New Testament

The Identity of Kindness (pt 2) – VOTD.11.14.16

One of the teachers of the law…asked [Jesus], “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Jesus answered, “The most important one is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31

There’s a popular saying that if we are to love others as we love ourselves, we have to love ourselves. That statement has been used to justify all sorts of self-indulgence, which was never the point of Jesus words in today’s verse. But it also reflects a truth that becomes more obvious when talking about showing love through acts of Kindness.

People who are at peace with themselves are able to give peace away. People who are kind to themselves are people with a reservoir of kindness to work from in their kind words and actions. People with a healthy identity spread emotional health among those they come in contact with.

So the first question in establishing a healthy identity is ‘Am I loved?’ And we have to find a yes to that. ‘Am I loved by God?’ is the central question of life, and similarly, ‘Will I allow myself to receive God’s love?’ We know we are loved by God—at least we know it in our heads. But do our hearts respond to His love? (more…)

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The Identity of Kindness – VOTD.11.08.16

For to me, to live is Christ (Phil 1:21) Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God (Gal 2:20) Your life is now hidden in God with Christ. He is your life. (Col 3:3,4)

We’ve been looking at the Christian grace of Kindness over the past few weeks, and that has been the foundation from which we’ve looked at a spirit of entitlement and now are considering a spirit of rejection. Both are obstacles to practicing kindness as a lifestyle.

Last time we saw how kindness is a weapon in the spirit realm and so it’s something the enemy wants to prevent in our lives. Nearly everyone has had their motives misunderstood when they’ve reached out in kindness, so it seems safer to not reach out. That’s an obvious problem of a rejection-spirited person. But most of the time it goes quite a bit deeper…to the core of our identity.

Through the lens of rejection, we will struggle with our own identity. The person who finds their identity in Jesus will live out of the peace of that identity because their self-value is established in Jesus… “to live is Christ”. The tragedy here is that for many in the Christian faith our identity is not found in Jesus, it’s found in a role we play. When we have a spirit of acceptance, our core identity is “I’m a child of God.” “I’m the bride of Christ”. And we live out of that identity. (more…)

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The Poor in Spirit – VOTD.11.01.16

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
  For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3

A reader sent me an interesting quote related to the spirit of entitlement that we’ve been talking about in these meditations. It’s too long to reproduce here, but the sum and substance is this:

The result of being poor in spirit is you get it all…the whole Kingdom. That’s not a reward…it’s the consequence. That suggests there must be a result of NOT being poor in spirit. It, too, is not a punishment…it’s a consequence.

The poor in spirit have access to everything. Being poor in spirit is what enables us to experience repeated “Yes’s” to prayer without it leading us into a spirit of entitlement…without it destroying us. If God blesses us with many “Yes’s” and we’re not poor in spirit, we will not be able to get away from an inner “You owe me, God” mentality no matter how much we cognitively know that it’s wrong to feel that way…no matter how much we know that God is a giving Father who will not withhold any good thing from us (Ps 84:11).

And it gets worse: Without being poor in spirit we will not be able to get away from an inner “I deserve God’s blessing” mentality…no matter how much we know it isn’t true. We know God’s blessings come from His grace (undeserved favor) yet we’re insidiously taking silent credit for God’s blessing us and that attitude is so far from the reality of His grace and mercy that He will not feed it. He won’t feed it because He loves us too much, not too little. (more…)

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A Culture of Graciousness – VOTD.10.24.16

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Colossians 3:12-14

One of the reasons Christians fail to act kindly is simply because we don’t have the presence of mind in the moment that we might have responded with kindness to put away apathy or rudeness and put on compassion, kindness, etc.

That is, we take people around us for granted. Their wishes, their value are thrown under the bus of our preoccupation with ourselves. That’s an easy thing to do as we race through the day, distracted by so many things, trying to beat the clock, trying to do it all. How can we show Christian kindness when we’re overly tired, bogged down in responsibilities that steal our time and drain us, diverting our attention from other people and their needs? (more…)

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A Culture of Kindness – VOTD.10.17.16

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

Frequently, in our program-mindset, we think we have to plan and organize in order to achieve eternal results…so while we mean to be kind, or wish we could, we don’t act kindly because we don’t have the time, energy, whatever to do the monumental things. In other words, we make things overly complex.

Those who’ve followed my meditations know that I often say, “I can’t solve world hunger, but I can solve hunger for one or two.” And it’s because we can’t do it all that we often don’t do anything at all.

The thing is, acts of kindness don’t have to be extraordinary. These acts can be the normal, everyday events with a special twist that shows thoughtfulness—that shows we aren’t taking those we interact with for granted, that shows the people we interact with that they are important to us. No matter how simple or complex, no matter how ordinary or unique we always have the opportunity to show the love of Christ through simple acts of kindness. (more…)

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Lifestyle Kindness (pt 1) – VOTD.10.11.16

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness… Colossians 3:12

Last time we were talking about showing God’s love through the little things. In other words, we were talking about kindness. Kindness is the simple deeds produced from a heart of love. A heart of love results in what I call ‘Lifestyle Kindness’.

Fact is, there are more opportunities to do simple acts of kindness than we can schedule into our lives…and require more energy than we can possibly have. But a lifestyle of kindness doesn’t need to take a lot of extra time and effort to be kind—kindness is part of this person’s fiber. It’s who these people are more than what they do. And the kind acts they do flow out of who they are. (more…)

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Christian Kindness in the Little Things – VOTD.10.10.16

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

You have probably heard of the term “servant evangelism.” The term itself is not in the Bible, but the idea is there. Servant evangelism is simply showing the love of God through our own caring and loving actions toward others. Sometimes it’s the person to whom we show kindness to that is blessed—and sometimes they even turn to Jesus. The biblical model, however is that other people see our loving actions toward someone else, and in turn ‘glorify your Father in heaven’.

Jesus carried this one step further when He told us that the way we show His kind of love is by how we treat each other (within the family of God) “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). That “one-another” means people within your own group—within your circle. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with outreach, but that’s not what He’s referring to here. (more…)

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Christian Kindness (Pt 2) – VOTD.10.04.16

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us. Ephesians 4:32-5:2

My group’s admin has a signature block on the bottom of all her emails that includes: “Be kind for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle – Plato”. That’s a good thing to keep in mind when dealing with difficult people. But it’s not such good advice, however if we find ourselves in difficult circumstances. Just because you or I are having fighting a hard battle doesn’t give us a license to be unkind—and that’s where being tenderhearted comes in.

Almost anyone can be kind when everything is going wonderfully. It takes the tender heart of the Spirit’s transforming fruit to be kind when things aren’t going well…when we face disappointment. When discouragement and hopelessness have us in their grip. When friends have abandoned us, or foes are chortling over our troubles. This calls us to give ourselves over (often) to the Spirit’s transforming power if we’re going to be kind, anyway. (more…)

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Christian Kindness (Pt 1) – VOTD.10.03.16

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted.  Ephesians 4:32

I sometimes see bumper stickers urging other drivers to practice random acts of kindness. Personally, I’m all for kindness, because it’s one of those things that makes life a happier experience, both in the giving and in the receiving. But that’s mostly kindness in the natural realm.

Christian kindness is a special kind of kindness, because it’s undeserved, just like the grace from which it flows. Christian kindness has more than just warm fuzzies at the center of it. When Christians practice kindness it is not just an outward change of behavior; it something that comes from an internal change of heart. And that makes Christian kindness unique, because it comes from the heart that has been redeemed and transformed by God in to His own likeness.

Today’s verses say, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted.” At its core, Christian kindness is tenderhearted. That is, it comes from a tender heart. It’s not a hard heart on the inside that pretends to be kind and caring on the outside. It’s not “Well, the sun is shining and I’m having a good day so I treat people kindly”. That supposes that if I’m having a rotten day I have a free pass to treat people crummy…as if they are worthless. (more…)

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