Thank Goodness

You're probably asking yourself what's up with the picture for today's post. Well not only does it touch on today's topic, but I think it's pretty hilarious: when I think of reggae, I don't immediately think of reggae from Finland...but to each their own, I guess.

I was telling my wife the other day that the topics of Kindness, Goodness, and Gentleness are probably the three most difficult for me to separate out of the Fruits of the Spirit because they seem to blend into one another and sometimes seem interchangeable; but here's my best crack at it. Growing up, I was a big comic book fan: I could read Captain America, The Punisher, and SpiderMan all day long, and anyone who's even thought about comic books knows the common theme in those stories: the battle between good and evil. And yes, doing the opposite of evil is the simplest definite of goodness. In fact, Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary says, "Goodness in man is not a mere passive quality, but the deliberate preference of right to wrong, the firm and persistent resistance of all moral evil, and the choosing and following of all moral good." What's interesting about that definition is its observation that goodness is a deliberate, persistent choice. Not only do we have to choose to do good, but we have to do it constantly. You only have to be alive for one day to know that we're constantly bombarded with the temptation to do evil, it's just our sinful nature at work.

In the book of Exodus, Moses asked the Lord to show him His Glory. "And the LORD said, 'I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.' " (Exodus 33:19). I just love how God refers to His Glory as His Goodness. In reference to this passage, the New JJohn Gill Exposition of the Entire Bible says, "the glory of the Lord lies in His goodness, and that appears in the works of his hands, in the methods of his providence, especially in the distribution of His sovereign grace and mercy, and particularly in His pardoning grace and mercy, through the blood of Christ." You see, God is the ultimate example of goodness, and we see it in the world He created, and even more so in His compassion for us through the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ, who came to die and offer forgiveness of our sins.

So what now? Psalm 116:12 says, "How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me?" Let's look at Webster's definition of goodness, "The quality of being good in any of its various senses; excellence; virtue; kindness; benevolence; as, the goodness of timber, of a soil, of food; goodness of character, of disposition, of conduct, etc." So therefore, to repay the Lord for His goodness to us, we need to also be good. Goodness of character, disposition, and conduct will make us a well-rounded person that God can use for His glory as a witness to the lost: no one likes the crabby or rude Christian, or the Christian who is always getting into the wrong thing. We must also remember to be good to one another: be just, kind, and honest.

So you think I forgot to keep up the song titles theme, right? Wrong. "Thank Goodness" is actually a song from the Broadway show "Wicked" (which is a PHENOMINAL show, by the way). I chose it for this entry because this past Christmastime, Wicked was coming here to Charlotte and I reeeeally wanted to go. My wife tried to get me tickets when they went on sale, but all the shows sold out in a flash. So she, knowing we were travelling up to NY/CT for the holidays, bought me tickets for the actual Broadway version of the show. She really wanted to get me to see Wicked one way or another, so she did...and I had a blast...and I'll never forget it either. It was special to me that she went out of her way to do that. As mushy as it sounds, when I think of goodness I think of my wife: she's always displays goodness of character, disposition and conduct. She always thinks of others, and it's a trait I really admire in her: God has truly blessed me with an amazing wife. There are many people who practice goodness everyday deep down to their core for the glory of God: I'm sure we know at least one. Those are the types of people we should emulate. 2 Peter 1:3-5a says, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness..."

Give Peace a Chance

Whooooa, man...we're gonna, like, continue on the topic of the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23. Today's totally far-out topic is Peace, man...

Ok, so I'm not going to talk like a hippie throughout this entire post (Thank God, right?)...but the funny thing is, whenever I think of peace, the first thing I think of is a hippie. When you look up peace, you get the typical definitions: freedom from war, mutual harmony between people or groups, public order and security, etc. All this is well and good, of course...peace among people should be a goal we should all strive for. Today we like to throw around the word peace, particularly in light of the war; I'm not going to take any political stance, but it's funny to see how some people want peace and are using such vitriolic speech to express it. Sorry, but that's not peace...it's anger under the guise of wanting peace. I hate to be a bummer here, but total peace (as in no wars, people being all lovey will not be coming any time soon, just read Matthew 24:3-14, particularly verse 6, which says, "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass.." Now don't get me wrong here: should we pray for our troops? Yes. Should we pray for our leaders? Yes. Should we pray our brave soldiers come home safe? Yes! Is it OK to be anti-war? Yes...who likes war anyway? Is it OK to have political views about wars and conflict? Absolutely. But the reality, as evidenced in the Bible, is that the world is just going to get worse...so we should focus on reaching the lost souls before Christ returns!

What I'm getting at the most, though, is characterized by this definition of peace, "Freedom of the mind from annoyance, distraction, anxiety, an obsession, etc.; tranquillity; serenity." Ah....THAT peace! Remember that bumper sticker that said, "No Jesus, No Peace. Know Jesus, Know Peace"? Well...it's true! This is the kind of peace, I think, that is meant in the Word...an inner peace, even when everything around you is going nuts. That peace is a product of our faith and relationship with Christ. A great example is that great story in Mark 4:35-40: Jesus went out to sea with the disciples and he fell asleep in the boat. A great storm arose and the disciples feared for their lives and awoke Jesus, basically saying, "Don't you care that we're gonna die?!" Here's the awesome part, Matthew 4:39, "Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 'Peace, be still!' And the wind ceased and there was a great calm." Whoa. Jesus said "Peace" and the sea was tranquil...and He can do the same in our lives. We all know this truth: we will all see storms in our lives...that's a guarantee. But God send His Son to die for us so that we can have that peace...but we need to have faith in order to have peace. When Christ rebuked the storm, he turned to the disciples and asked "Have you no faith?" When Jesus walked on the water and Peter wanted to join Him, Peter succeeded for a bit...he HAD to have peace in order to do that...but when he became frightened of the choppy water, he began to sink...Jesus' reply: "Ye of little faith."

In John 14:27, Jesus says, " 'Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.' " So there's the promise...Jesus has given us that peace, but picture it like a treasure chest that needs a key. The key is faith. It's hard to have faith sometimes when things start to pile up on you and get extremely difficult, but hold fast to God, because he's promised to get you through it all by Christ's sacrifice: John 16:33 says, " 'These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.' " I absolutely love this verse because it's so powerful and clear: Jesus, through his death and resurrection, has conquered sin, death, and all the troubles we can ever have in our lives! Praise the Lord! So when trouble comes, remember that Jesus loves you, Jesus died for you, and Jesus is WAY bigger than any of your problems. He will provide and you just have to believe in it! Always pray in times of trouble and ask for peace from the Lord...then you will be the person who is always calm when everything seems to be falling apart.

Fruit of the Spirit: And if the devil doesn't like it, he can sit on a tack...

Remember that old Sunday School song?

I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.
Where? Down in my heart!
Where? Down in my heart!
I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart,
down in my heart down in my heart to stay.

Good stuff! Today's topic, continuing on the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) is Joy. The dictionary defines joy as, "the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation." While joy is pretty easy to define, joy is not something easy to obtain or hold on to, it seems. We live in a world that seemingly exists to crush and exhaust us: we run to and fro, getting this and that done...and we're tired, and we're worn out, and sometimes we're just plain unhappy. That, my friends, is where we forget what it's all about: God and His everlasting love and mercy!

Think about it: we serve a God who spoke the universe into existence. Spoke it...he said "Moon" and there the moon was. Whoa. And yet somehow, in the grand scheme of things, He decided to show mercy on us, his screwiest creation, and sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins so we can spend eternity with Him. Doesn't that make you smile when you think of it? This mighty and powerful God cares for me! That is the source of joy: the remembrance of what God has done for us. It should drive us and put a smile on our face and a spring in our step. Yes...it's hard, very hard, to keep it up in such a day and age...but think about how much God has done for you and continues to do: He lets us get up in the morning, He provides for us, He gives us breathable air, He gives some of us good health...the list can go on forever. There's always something to be joyful about because God always works, sometimes we just don't realize it. This joy will help us tackle even the toughest of times, because in it we realize that God is bigger than anything we'll face. Nehemiah 8:10 says, "Do not grieve. For the joy of the Lord is your strength." God is God and He loves us...when we can continually think on that and have joy in that, we can go through anything!

The dictionary also gives another definition of joy that I like, "to feel joy; be glad; rejoice." To me, this definition goes hand-in-hand with Psalm 28:7, "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. " Not only do we have to have joy that God is there for us, but we need to give thanks and praise Him for all that He does. No matter how lousy you feel, getting into some good worship time with God feels great, doesn't it? You stop and ignore all the junk in life and focus on Him...and you rejoice in all that He's done and His goodness. It's joy, folks! A couple days ago I was getting ready for work and I was listening to some praise and worship on my MP3 player, particularly "Agnus Dei" by Donnie McClurkin...it's such a powerful version of that song and sometimes I feel like I'm overwhelmed by the love, power, and majesty of the Lord. It made me think of what praise in Heaven must be like: the angels all in chorus, crying out "Worthy is the Lamb!" And it made me think: because of Jesus, I'll join in that chorus one day! It made me feel GOOD, it made me smile, it brought me joy. It was exactly what I needed for that day...and it's true: the joy of the Lord is my strength. We have to continually think on that: it's easy to be happy about my Yankees winning, or getting out of work early, or finally making it to another weekend without losing my mind. But that joy is fleeting...the joy of the Lord is everlasting because His love endures forever!

The Fruit of the Spirit: L is for the way you look at me...

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

After just chowing down on some chunky, unsalted organic peanut butter with raisins, I was thinking, "I would love to eat an orange right now." That stuff makes your mouth DRY! By anyhoo, it got me to thinking about what to post next...I don't normally do themes because half the time I can't remember what I'm doing, but this time I thought I'd give it a shot. I remember once sitting around with some friends at UNCC talking about what I'd teach if I was a small group leader for InterVarsity. I mentioned the fruit of the spirit as a cool topic. I like the Fruit of the Spirit because not only does it make you hungry, but it gives a very basic outline of how we're supposed to act: you know God doesn't want us actin' a fool here on earth! So here goes: each entry for the next while will be about one of the fruits of the spirit. Today? LOVE...

Love is a word that's thrown around a lot these days...I even do it myself: "I loooove chocolate!" See? I did it. Love has become a word that has lost a lot of meaning in society...so what does it mean? Dictionary.com defines loves as, "a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person"...another definition says, "affectionate concern for the well-being of others"...and ANOTHER one says, "the benevolent affection of God for His creatures, or the reverent affection due from them to God." So let's take a look at these definitions: the first one is pretty straightforward - we love our friends, family, etc. I love my fiance...that's love as it's most commonly known by everyone. Once we start to go deeper, though, we begin to see what God is getting at through the scriptures, and also where we all falter.

When you really sit down and think about it, do we have affectionate concern for the well-being of others? Nah. We live in a world full of hatred, prejudices, and fears. The story of the Jena 6 has been in the news a lot lately and I'm not going to take sides on the issue but rather say this: it's an obvious example of people from all walks of life being complete imbeciles. People fight with each other, politicians argue with each other, people walk on the other side of the street when someone who looks different is coming the other way. What in the world is wrong with us? In Matthew 22:39, Jesus Himself said, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." It's a commandment from on High...we should be more compassionate. It isn't easy, not in the least bit...it's too easy to ignore the homeless man on the corner or the lady pulled over with a flat tire...it's easy to get caught up in life and not pray for those who struggle. If God has blessed you abundantly, then bless others...it's that simple. It doesn't always have to be monetary: it could be time, it could be physical assistance, it could be something as simple as a hello and a smile. We're naturally wired to think only about ourselves...we need to ask God to help us see others first...to see them in His eyes.

Still having difficulty? Look at it this way: Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. " We sure didn't deserve God's love and forgiveness...yet He gives it freely because of his undying love for us. Wow. Simply put, God loves us, so in return we must love. That's it, end of story. We must love God, we must love others, because that's how we show God to others. You don't have to run around hugging everyone, saying "I love you man!" or doing it out of a sense of obligation. No, rather do it out of a sense of compassion for others and a sense of thanksgiving for the love God's shown you. I know I need to work on it...and I think if we all made a conscious effort to obey what God's commanded, then we can make a tremendous difference in the world, because we need love to make our faith effective. 1 Corinthians 13:1 says, "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal." You see, if we don't love, then everything we've done is useless...just noise...because we can't reach souls, no matter how much of the Bible we've read or how many Christian songs we know. Faith, the Word, and prayer build the car...but love is the gas.