But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

A very popular phrase used by people who do not appreciate moral truth is “you can’t legislate morality.” You’ve heard it but what does it mean? The phrase is used against people who have moral problems with issues of the day: abortion, death penalty, abstinence among teens, right to die, sexual promiscuity, etc. While it is not the space or time to debate the merits of that phrase, it is very clear that you can’t write a law that forces people to love someone or be patient with someone or to be gentle. Laws do not produce those character traits. Instead, the Spirit of God must impress those upon us.

Paul grappled with the Law and the Spirit throughout the book of Romans. He admitted that he doesn’t always do what he wanted because his flesh told him he needed to do something else (chapter 7). But the crowning verse in Chapter 7: What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The bottom line is this: on our own we are weak and helpless. Sin can easily overpower us. But fortunately we have a solution. More than that, we have a Savior, one who knows what temptation is like (Hebrews 4:15). He knows the struggles that we face. He knows our need because, as incredible as it seems, He was one of us – yet was without sin.

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16).

But the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. Galatians 5:22-23

Groan. Nobody enjoys self-control. We just like to do what we want, when we want. Whether it’s our out-of-control eating, our wayward tongue, our selfish temper, our destructive lusts, our bad habits, our limitless spending, or how we entertain ourselves, we don’t like self-control. And we know it.

But the beautiful thing about God is that if we want He’ll point out things that we should have more control over and give us the strength and the power to accomplish it. “For the grace of God …teaches us to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and Godly lives in this present age.” (Titus 2:12). If we want. He won’t force the issue. He may nudge a bit (until you’ve said, “no” many times) but He won’t force it.

So, what is it? What is the one thing (not 5 or 10 or 20 things, but one) that you need more control over? What is it? Not only does God teach us to live self-controlled lives but He gives us the power: “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him…” (2 Peter 1:3).

But the fruit of the Spirit is gentleness. Galatians 5:22-23

Being gentle does not come easily for me. I struggle against it. I tend to blurt something out because it needs to be said but often it comes across blunt and uncaring. Even as I write this I’m thinking, “yeah, so what? Why is this even an issue? You lay the subjects out on the table and let the chips fall where they may. It’s not as if you’re lying when you tell people.” True. But my gruffness is often misinterpreted as mean and uncaring.

Case in point. This week I was meeting with a high ranking government official for work. She was speaking but I interrupted her (without realizing it at the time) because I had a point I needed to make. It didn’t take me long to realize what I had done (mainly because I happened to glimpse at the horrified looks on the faces of my co-workers in the room).

Part of it, I suppose, is how we were reared and who we hang around with now. (Ask a close friend some time if you come across as gentle and caring in your speech and actions, and you might be surprised at the answer). But it certainly doesn’t mean we can’t change. In fact, if we are this way, we need to change, for if others view us as mean and uncaring, what does that tell them about who we serve?

Here I go again, it’s not about us, is it?

But the fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness. Galatians 5:22-23

A number of years ago when we were living in Mongolia, our American pastor prayed for a young gal’s arm to be made whole. It was in a permanently bent position. He prayed with all his might and began to tug lightly on the arm. He continued to pray but nothing seemed to be happening. He opened his eyes, released the arm, and gave the girl a shoulder hug with these words, “I don’t know why God doesn’t heal you. I just don’t know why.” By now there were tears in his eyes.

The girl came back to church the next week and the next, and every week after as far as I can remember. It would have been easy to just give up on this thing called Christianity. After all, it was a foreign religion to the Mongolians and many in her family were calling her back to their religion, Buddhism. It would have been easy to turn away and never come back, to become bitter because God didn’t heal her. But she didn’t.

But she didn’t.

The Spirit of God within her was working and giving her faith despite her ailment. For this girl, it wasn’t about getting healed, as important as that was. It was about continuing to serve the Creator of the Universe even when He doesn’t do what you want.

That’s faithfulness

But the fruit of the Spirit is goodness. Galatians 5:22-23

Goodness is a difficult word to define but an easy character quality to spot in others. I think it speaks of motivation. This quality, more than the others in this list, is all about the other person. It has the idea of being helpful, beneficial, and generous. It’s a general quality. Even as I write this, I realize the difficulty in pinning down a coherent definition for it.

Lots of people in this world do good things. We might even call them good people. So, what’s the difference? Motivation. For this discussion it’s not important who or what motivates them. However, ‘who is motivating us’ should be the first question we ask, and it should be very clear who is motivating us (James 1 and 1 Corinthians 13 address this)

God knows that when we do nothing in life, we get stale and rusty. We become complacent. We complain and grumble. We criticize and become skeptical. We’re more tolerant of sin that creeps into our lives.

What does it look like? Think of anything at all that could benefit someone else. A kind word or deed or letter or phone call or gift or service or just about anything you can think of. It doesn’t have to be big or elaborate. Do it without expecting a reward and you’ll do fine.

Each person has a circle of influence of 10-25 people. Care to guess where we should be pouring out our goodness? It’s certainly a good place to start. After that, five billion more people await the goodness of God through you.

But the fruit of the Spirit is kindness. Galatians 5:22-23

The world talks about practicing “random acts of kindness and senseless acts of beauty.” I like that attitude. We can do this all day, every day. It wouldn’t be difficult. Of course, some are better at being kind than others. So what does “kind” look like:

• sending a handwritten note to a friend across the country
• letting that guy butt in front of you even after you’ve waited 20 minutes
• saying please and thank you often
• admitting when you’ve been in error
• helping a neighbor move in
• complimenting someone on a job well done
• sending money to the missionary who is struggling
• buying your pastor books
• offering to babysit for a day for the single mother
• mowing your neighbor’s lawn while you’re mowing yours

The list is endless.

They are little things really. They usually don’t cost much. The acts themselves aren’t what people notice. It’s clearly the thought behind them. They don’t have to be random. In fact, it might be a good idea to plan them a little because if you don’t, you may not do them.

Again we come to the crux of the matter: you may get a “warm fuzzy” from doing it, but another person is blessed.

Dare I say it? It’s not about us.

But the fruit of the Spirit is patience. Galatians 5:22-23

As the saying goes, “be careful when you pray for patience; God just might answer it.” or how about the prayer, “I want patience and I want it now!”

We’re in so much of a rush nowadays, aren’t we? On the roads. In line at the store. In a restaurant. We get very impatient when we feel like our time is being wasted. And we’re all guilty of it.

Noah built a large boat and warned people for 120 years that it was going to rain. Moses spent 40 years in the desert. Jacob worked for 14 years to take Rachel as his wife. Joseph spent two years in a nasty Egyptian prison. All were patient men of God. They could have clearly done something more “constructive” during that time, but God had other plans for them.

God is patient. We know that. We need to ask Him to show us how to be patient. Then perhaps we won’t get upset if our food is a little slow in arriving, other people can pass us on the highway because their meeting is more important that ours, and we can relax and bring a smile to the painfully slow clerk who might be having the worst day of her life.

Then it might actually dawn on us that it really isn't about us.

But the fruit of the Spirit is peace. Galatians 5:22-23

Have you ever watched a baby sleep? No cares in the world,
none whatsoever. You look on her face and what do you say, “ah so peaceful.” An
hour later that baby’s face could be crying and frowning and laughing with
delight. The baby is no longer resting peacefully.

Now, have you ever seen a person who was at peace? You
looked at his face and it was just…peaceful. I’ve seen in numerous times with a
few Seniors I’ve met, both men and women. You can’t quite put a finger on why
they look peaceful but they do. The world may be falling apart but you wouldn’t
know it because they are at peace.

Similarly, you can also tell when a person is really
struggling. Life is bogging that person down in a big way. You can see the
hopelessness, the worry, the anxiety on his face.

I think most of us are in between. We’ve been that baby
resting peacefully; we’ve also been that person struggling to understand life.
Where are you today? What would it take to launch you into that peaceful category?

But the fruit of the Spirit is joy. Galatians 5:22-23

As the children’s song goes: “I’ve got that joy joy joy joy down in my heart. Where?! Down in my heart…” I wish it were true across the board. I wish it were true in a small percentage of Christians (in the West), myself included.

What went wrong? What is causing our joy, our zest for life and happiness and God to fade away? Where did it go? How did we let it slip away? More importantly, how can we get it back?

Obviously this is a complex problem with no easy answers. The Bible speaks about the worries and cares of life. Materialism. Discontentment. Envy. Pride. And something I call “sin-creep” (questionable actions and tendencies slowly but steadily creeping into our lives). Over-entertaining ourselves. And they’re all true.

We need to get back on the joy track. We know where it is. We knew what it was like at one time. Perhaps we should adopt a “joy-flood” mindset (letting joy flood into our lives). What would THAT look like? How would THAT change the way others look at us? How would THAT change us?

With a devotional such as this, some are looking for practical solutions. One comes to mind that is easy, very easy. Embarrassingly easy.

Smile.

It’s not the be all to end all, but if we did this 10 or 20 times more a day than we did now and our lives would be transformed! Those around us might appreciate it too.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love. Galatians 5:22-23

These next verses are in direct contrast to the previous two verses that talk about acts of the sinful nature. Paul is simply saying that when you have the Spirit of God living in you, these are the attributes you should have. Just like a fruit has many attributes (color, texture, aroma, taste, shape, sweetness) so should our lives with the Spirit of God in control.

The first attribute that Paul mentions is love. Entire libraries could be filled with books and poems about love. Think of all the songs that talk about it. With all the printed and recorded material on the subject of love, it still eludes us. We still find it very difficult to practice even among fellow Believers. Instead we see gossip, backbiting, anger, rage, feeling like we’ve been wronged and a whole host of other negative and destructive emotions.

And yet, we are to love. Love when it doesn’t make sense. Love when it costs us to do so. Love when it would be easier to tear down. Love when the rest of the world around you hates.

So, I’ll ask the question I’ll ask of all the other attributes: do I love more today than I did a year ago? Five years ago? If not, why not?

But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness: they do no know what makes them stumble. Proverbs 4:19

Many years ago I watched Larry King interview the Rev. Billy Graham. King asked, “do you have any doubt where you will go when you die?” Without a hint of hesitation, Graham responded, “Absolutely not.” It would have been interesting if Graham had turned the question back on King. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think King’s answer would have been so firm and sure.

Similarly, it is truly a sad thing to watch those who have mocked God and all things spiritual as they fade away into oblivion on their death bed. Rarely are they satisfied with what they’ve accomplished. They are often bitter and spiteful. It’s painful to watch as all they’ve lived for melts away.

And yet it’s a reminder to us who believe that “but for the Grace of God, there go I” as the saying goes. We should be grieved as loved ones and friends fumble their way through life, especially towards the end. We will be faced with opportunities to minister to those needs and we shouldn’t shy away from them. People are looking for hope and light in a very dark world.

We have that light.
We have that hope.

The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day. Proverbs 4:18

I like sunrises and sunsets. I could sit and watch them for
hours if they lasted that long. I spent four years in Alaska and I could do that in the Summer if
I wanted. It was even easier in the Winter because the sun could rise and set
within an hour in December. I was traveling across West Texas and when I commented about the flat open road, a local said that the sunsets
just linger and linger. I like that.

This verse should be an encouragement for those of us who
are Believers and are wondering what kind of impact we’re having on others or
the world around us. We work hard, doing our best to represent Christ, and
sometimes it just doesn’t seem like we’re making a dent in the souls of the
people around us. We feel like we’re taking two steps forward and one step back,
or worse yet, one step forward and two steps back!

You may be in that stage of dawn where you just see a hint
of light. You’re desperately hoping to see more than that. Wait. Be
patient. There’s more light on the way. Your prayers and your witness and your
work and your faithfulness are being noticed by the only One who can make a
difference.

Here [at the pool] a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"

"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."
At once the man was cured…The day on which this took place was a Sabbath…John 5:2-9

For 38 long years the invalid had accepted that he would be disabled. We don’t know what his ailment was but Jesus clearly saw it. By his response to Jesus, it was clear that the man felt helpless and powerless. He certainly wouldn’t be winning any positive thinking awards any time soon!

But Jesus had other things in mind for the man. By healing the man, Jesus completed two important tasks: he miraculously healed a man, and he exposed the religious leaders’ unbending attitudes towards the Sabbath. He was working on them simultaneously.

Many of us scratch our heads at some of the things God seems to orchestrate around us. We “just don’t get it.” We may even think, “how dare He work in ways that we don’t understand and according to His Divine Timetable!!” The invalid in the story probably didn’t get it either but he still had a testimony about the Man who had healed him.

This should be a lesson to us all about how we think God works and answers prayers. It’s never the way we think it should be, but consider this: maybe God is working on hearts and lives of the people around you without your knowledge. Remember, it’s not about us, is it?

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14

Throughout the New Testament, Jesus is shown as compassionate and loving toward children. It’s refreshing actually. He always stood up for them. You can just picture him sitting down near them, gathering them around him, and telling them stories. And oh the stories He could tell!

Children in today’s society, however, are growing up way too fast. They know things by the age of eight or nine that we didn’t know until we were sixteen or seventeen back in the day. That cannot be healthy for them or for society as a whole. I’m afraid we have failed to diligently protect their innocence.

But all is not lost. You see, we can pray for them.

If you have children, grandchildren, nieces, or nephews, pray for them by name. Pray that they’ll remain innocent from the our society's vileness and moral decay. Pray that they will call out to God in their time of need. Pray as if their lives depended on it.

It’s the very least we can do. And the most.

Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly. Luke 22:60-62

Jesus had warned Peter hours earlier that Peter would deny Jesus, not once, but three times. Peter’s response? “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” We smile at this because we know the ending. You just know that what Jesus had told him had to be weighing on his mind. He was confused. Guards had taken away the Messiah and his friend. Peter’s life was turning upside down even though it was exactly how Jesus predicted it.

We’re not always sympathetic to Peter’s plight. I think we wrongly judge him for what he did. Jesus had telegraphed to Peter how the night would go down and Peter still got it wrong. But if we’re honest, we have to all admit the Peter in each of us. I’m not saying we’d deny Christ if we were given the same opportunities. Scripture clearly lays out certain principles that we – even as Believers – violate time and time again.

Proverbs tells us to seek wisdom over gold or riches. If we do, we’ll prosper. If we seek gold instead, we’ll have hardships. Which do we seek more?

James tells us to guard our tongue because we tend to flap it more freely than we should. We end up apologizing for things we’ve harshly said.

Numerous passages of Scripture scream to us to flee from sin when “it’s crouching at our door.” We ignore it at our own peril.

The number of examples of God telling us NOT to do something or to DO something else because it would benefit us would fill several books. And yet, we, like Peter say, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.”

Dying for Jesus is easy; living for Him day by day, however, is a whole different ball of wax

The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and he found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” John 1:43

It doesn’t get much simpler than that. Follow me.

Follow me when times are great.
Follow me when times are tough.
Follow me when you're surrounded by loving, caring people.
Follow me when you're all alone.
Follow me when the world is heaping praise on you.
Follow me when the world wants to stone you.
Follow me when you barely have two nickels to your name.
Follow me when your bank account is full of money.
Follow me when you have a solid roof over your head.
Follow me when a flimsy plastic covering keeps you dry.
Follow me when you’re young.
Follow me as you get grayer and grayer.
Follow me when it's the "in" trend.
Follow me when it seems like you're the only one.
Follow me when you can run and jump hurdles.
Follow me when you can barely sit up in bed and your pain is unbearable.

“Follow me,” Jesus says. “Follow me.

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” Revelation 5:13

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, Revelation 7:11

When you look at these two verses, it’s easy to miss what they both have in common. God is on the throne. Ain’t that the truth!

But it’s very easy to miss in our day and age when time is marching on faster than we want and we are busier than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers. When all the news is telling us the end of the world is rapidly approaching, when our politicians seem to not have our best interests in mind, when our loved ones do things that are clearly not good for them, it’s easy to miss that God is still on the throne. He hasn’t fallen off.

With thanks to my theology teacher, Dr. William Thrasher:

Yesterday He loved me
Today He’ll do the same
How long will it last?
Forever, praise His name

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children. Ephesians 5:1

At first glance, it’s an impossible task: imitating God. Who could even think about doing it and admitting that they are, in fact, imitating God? Some would give up because surely they aren’t up to the task.

Ah, but that’s where we’d be wrong.

The rest of the verse helps us out: “and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us, and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” How are we to imitate God? Through love.

But before you get too carried away by thinking it’s a cinch, let’s look at the verse a little closer: “and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” Loving is one thing. Obviously some people are easier to love than others. Giving yourself up for that person, well, that’s a different animal altogether, isn’t it? Even the best of people are not all they’re cracked up to be. And that includes me and you.

So, let me narrow it down to this: is there someone right now that you’re loving in such a way that it’s “sacrificial” love? If so, be encouraged because you're imitating God.

Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.
Colossians 3:19

This is one of those verses that I’d love to have seared
into my head. Why? Because it’s so practical and pertinent. When I get stressed
I tend to have “an edge” to my tongue. My tongue gets sharper and I offend much
more easily. The first person I take things out on is my wife. I’ve curbed that
as much as possible but it still rears its nasty head when I get stressed.

The other thing about this verse is something I’ve noticed
with guys in general. We tend to “compartmentalize,” which means we turn our
emotions on and off rather quickly and leave our mates behind. If we
are having a heated discussion with our spouses and then decide to get romantic,
it doesn’t quite work for the women. In other words, if you tell your spouse
you love her and the next ten minutes berate her for not doing something you thought she should, there
is a disconnect between your “I love you” and your belittling her.

Bottom line: We need to keep our tongues in check around our wives.

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. …Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days. John 11:1-46

There is so much in this story that can be discussed. The very fact that Jesus stayed where He was for two more days must have driven Mary and Martha absolutely crazy. There was a reason for it but they didn’t know it. It took a great deal of trust for them not to push Him to go to their village right now! Even before he started his journey, He told them that the sickness wouldn’t end in death.

What is God saying to you? Is there something right now that He is trying to drill into your head that you question? Do you have the patience to hear the same thing over and again until YOU get it right?

I guess the bigger question is, are you going to obey what he’s telling you?

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Psalm 1:6

So ends our jaunt into Psalm 1. It was a “study” of right and wrong, good and evil, wicked and righteous. To be certain, there is good and there is evil. Very few honest people question that. The “post-modernists” might say that truth is relative and that there is no right and wrong. I don’t know that they are living in reality.

There will always be a struggle between the righteous and the wicked as long as man is alive. There is even a constant battle within man regarding good and evil (Romans 7 clearly lays out this struggle). Those who deny that battle are probably giving in too easily. Those who claim they have reached “sinless perfection” every day just might be pulling your leg. The Book of Romans seems to indicate a different struggle (Romans 6-8).

One day, however, there will be an end to the strife, an end to the evil, and an end to the wicked. Until then we can rest in His peace. We can sleep with a clear conscience at night. The wicked probably don’t have such a pleasant night of rest.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment nor
sinners in the assembly of the righteous. Psalm 1:5

This is a merely a continuation of the previous verse. There
will come a day, and quite possibly in the not-too-distant future, that the
wicked will be judged. We don’t look forward to that day necessarily but we
shouldn’t shy away from it either.

In Genesis, the Bible states that “the Lord saw how great
man’s wickedness on the earth had become.” When we see the word “wicked,” we
don’t always equate it with us! But it’s true. Romans 3:23 teaches us that “all
have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” We’re wicked; we’re sinners;
we’ve fallen short of the glory of God. And what do we get for this being all
of this? “For the wages of sin is death.” Ouch. Seems harsh, doesn’t it?

But wait!

“What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body
of death? Thanks be to God–through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:24

The sin, the sinner, the solution, and the Savior.

Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like
chaff that the wind blows away. Psalm 1:4

Throughout Scripture and throughout history there has always
a contrast between good and evil. Entire libraries are filled with books and
philosophies trying to solve the problem of evil (mainly “how could a good God
permit evil?”). Likewise, there are good and evil people. Other Scriptures warn
us not to be seduced by  evil people who enjoy the good life. They seem
to get away with everything! It’s not fair. It really isn’t.

Doing the right thing day after day, month after month and
year after year seems like it’s getting you nowhere. You don’t cheat. You don’t
cook the books. You keep your thoughts pure. You hold your tongue. You’ve
become accustomed to it and you’ll always do it that way. It’s probably even a
boring routine. Don’t fall for the lie. Don’t be seduced by those who “get
ahead” in shady and deceitful ways.

Stand firm in what you know to be true. It is not in vain.

He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields
its fruit in season and whose leaves do not wither. Psalm 1:3

Have you ever had the feeling that sometimes the sermons you
hear and what you read goes in one ear and out the other? And those of us who
are growing older each minute (all of us!) have that feeling even more so. Some
times you can’t even remember the sermon from that same morning!

I have one question to ask: can you tell me what you had to
eat on the second Thursday of last month? Odd question, you say, but bear with
me. Why can’t you remember what you had to eat? Does it matter why you can’t
remember? If you’re still here today, you probably had something nourishing to
eat. The important thing is, you ate and were filled and nourished. You get
through another week or two.

Scripture is like that. I don’t remember what I had to eat
a month ago but I did get nourishment from it and moved on. So, go easy on yourself when you can’t
remember the finer points of a sermon or a teaching. Take it in and let God help you nourish
it.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he
meditates day and night. Psalm 1:2

There is a great wisdom in the adage inscribed in many
Bibles: This Book will keep you from the Devil or the Devil will keep you away
from this book. Someone showed me that in his Bible even before I became a
Christian. At the time, I thought it curious at best. I really didn’t know what
it meant.

Now, twenty five years removed from that situation, I can
say the adage is as fresh now as it was then. The main idea behind it and the
idea of today’s verse is to saturate yourself with the Word of God. Know it.
Memorize it. Feed on it. Snack on it. Read it right before you rest your eyes
at night. Read it at the height of your day. Get it into your system. Meditate
on it. Quote it out loud. Pray it. Write it in letters. Memorize entire
chapters. Repeat it over and over again.

Then, in heavy and burdensome times, God will bring those
verses to the forefront of your mind. For your benefit so that He gets the
Glory!

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the
wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. Psalm 1:1

I’ll admit it: it’s difficult not to take the advice and
counsel from those who have lived in the world longer than I have. We all want
to gain an advantage on the next guy or the next project or the next job in
this life. It’s a highly competitive world in a very tight economy. I think the
true meaning of this first verse is deeper than that. There are certain people in
this world who do not have your best interests at heart. They would seek to
destroy you and tear you down any way they can. Sometimes they mean to; other
times it’s just who they are. When it comes to your spiritual growth and
satisfaction, we need to avoid them.

Who are these people? They are well-meaning friends who want
to go out drinking and carousing with you. They could be parents of your
children’s friends who constantly criticize and berate their mates. They could even
be Bible-believing Christians who find fault in everybody and everything. Jesus
himself walked among these types of people (and worse) but he didn’t hang
around them regularly.

I guess the bottom line to this first verse is this: who are
you getting your marching orders from? The next few verses should shed some
light on who we should be getting them from.

A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road…So, too, a Levite…But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was. Luke 10:25-37

The parable of the Good Samaritan always give my chills. Why, you ask? I’m too much like the priest and Levite. Let me explain. Jesus told this story to reveal our own hypocrisies. We say we’re more like the Samaritan but for the most part are like the other two. Our stated enemies of the United States are Iran and North Korea. I cannot picture myself stooping down to help someone like President Ahmadinajad if he were hurting alongside the road. My first reaction would be to take him out! And then to pay for further care in case I don’t return? No way.

But isn’t that the point of this entire passage? Have we become so politically insensitive and myopic that we are not able to see truth when it hits us in the face? Someone like that doesn’t deserve our help. Exactly.

We, too, were sworn enemies of God. Then God reached down to us by sending Jesus. He could have ignored us or zapped us from Planet Earth. But he didn’t. In fact, he took it several steps further by taking care of us when we hurt.

He’s the Supreme Good Samaritan

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat a the Lord’s feet listening to what he said….Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her. Luke 10:38-42

Much has been said about this passage of Scripture. Martha was busy; Mary sat quietly at Jesus’ feet. What’s often missing is the reality that it was Martha who had invited Jesus into the house in the first place, and she gets a bad rap for being a busybody!

It has got to be intimidating inviting the Son of God into your home for tea. It’s no wonder that she went to and fro cleaning and serving and playing hostess. Wouldn’t you? No one has ever condemned her for being a poor hostess, only that she forgot to pay attention to the most important person in the world. Her sister was seated at His feet while Martha rushed around.

Still, I give Martha a lot of credit for inviting a perfect stranger into her home.

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” John 8:3-5

We know the story because the line that Jesus says “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to cast the stone” is perhaps one of the most overused and misquoted lines in the world, Christian or secular. Before we get all self-righteous about the teachers of the law who brought the woman to Jesus (after all, we know how it ends; they didn’t), we need to ask ourselves if we do the same thing today.

How so, you ask? Perhaps not to the extreme as these individuals, but we tend to skew things our way. What about the half truths we tell? They told Jesus a half truth about this woman. What about our quickness to judge a person’s intelligence or skill based on a person’s skin color or how they dress? You say it doesn’t happen. Wrong, it does. And probably more than we like to admit.

Twenty years ago in Bible school I so judged an individual. He didn’t dress up to our dress code at school (business casual) because he wore tennis shoes. He looked Hispanic and I looked down on him every time I saw him. Months later I found out that my brother in Christ happened to be from South Africa, part-time pastored a church in a rough area of town while going to school full time, and since the U.S. laws prohibited him from working full time, he and his family did what they could to scrape by. And yes, that meant foregoing new dress shoes. (would it have been so terrible if he was Hispanic and a poor  man just trying to get a Bible education? Not at all!)

You see, I cast that first few stones and they all came back to hit me right smack in the head.

Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him…the people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted. Acts 20:9-12

After Paul healed Eutychus, he had quite the story to tell! The details of the account are humorous to even the most interesting of preachers. Eutychus is happy. The town is happy.  And Paul went on to preach until daylight.

But the interesting part of this story for me is that one young man named Eutychus has a grand story that will stay with him for the rest of his life. It’s his experience with the man Jesus. Certainly Paul was God’s instrument to heal but it’s Eutychus’ story. (Presumably Paul had many similar stories to tell throughout his ministry).

At the end of the day, we each have a story to tell. Some of the stories are vibrant and fascinating; others are not so grandiose but still valid. When you are discussing religion with others and seem like you’re against the wall, remember this: you have a story to tell. Tell it. It’s yours and no one else’s.

Like the man that Jesus healed, “Good man or bad, I don’t know. But one thing I know: Once I was blind, now I see.” John 9:25

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Matthew 7:13-14

‘Word on the street’ says that Christianity is exclusive. Well, according to the two verses above, the ‘word on the street’ is absolutely correct. Being exclusive is not always a bad thing. Those of us who follow Christ want others to “join” that exclusive club and do what they can to help facilitate that. But make no mistake, the Kingdom of Heaven is exclusively reserved for those who have entered through the narrow gate.

Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6. That’s intentionally exclusive. And it’s very clear how to get to the Father: through the Son.

There’s one thing in this life that I will not keep an ‘open mind’ about: how to get to the Father. There are just no other options.