depending on the translation, 15-22 times in the N.T. alone. Hmmm, must be important for us to notice i’d say. 1 Peter 4:8 “Above all, love each other deeply…”; James 5:12, “Above all, my brothers, do not swear – not by heaven or by earth or by anything else”; Colossians  3:14, “But above all these things put on love….”; Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things”; Proverbs 4:23, “Above all else, guard your heart”.

What i’m getting at are the things that are “above all”, they are essential to our ability to persist in and accomplish the purposes of God. In light of that, i think 3 of God’s imperatives could easily be wisdom, hope, and love.

Without wisdom we are like a man who will die because he cut the cords of his own tent and knocked down his support poles. Real wisdom doesn’t exist in the simple possession of facts. Real wisdom involves honesty, more than the facts, but the truth. Truth: God and the Bible define the church. Lie: God, the church, and tradition define the Bible. Do you see the difference? God’s intent in His creation of the idea of “knowledge” comes in many forms. True knowledge involves seven important interrogating adverbs, what, where, when, how, which, who, and why, making knowledge directly connected to the word “why”. If we know “what” or “how” but don’t know nor care to know “why”, truly, we really only possess partial understanding and are largely left with a pile of unanalyzed data. Knowledge means we investigate how something happens, where it happens, how often it happens, when it happens, and why.

Without hope there is only despair, the opposite of hope IS despair. Where ever we find faith, hope was there first, and hope inspires faith, for without faith we cannot please the Lord, nor will we do any righteous works. Like in Ephesians 2:12, before we knew Christ, we were foreigners to the covenants of the promise, therefore without hope and without God, we are dead in the water in a dead and inanimate world. As long as people insist on their own qualifications as good enough to stand before God, they are cut off from hope.

Without love, we are just a noise among many other noises in the universe, boy and let me say, the universe isn’t as silent as we might think.

Love was, is, and ever will be essential and at the core of the heart of God, even from before the foundations of the earth were laid. Jesus gave himself for us on a horribly beautiful cross because of love, which as has been said, was worked in the Heart of the Father from before there was the height and width and length of light and time.

Proverbs 4:7 says that “Wisdom is the principal thing; get wisdom: and with all your getting, get understanding.” Did you hear that? It’s a principal thing, meaning in order and rank it is among the first, and chief. To call wisdom the “principal thing” means it is the beginning and the first fruit, and in light of wisdom being a “principal thing” it would seem it should be the first request of God in our prayers. We desperately need wisdom, because with wisdom comes her two brothers, understanding and knowledge. Understand me, i say “her two brothers” because “wisdom” is a feminine noun, understanding and knowledge are masculine nouns, the three go together so closely knit, they are together as one, like the three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit in 1 John 5:7.

i believe the Lord extends everyone some wisdom and repetitive opportunities for understanding. But, at some point, we can safely say, to get more knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, we’re going to have to get involved with God. He is the source and fountain, and if you got it, believer or not, God gave it. How many of us say we “know” God? If you say you know God and you don’t, then you don’t. There is not “kind of knowing” Him. But you know, Kevin said it seems that “knowing” God to a level of discomfort is just too much for some people. But if that’s what God wants, shouldn’t we also want “to know” Him that well? If we aren’t knowing Him, then who are we knowing, ‘cause, it’s a fact, we are going to be knowing somebody?

The wisdom of the world is a manipulative wisdom, in other words, because it is “of the world”, it always leverages an outcome in it’s own favor at the expense of others, and that is the way of the world. But God’s wisdom, which is “in the world” but “not of the world”, always comes with value added, that being understanding and knowledge. To reiterate a bit, buried in the word “knowledge” is, what, where, when, how, which, who, and why, those are the seven subdivisions of knowledge. Just like the Hebrews held there are not four but six directions, north, south, east, west, forward, and backward. Knowledge, wisdom, and understanding give us a reason to be where we are, and direction for where we’re going, if we’ll get involved with God.

Consider Exodus 31:1-5. There was a guy named Bezalel (bets-al-ale’), whose name literally meant “shadow of God”. As seen in the scripture, God had filled him with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. i suppose i could re-phrase that to say, “In the very shadow of God, is wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.” According to Exodus 31:4-5, as it was with “Bets-al-ale’” it can be with us also, that if we have wisdom, understanding and knowledge, then within us is the ability to set jewels in life, to work gold, silver and bronze in our relationships, and to accomplish all manner of workmanship in the world around us. That’s called “doing the Kingdom of God”.

Proverbs 4:7 “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you get …. and whatever else you may get, get understanding.”

Wisdom, knowledge, and understanding are imperative.

The second of God’s imperatives could easily be hope. Hope is an anticipation of becoming and overcoming. Did you get that? Hope is an anticipation of becoming and overcoming.

The idea of the Hebrew word for “hope” is seen in God’s kindness which offers us a rescue rope. The rope represents the possibilities of becoming and overcoming. Imagine the picture of a drowning man and someone throwing him a rope, well, that rope is the idea of the Hebrew word for hope. Rope and Hope….hmmmm, that rhymes. i see …. Kindness threw a dying man the rescue rope of Hope, and Compassion encouraged the man to grip to God’s offer of salvation.

i ask myself, why not faith, or patience, or peace as one of the three imperatives? i figure that faith, patience, peace, self-control , etc, are fruits of the spirit as seen in Galatians 5:22, they are the results of a Holy Spirit led life, but without hope, without the kindness of God which leads us to repentance, there would not be a place for any good fruit. The kindness of God creates a platform for hope to stand on, belief stands on the shoulders of hope, and faith finds momentum in the grip of belief. Hebrews 11:1 “…faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Where ever we find faith, we can rest assured hope was there first. It bears saying again, i say that without hope we would not have faith, and without faith there would not be a platform for the action verb derivative of faith which is belief. Without faith there would be no believing, and without belief there would be no righteous works nor pleasing our beloved. Hope is essential.

Without love as principal of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22, the gifts of the spirit in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 would be just stuff we do. In the Old Testament, at the hem of the priest’s garment, there were bells and pomegranates. This is brought to light in Exodus 28:3-4, and Exodus 39:25-26. At first i thought to myself, “What do bells and pomegranates have to do with fruits and gifts?” Like a fog which drifts in upon us in the evening, God’s wisdom slowly found it’s grip in my thinking.

i believe the pomegranates at the hem of the priest’s garment, which were worn when they served before the Lord, are the O.T. version of the fruits of the spirit. After all, can we have real peace without love at our core? Can we really exercise Godly self-control without love in our middle? Is it possible to be long suffering as Jesus is long suffering without love? i think not. No. Can-not. Love is essential.

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

A resounding gong or a clanging cymbal? That would mean without love we are a just a noise, an obnoxious one at that. A “clanging cymbal” is a bit grating, if you know what i mean. In this case, the word love is “agape”, and within the context of this scripture, it means, the self-sacrificing love of God for humanity, which we are committed to, mutually giving, taking, and practicing towards God and others; it refers to the covenant love of God for humans, as well as the human reciprocal love for God; the term extends to the love of those around us, believers and unbelievers alike. The word “agape” in and of itself is not exactly all that, but the Biblical writers, in this scripture, use the word in a way in which it’s always pointing toward God’s heart for us.

Here’s another interesting view of the bells and pomegranates, or the gifts and the fruits – a dove has 9 main feathers on each wing, if any one of those feathers falls out or doesn’t function correctly, flying becomes very difficult. But if the heart of the dove is broken and the dove dies, the greatness of the nine feathers on each wing, or the fruits and the gifts, are worthless without the foundation of the life of the dove. Love is like that. If the fruit is not rooted in love, it is rotten fruit. If the gifts aren’t motivated by love, they are just an obnoxious noise. Fruit without the gifts, or gifts without fruits is like flying with only one wing. But fruit and gifts without love are just dead works, in fact i seriously question if we can even have Godly fruit or practice righteous gifts without love. i sorta’ doubt it.

Knowledge without love is the worlds’ way, not God’s way. The Lord says love should overlay everything about us. 1Corinthians8:1 “… We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge in and of itself puffs up, but love builds up.” Are you puffed up, or built up? The end result is an up position, but how we got there is the crux of the matter. In the last 24 years, i have become aware of many imperatives in scripture, so i’ve been making a list. It is essential that our love is genuine, and that we hold fast to what is good. It is essential that we serve the Lord, rejoice in hope, and be patient in tribulation.

If we are not serving the Lord then who are we serving? If we’re not rejoicing in hope then we are slowly sinking in despair. If we are thrashing around in the midst of tribulation, it didn’t change the crisis, it just means we’re swinging our hands around, banging and crashing into stuff, being panicked in a little room somewhere. It is essential we are not wise in our own eyes, and equally essential for us to learn to weep with those who weep, bless those who persecute us, and practice hospitality.

1 John 4:19 doesn’t say “We like, because He first liked us.” It says “We love, because He first loved us.” Scripture says to “love your neighbor as you love yourself”. Love is essential for all the God-functions in us to work properly. Love is not a one-night stand, it is consistent, persistent, and never treats others as something disposable. Love is like the grease in our gears.

For friendship to work there are essential elements of the relationship which need to function. It’s essential there is a two-way street of grace, a willingness to communicate, and being transparent and authentic. It does not flow in only one direction. For friendship to work it’s essential there are boundaries for no good relationship survives without good boundaries which define where loyalty and responsibility start and stop. Honesty is essential for friendship or else nobody is actually connecting with anybody, it’s all a meeting of perpetually smiling faces, and that’s not friendship.

A couple other essential things are … the necessity of hearing God, and doing what He says. The Lord may approve your motive but may delay taking action, not “no” just “not now”, and we must hear Him and do what He says, and it is more than subservience or merely blindly following, it is more “yield, and let His words persuade your heart”. More than something to get, but someone to be. Can you think of essential things we all must put into action in our lives?

Three essentials sit over the top of all the other imperatives: Wisdom, Hope, and Love. The world around us has many counterfeits of those three, but the truth is, only God can supply those things in us, according to His riches in glory. It’s a God thing.

i met a lady at the jail who told me, besides Jesus and God, death was holy too. i figure it must be a cultural thing because if death is so holy that someone made a saint out of death, why does God throw death in the lake of fire in Revelation 20:14? Death is a result of sin, therefore nothing righteous comes from death in any form except dying to ourselves. Santa la Muerte has a play date with the lake of fire and woe to them who worship a false god. It is imperative we worship only the Lord lest we, subtly, over time, becoming repetitively unfaithful to Him.

Let me encourage each of us to ask the Lord for wisdom, and rest assured that as He gives us wisdom, Godly understanding and knowledge will come with it. Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge travel as a team and they’re just waiting for you to tell them to “play ball!” Give away hope like it’s candy in your pockets, love those around you and intercede for transgressors. Jesus did, and we should too! Think about it.

i’m Social Porter, and this has been Outposts. This program is brought to you by Living In His Name Ministries, Area 22 Guitars, the home of brilliant creativity and dynamic forward thinking. Support has also come from Ray Prater of Terminal Taxi service in Mills River, Rev. Tommy Proctor of Shaw’s Creek Baptist Church, Allen Freeman of Quality Tire on North Church St. and Trinity Bakers, where there’s always something good in the oven.

Colossians 3:14 “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.”

Love is the grease in our gears, the glue which keeps electrons and neutrons from flying off in other directions; love is the grip of God on our hearts; it is the blood of the Son, and motive of His resurrection that we would have life and have it more abundantly. Love is the strength of hope, the melody of God’s heart, and the aroma and bouquet of His peace. Let us get wisdom, have hope, and exercise our love, living in the shadow of God to set gem stones, creating beautiful things of gold, silver, and bronze, allowing the wisdom of God be like a chisel in our hands directed and compelled by the inspiration of Hope and Love.

Be strong and courageous!

What has the Lord got in His cubbards? One of His commodities is: mercy, a blessing that is an act of divine favor and compassion, and includes the compassionate treatment of those in distress, and forbearance. i like the meaning of forbearance, the Greek paraphrased meaning is, “allowing us to live a little longer that we might repent”. The Lord is heavy in mercy, and gracious to give it.

i believe mercy from other people is in very short supply these days, it is thinly given, and greedily received, but yet the truth is mercy is a most important and necessary commodity. It’s one of God’s most essential attributes.

Throughout the Bible, the Lord is considered “Merciful and Gracious” and is praised for it, as seen in Psalms 103:8.

Mercy is such a big deal, the artist Caravaggio was commissioned in 1606 to paint the famous altar piece titled The Seven Works of Mercy, which is feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, sheltering the homeless, visiting the sick, visiting prisoners, and burying the dead.

Jesus describes fatherly mercy as “a gratuitous, generous gift”. In Ephesians 2:4 Paul refers to the mercy of God in terms of salvation: “God, being rich in mercy, even when we were dead, God made us alive together with Christ“.

i think more than finding all the places in the Bible where mercy is spoken of, i’m more interested in mercy within our own lives, up close and personal, like, are we merciful to ourselves? Meaning do we hold a grudge and remembrance of sin over our own heads long, long after God has forgiven and forgotten our wrongs? i believe many people only see the eyes of Judas looking back at them from the mirror.

Are we too merciful to ourselves, with a tendency to let our behavior off the hook, thinking, “well, it’s just the way i am.” And then there is mercy as God extends it to us, in the sense that when mankind lost his ability to relate to God, God had extreme mercy and gave His Son, Jesus, to bridge the gap between Himself and men.

Do we extend other people mercy as God extends it to us? Letting them live like they live, die like they die, decide what they decide without us feeling like we have to control them? Mercy should be practiced in wisdom and understanding, in full realization that people are just people, and if everyone got what they “deserved” and what was “fair”, there would be no one left alive.

A man called me on the phone once, complaining about the way someone treated him in a dispute of some sort. He said loudly with passion, “I just want what’s fair! I just want what is coming to me, what is mine!” As kindly as possible i heard my mouth saying, “If you want what’s fair and what’s coming to you, then you’ll get a sharp stick in the eye and have hell to look forward to. So, let’s talk about what you really mean, are you up for it?”

Are your pockets brimming with mercy, or is the law and justice your preference, preferring “line upon line, and precept upon precept? Isaiah 28:13 was not speaking of blessing you know. i call people who have law and justice as their preference, chanting “line upon line, and precept upon precept” as a weight, not wings, i call them “Nail drivers”. They think it’s their job to make sure everyone is properly pounded in place.

An Ethics expert, Jacob Appel, has observed a decline of mercy, and an increase in retribution, in American public life. Appel wrote:

“One of the glaring — yet too often overlooked — failings of contemporary America is that we have become a nation obsessed with our own idea of justice and retribution. We claim to be The Land of the Free, yet many have lost sight of what it means to be imprisoned, denied liberty, and subjected to isolation and violence. We have come to believe, in the most highly injurious or destructive way, that people should get what they deserve. What a change it would be in our public exchange of ideas and conversation and our civic life, if we focused instead upon mercy and forgiveness. A merciful and forgiving culture typically finds itself with less anger, less social disruption, and even less crime.”

Let’s not skew the subject of mercy here. We’re not speaking of irresponsibility and being passive about poor or wrong behavior. God and the Bible are our reference as to what is right and wrong. And we’re not saying there is not real right and wrong, because there surely is. God is the standard, not men or their behavior, not the church, not our traditions which have no scriptural authority, yet we give so much weight to. i’m asking that, within our sphere of influence, do we have mercy for others, including ourselves, when they struggle?

Having a heart of kindness seeing ourselves and others with compassion, are we willing to extend ourselves to come along side others when people have lost the way home? Are we compassionate when people feel frazzled and ripped, wounded and beaten, plundered and defeated by the constant breaking and entering of vicious circumstances? Or are we good with whatever happens just as long as it doesn’t happen to us?

Let’s look at a parable. Luke 10:25-35 is an interesting story of how we view other people, our own mercy values, and the needs of others. Jesus tells a story with 8 characters in it, and each person had a different level of mercy, and a different view of the needs of others.

Here’s the list of characters: The victim: a man who made a trip from Jerusalem to Jericho, he could be any one of us. The robbers: they saw the victim, whom they beat and robbed, as someone to exploit and forcibly get gain from. The Levite and the Priest: they saw the beaten and robbed man as someone who looked like trouble. Is that you and me in our religiousness? The Samaritan: he saw the beaten and robbed man as someone to have mercy on and care for.  The Inn Keeper: he saw the Samaritan and the victim as someone to help as long as he was getting paid. Also there was Jesus, who was telling the story, and the lawyer who was listening.

Each one of the people in this story had a different view of the needs of others.  Some of us are victims, rightly or wrongly, we are.  There are those of us who claim to be believers but we have such a deep-seated prejudice, we hate some people yet can’t see even the simple things. Some of us see others as someone to exploit and get gain from, yet others of us see people who have dire needs as nothing but trouble, someone who might taint our reputation, concerned some of their “bad ju-ju” might get on us, careful to not touch them but telling them, “I’ll pray for you! Be warm and filled.” Many are willing to serve others in their need, but only if there’s something in it for them, or maybe we see people in their desperation as someone to care for and have mercy on. And then, some of us, like Jesus, see the needy, compromised multitudes as someone worth dying for. Or maybe we are like the lawyer, who seemed to be looking for a legal reason, based on his knowledge of the law, to exercise or not exercise compassion, as long as it was legal, or to find a failing in others he could exploit.

Has God had mercy on you? If He has had mercy on you, you can have the gift of mercy also. If He has done it IN you, He has also given it TO you.   Who do you see yourself as? Is your mercy level real, God given mercy, or is it just indifference? Mercy, peace, and indifference can often look the same. Who do we see ourselves as: a victim, a robber, a religious person, a Samaritan, an Inn Keeper? The lawyer? Like Jesus?  How do we relate to the needs of others? Is it through the eyes of mercy and compassion? A man asked recently, “Why will Christians not do for free, what they will do for money?” We often will help if someone gives us money or a gift. We will be obedient for money to a boss who is abusive, we’ll sweep the floor for money, but if someone asks us to sweep up at church, suddenly we’ve got an attitude like, “Who do they think they are to tell me anything?!” Wow.

Let’s be honest with ourselves and the Lord, not telling ourselves a fairytale so we look good in the mirror, but honest before the Lord. Which one are you? If God has given mercy to you, then give it away to others. Ask the Lord to help you to know how to do that.

Let mercy, your compassion for the miserable run free. Remember Jesus is open for the exercise of mercy toward men and women, in harmony with the demands of truth and righteousness. In Christ mercy and truth meet together and are married, both are in our hands to give away as a grace. Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name Ministries.

You know, someone said to me once that when we sincerely forgive, we only have to forgive once, but when we’re offended, we have to keep living the offence over and over in order to continue to perpetuate the hurt, staying locked in the loop of being offended, cinched fast into the whole mess by our unwillingness to let the situation go.

What is on the front page of your newspaper? Some people have pet peeves, things they find particularly annoying, and they are so annoyed, their list isn’t over on page 3 or 4, it’s on the front page so it’s among the first things always floating around in their head, everyday. We are irked by some of the subtlest things, so much so that they are allowed to define the way we conduct ourselves. Like, it irks me to no end when someone is late, chronically, consistently late, every time, and it doesn’t seem to bother them they are late nor does it bother them that they are making me late for the next appointment.

We can’t keep trying to rearrange the circumstances, as best we remember them, in hopes of an old wound becoming something other than what it was. Nor, can we continue to re-re-re-re-play the event, reliving it all without being re-hurt and re-offended.

In fact, i’ve spent a majority of my Christian life being so wounded and so hurt that i couldn’t hear God, nor was i available for Him to change my heart. It’s almost as if the hurt and offense was more important to me than God was, and that is wrong. Stop the bleeding. Hurts and offenses must be maintained in order for them to keep making “front page news”, which means we have to keep re-living them in order to keep them in the loop. It is paralyzing. Let them go back to latter pages, and give God-things permission to make front page news instead.

A man told me once, “When i’ve got an opinion, it’s really hard to hear God.” That’s such a simple thing to say, but it is also profound in the depth of implications. Many years later, the Lord has reminded me of those words and a little revelation has occurred. In addition to being so offended and hurt i couldn’t hear God, i’ve also been so opinionated and sure of my opinions, resulting in what little i could hear of Him was narrowed out just a little more. Eventually, it was like trying to have a conversation with someone through the crack in a door.

Luke 4:4, “And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” The phrase “by bread alone”, in this case, and in addition to a more physical meaning, i see it also as an idiom, meaning, we can’t live according to the affairs of this life and still be as close to the Lord as He intends. There is no life in the affairs and tangles of this life. The word of God, whether from His mouth, or from the Bible, is life, and even when we’re out of water, food, and shelter, and our physical body is dying, the word of God sustains us, forever. i reed Psalm23:2-3, as God’s heart and preferences towards me. He promises that He’ll make it so we can lie down in green pastures, and won’t leave us abandoned in barren places. He promises to lead us beside still waters, which means God will bring us to places of refreshment, quiet, and without chaos. i call that a “shalom place”. The Lord then says He’ll restore our wounded thinking and feeling, and teach us how-to walk-in rightness of character for His name’s sake. Are you available to stop being so offended and hurt, letting God make you new, developing your gifts and talents as He has given you?

Stop being so offended you can’t hear God. Stop the bleeding and quit re-living those old hurts. i didn’t say forget forever, nor did i say to not deal with the real circumstances which got you wounded in the first place. i AM saying though … embrace the Lord and the truth of yourself, trust that God knows what He’s doing, and take those old hurts and offenses off of “front page news”, putting them back on page 5 or 6 where they belong.

Plant your feet, and set your face to take a posture of trust. Isaiah 61:1 portrays the Lord’s heart towards you in saying, “… he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.”

The Lord calls each of us to allow Him to comfort and validate us, even in the middle of a dark storm, even when we feel overtaken by fear or grief. Life may have worked to rob you of your God-given identity, abused you to the point you thought about hurting yourself, whispering in your ears that your are worthless, nothing better than a hopeless slave to sin. But like Hagar in Genesis 16, the Lord is the One who sees you, looks after you, and provides for you, even when you didn’t know it was God who cared for you. You can know God’s healing and redemptive power. You can know His comfort and stand in your identity which He has given specifically to you. In the mean time, the Lord is going to ask you to remove your hurts and offenses from making constant “front page news”, and put them back several pages where they belong. Stop the bleeding.

What do you think?

Have you ever felt the Lord was challenging your priorities, all the way from your idea of what was most important to what you think is least important?

In Matt6:33, when Jesus said “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you”, do you think He was pointing out how we should arrange our priorities, challenging what we think is important versus what God says is important? i do.

i’ve read His words, agreed with His words, but often my priorities didn’t change. i can’t tell you about you, but i can speak with some authority concerning myself. There have been times in my life, long periods of time, when sitting down on the couch was more important than wiping the kitchen counter, being silent was more important than calling a friend in need, reading a magazine was more important than reading my Bible, and, i’m sad to admit, many times doing absolutely nothing was more important than talking to God. i ask myself, “Why is that so? It is ugly Lord and it must change.”

Sometimes even listening to music, which i wasn’t really interested in, had a higher priority than speaking to the Lord in prayer. For many of us, it’s a higher priority to discuss and point out how “they”, the infamous “they” got their doctrine wrong. It is more important to point out their wrongness than it is to be honest about where we are in God’s process of making us mature and whole. When someone is too honest and transparent, many people just run away, because it has suddenly become a greater priority to check our phone messages, or go get a cup of coffee, or cross talk others while avoiding the topic at hand. i used to eat lunch with a fellow who said he really enjoyed my company, but yet the last time we sat down, in the following hour, he checked his phone 17 times. Yes, i counted. i wondered what his priorities were.

Using the phrase, “to test” in scripture is meant in the sense of finding out what something or someone is made of, but in the case of the Pharisee’s and lawyers of the N.T., when they “tested” Jesus it was meant to trip Him up. Their priorities were to cast shadows of doubt on the person of Christ, or anyone who would challenge them or disagree, rather than knowing the Heart of the Father more completely because the Son of God was standing right in front of them. In Matthew 22:35-40, Jesus was asked a question by a man who’s focus in life was the law and legalities, a lawyer, but the man was asking a question, not because he wanted to truly know the answer, but for the purpose, in a hostile sense, of causing Jesus to strive. He asked “what is the greatest commandment?”, but the answer Jesus gave represented a challenge to the priorities of all who listened, even all who would read even to this day. He said, “love the Lord your God with all your breathing, thinking, and feeling, And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus didn’t just make that up, it was a quote from the Torah. Part of the words of Jesus came from Deuteronomy 6:5 and the other part was from Leviticus 19:18.

The Lord allows situations of significance to happen in our lives that help remind us of where our priorities should be. Someone dear to us dies, or gets ill and suddenly we all re-focus. Life is just grand until a tragedy strikes, then it seems suddenly everyone stands around talking about Heaven and the significance of being right with God. The Lord wants us to be involved Him, long before we come to the end of things. To be “right with God” doesn’t mean just ask Jesus into your heart, dust your hands off and go back to what you were doing. It means to be honest and transparent, knowing the Lord as intimately as possible with the greatest relationship possible. Getting “right with God” isn’t a onetime event but a lifelong process, and we should question our priorities. We love to say, God is first, but yet our choosings and actions tell a very different story. The Lord is all about relationships, we say we are too, but yet we spend virtually no time building relationships, other than a surface response. Maybe getting down to what really motivates us is scary, and i’ll be the first to admit it can be terrifying, but let’s ask ourselves, what’s more important, maintaining our facade of wellbeing, or actually living in the full wellness and wholeness which Jesus died and rose from the dead to give us?

In Matthew 18:1-2 Jesus was asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Notice, Jesus didn’t pass out His ministry name and title as was printed on His business card, He didn’t imply to them His personal greatness by suggesting they go buy one of His many books, or take one of His very informative online courses on “How to succeed in ministry”. He called a child over and said, trust God as a child trusts a parent, be humble like a child, and receive other children like a child. He was challenging their priorities, and i think it was a very uncomfortable moment for those among them who typically were inclined to promote themselves, their ministry, and their own agenda.

To some, what is most important to them is their own well being, worrying if they are going to be ok, have a nice house, drive an attractive car, get affirming recognition at church, and receive warm accolades at work. That is their priority. In Matthew 6:19, again Jesus challenged their priorities in saying, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal”. In Luke12:34, Jesus said again, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”

Let us have the courage to test our priorities. Take note of what your inclinations are and then be brave to explore “Why”. If we stop at the “What” of our lives, and never get around to the “why”, we’ll never get to our true face where God shines His face in us most brightly.

What do you think?

Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

To “renew” something is to begin it again, living in a place with the Lord where our decision-making machine is constantly being renewed, meaning God is making it new, and newer, better and better, always increasingly being conformed to the likeness of the Son. To manifest God’s presence in our lives is to live a life which portrays His face in our face. A better translation of “God’s presence” is to say, “An encounter with The Face”, the true face, the righteous face, the seen, unhidden, bold face of God.

With every layer of our facade the Lord peels off, the closer we get to living out our true face, a real life, not just our presentation face. Most of us find it almost too easy to talk about what others have done, or what “they”, the infamous “they” have NOT done. Similarly, we find it difficult to talk about ourselves and how we fall short, living life as a poser. We tell ourselves that if we were to tell God our deepest secret, you know, the one which keeps us locked in a dark prison cell, we really believe when we open our eyes Jesus will be gone, just like everybody else … and we’ll be, every bit as alone as we always thought we were. Eeyore said, “i knew, as soon as i was my true self, you’d leave just like everyone else. Oh well, i might as well go stand in the dark somewhere.” This is why it was so, SO very important when God is quoted in saying, ““ I will never, under any circumstances, desert you, nor give you up, nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless, nor will I forsake or let you down or relax  My hold on you, absolutely, positively, and most assuredly not!””

The Lord wants us to be renewed and to experience His continual renewal. In Romans12:2, being renewed means to not just be repaired, but more to be rebuilt. Now, rebuilding doesn’t mean simply building new things on top of old things, it means to tear down the old and put up what is new and better, more sustainable, and stronger. God is the only one in the universe who knows how to do such a thing. Have you ever been driving at night, got lost in an unfamiliar place, stopped for directions and then tried to follow somebody’s directions in the dark? To me it feels almost impossible. In the same way, living with an unrenewed mind clouds our ability to distinguish God directions … it all gets muddled in our head and we can’t hardly tell if we’re up or down. Without a renewed mind, our true face is buried under the layers of posing, more being pleasers of men, pretending to be acceptable instead of being God followers.

When we verbalize to the Lord all our worst parts, notice that He doesn’t leave, like everyone else has. You may feel abandoned, you may feel alone, but faith is not subject to feelings, never, ever is faith subject to the whims of feeling. God is committed to our well-being, so much so, we can know, i mean really, really know, we are free and won’t be living in the gray scale of a dismal life, where our loudest words are only whispers from our mouths no matter how loud we scream. When the Lord renews our minds, He establishes better vision, makes room for His provision, which is anything that advances the vision. When we allow the Lord to renew our mind, He opens our eyes to see Him more clearly, and He is always improving on that clarity. As the Lord renews our mind, the sky will seem bluer, sounds will be clearer, more distinct and more identifiable. The funny thing about anti-depressants is they don’t allow us to go too high or too low, we are always damped down, restrained, and controlled. But when the Lord renews our minds our highs are more sustainable, and our lows are met with trust and confidence in God. There comes bounce in our step and lift in our voice.

In letting go of all our lies and all our secrets, suddenly we are free to live the life we’ve always dreamed we could live. In fact, believe it or not, the Lord enables us to live the life He has dreamed for us, and it’s the truth, His dreams will come true, for me and you.

Let’s put away from ourselves our nonsensical rationalizations, and our childish, vindictive thinking. The word conform means to “fashion or shape one thing like another”, particularly in its outward appearance. Friends, Romans12:2, to this day, still presents the best idea yet, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mold, making you a copy of itself.” Paul is literally saying, “Stop allowing yourself to be framed and squeezed into the shape of the world you live in.” We all have a tendency to conform to the philosophy of this age, literally driven by advertising, and a deep need to “fit in” no matter what the cost. A man said to me once, “That ecstatic state of hormonal magnetism, which is often mistaken for true love, has been used to justify a great many mismatched marriages that have dishonored the Lord.” The world calls the “ecstatic state of hormonal magnetism” love, and without God renewing our mind, we will buy into the lie, leaving us to live out our days in hand-wringing and trying times.

These days, everyone is constantly manipulated towards a tendency constituting pressure against transformation, and towards conformation, afterall, conformation to the world is easier than going against the grain in being transformed by God. Being conformed to the world is easier in the now, but in the long run, it is only heart ache and pain.

Let the Lord renew your motivations, your inclinations, your preferences and standards, and live the dream God has for you.

What do you think?