Tag Archives: Christianity

The Good Samaritan

Leave a reply

Luke 10:1-37

Sometimes when people ask a question about our faith it is meant to show us up. The intention is to get into a war of words they’ve prepared to fight, and catch us unprepared to equal their “intellect.” Jesus, of course, was prepared for this man whose question was asked to test Jesus. But Jesus wasn’t about to prove His superior knowledge. This wasn’t about who had the best argument. Jesus was first and foremost concerned about the man’s eternal soul.

So Jesus answered the question with a question: “What do YOU know the answer to be?” Brilliant! Let’s start with where you are in the matter. Jesus knew the man would have to admit he hadn’t lived up to what his own answer demanded. So if he wanted to go to heaven, he would need someone to fix that.

After telling the parable, Jesus asked which character obeyed the Law. It must have been really uncomfortable for the man to have to admit that a Samaritan had it over the Jewish religious elite.

The study guide I’m using to look at these parables, (The Parables of Jesus, D. S. O’Donnell, editor; Crossway Pub, 2023), says this parable demonstrates our need for the gift of salvation. I think that’s accurate. It’s more than just a story about doing nice things for people, or handing money to a beggar. Jesus’ first and only priority was and is the salvation of the world. He wants our priority to be the same.

The injured man would likely have died if he was forced to lie there. He could not save himself. He needed a Savior.

The study guide goes on to say, in the case of the priest and Levite, merely being religious is not an indication of a “deep heart change.” A real and necessary change of heart will result in active compassion for any individual dying in their sin.

Remember, Jesus tells us to love our enemies, do good to them, pray for them to accept the grace of God. Jesus’ own earthly brother said that Jesus is compassionate AND merciful (James 5:11). Jesus doesn’t just have empathy or sympathy for a lost soul. He offers mercy from the cross for all who believe.

We all are or were that dying man by the side of the road. We all have sinned and fall short of God’s requirement of perfection, and the price to be paid for our sin is eternal death. It’s hard to believe that there are people who are refusing the compassionate and merciful hand of the Savior. They would rather die there by the road.

So our challenge is to BE that Samaritan. I recently finished a study on the Fruit of the Spirit, and in this parable, the love of God, His kindness, and goodness are clearly seen in and through the Samaritan. Let the same be true of me and you as we allow God to fill us with His Sprit, then let it flow as we stop and minister to a person dying in their sin.

Self-Control

Leave a reply

Titus 2

The last aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit described by Paul in Galatians 5 is self-control. Those of you who know me know self-control flies out the window when I’m holding a bag of potato chips. I almost never have an open bag in my pantry because once I start, I can’t stop eating until the last chip is gone. I’m out of control. Or at least that’s what I tell myself.

Boy, am I under conviction today. Studying these facets of the Fruit of the Spirit these past few weeks has made me aware that because the Spirit lives in me, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness live in me. I’m ok with that. In fact, I welcome that and pray those aspects of Christ in me can be clearly seen by others.

But then Paul ends with self-control. (as the ladies in my Sunday School class would say: Now he’s meddling!)

Ugh! After today I can never again say I have no self-control when it comes to chips. Self-control lives in me.

Jonathan Landry Cruse, in his book entitled The Character of Christ; the Fruit of the Spirit in the Life of our Savior (Versa Press; 2014) says that self-control is the ability to be controlled, not by self, but by the Holy Spirit. (p 143). In other words I have the control to turn over the control to the Spirit.

Paul, in his letter to Titus, has a lot to say about the Spirit-fueled self-control. He doesn’t let any of us off the hook. In verse 11 he assures us that it is the grace of God that brings salvation, then shows us how to live sensibly and godly.

Jesus demonstrated self-control when He was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, when He didn’t call down fire from heaven at the suggestion of his disciples when some people rejected Him, when He stood quietly before Pilate and heard the lies told about Him, and when he didn’t turn the soldiers who beat Him and nailed Him to the cross into toads.

That same self-control lives in me. I can never again claim I have no self-control. I use my chip weakness as an example of any sin I allow to over-power me. If I give into a sin, I quench the Holy Spirit in me. I demonstrate I have SELF-control. And that’s a sin.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence Paul ended his description of the Fruit of the Spirit with self-control. Without choosing to relinquish my will, and the control over my life to the Spirit I cannot produce the Fruit of the Spirit in me. It’s not me producing anything by my own effort. It’s being firmly attached to the Vine, growing in grace and knowledge of Jesus, reflecting more of Him today than was evident yesterday, and allowing Him to fill me, and use me for His glory.

The Fruit of the Spirit. May it have fertile soil in my heart from which to grow, mature, and produce the harvest God intends. I pray the same for you.

Gentleness

Leave a reply

Matthew 11:25-30

Gentleness is not the same as weakness Actually, the aspect of gentleness in the Fruit of the Spirit is the power of God “properly used, not to crush or destroy or dismay, but to protect and build up.” (The Charter of Christ; The Fruit of the Spirit in the Life of our Savior; Jonathan Landry Cruse; Versa Press; East Peoria, IL 2014; p 126)

Jesus lays his heart wide open here in Matthew 11 and assures us He is gentle and humble (or lowly) and, instead of beating us up because of our sin, He invites us to come to Him and receive the rest we need from our battle with sin and its consequences.

Jesus is as gentle as a daddy pulling his crying child to himself to kiss away a boo-boo, or a wife who wraps her arms around her husband who’s had a hard day, or the embrace of a friend who understands we are hurting.

I wonder if this aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit is a bit under-used these days. We are busy people. We want to do something, fix something and move on. What if we allowed the gentleness of Jesus to reach out to others in the same way He’s reached out to us. What if we offered our arms to gently embrace someone whose soul needs rest.

If you are a child of God through the blood of Jesus, the Holy Spirit actually lives in you. I am challenged today to pay attention to the fruit of His presence and reach out to someone who is hurting, someone who is battling, someone whose soul needs rest and allow the gentleness of Jesus to flow through me.

As I was thinking about this fruit today, an old Gaither song came to mind. I’m going to leave it with you today, praying it with you, and challenging you to reveal the Gentle Shepherd to someone today.

Gentle Shepherd, come and lead us, for we need you to help us find our way.
Gentle Shepherd, come and feed us, for we need your strength from day to day.
There’s no other we can turn to who can help us face another day.
Gentle Shepherd, come and lead us, for we need you to help us find our way.

Faithfulness

2 Replies

John 17

As I look at the Fruit of the Spirit these past few days I realize Satan is doing a pretty good job of making people believe these qualities are old-school, maybe even laughable. He’s convinced many that love is acceptance; joy can be gained at the expense of others; peace comes only if you agree with their delusion; patience is a one-way street; kindness is weakness; goodness is relative; and faithfulness is unnecessary.

I’m looking especially at faithfulness today, and I got to thinking that it might be a lost art. People aren’t faithful to marriage vows as evidenced by the fact more than half of all marriages today end in divorce – even among Christians. And even some Christians have had multiple marriages like the Samaritan woman at the well.

People aren’t faithful to their children when they adopt a hands-off, gentle parenting mode and expect their kids to raise themselves. Unfaithfulness is seen when parents are absent from the home, when they are too busy to support their children at games or concerts, or when they do attend, their eyes are on their phones.

Being faithful in the workplace? People change jobs like they are playing hop-scotch. The grass looks greener over there, so I’m out!

People aren’t even faithful to a church. Someone hurt my feelings, so I’m going to find another church (until someone hurts my feelings…)

Even being faithful to the Word of God is seen as a negative. Satan suggests we can tout the verses we like, either tweak or ignore the ones that make us uncomfortable, or claim God has a new revelation because the Bible is out-dated for our advanced society.

And yet, Jesus is our example of faithfulness. He was faithful to the Father, to the Father’s will, the Father’s message, the Father’s plan up to and including a very painful and humiliating death on the cross.

Jesus was faithful to His friends. He spoke truth to them, He protected them and provided for their needs. He never let them down, never threw them under the bus.

Jesus was faithful to the Words of God. He never altered the message to please different audiences. He spoke the same truth to lepers, tax-collectors, farmers, as well as religious leaders and even kings. He was always faithful to God’s Words.

The same faithfulness in us is an indication of Jesus’ Holy Spirit in our lives. Yes, that means being faithful to your spouse, faithful to train your children in the way they should go, faithful to those in authority over you, faithful to your Bible believing church, faithful to go and make disciples by standing on the truth found in the Bible. Faithful to God’s will, God’s message, God’s plan, and faithfully obedient to His commands.

The world might look at your faithfulness as archaic, but they will also see someone with integrity, someone who is different, better than they. They will see Jesus.

That’s what Jesus prayed right before He went to the cross. May God continue to answer that prayer in my life and yours.

More Kindness

Leave a reply

Ephesians 2:1-10

Jesus’ kindness was bold. He physically touched a leper. No one ever did that, ever. He touched an unclean man who believed Jesus could heal him.

Jesus’ kindness was fearless. He expressed kindness every day, even on the Sabbath. He wasn’t afraid of the condemnation of the powers that be in that society. His kindness was expressed very publicly, and very consistently.

Jesus’ kindness was indiscriminate. He healed diseases and forgave sins of those who came to Him believing. And, hanging on the cross, He forgave the very ones who nailed Him there.

If the spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, lives in me, I, too, will express kindness boldly, fearlessly, and indiscriminately. I will think kindly, speak kindly, show kindness in my actions toward family, friends, neighbors, and strangers.

It’s not that I will try harder to be kind, or work on having an attitude of kindness. It’s that I will surrender to God and let His kindness flow through me…

so that He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (vs 7)

Kindness, like all aspects of The Fruit of the Spirit, will reveal Jesus to the people around you. Those are the very people Jesus died to save, and your kindness toward them might be the thing that breaks through their resistance.

Is the evidence of Christ in you seen as kindness?

Kindness

2 Replies

Mark 6:30-44

The itinerate preacher was spent. Jesus and his disciples had clocked a lot of travel miles, and He had preached a lot of sermons to many crowds. And let’s not forget his cousin had just been executed. I imagine Jesus really needed to be alone to rest, recharge, and even mourn.

He invited his disciples to go with Him to a remote place. So they got in a boat and set sail for a much needed get-away. What did they see when they came ashore? Thousands of people clamoring for His attention! Put yourself in Jesus’ shoes. How would you have reacted?

You parents probably have an idea what that’s like. Your precious babies don’t consider what kind of day you’ve had. When you walk through the door they only know, “Daddy’s home!” They don’t understand the weight of trying to feed a family on a budget when the washer breaks down and the car insurance is due. It’s still “Read me another story, Mommy.” “Fix this.” “Find this.” “I’m hungry.” “She hit me.” “I want…” “I don’t want…”

Calgon, take me away! (Google it, young ones)

Here’s where Jesus’ kindness is on display. He looked at those people and had compassion on them. Instead of demanding, “Me time,” he taught them. He set aside His needs, didn’t scold or complain. He didn’t even just smile and pat them on the head. He taught them until late in the day.

Then He did the most talked about miracle in Scripture… He fed 5,000 men plus women and children with five loaves of bread and a couple of fish. They ate until they were satisfied. (Didn’t say Jesus needed to feed Himself before He could feed them. Just sayin’)

Jesus served them despite a bone-tired, mentally exhausted, emotionally drained reality. His compassion was expressed in kindness because that’s who He is.

That’s the kindness aspect of the Spirit’s Fruit. It’s Jesus in us who acts and reacts out of kindness, who considers others before self, who just does the right and good thing out of a right and good heart. It’s being kind. Thinking kind. Reacting kind. Doing kind. Because kindness lives in us who know Jesus as our Savior.

Patience

Leave a reply

Luke 9; Hebrews 12

Jonathan Landry Cruse, in his book entitled, The Character of Christ; The Fruit of the Spirit in the Life of our Savior (Versa Press; 2014) suggests this aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit comes in two parts: forbearance and long-suffering. Here are my thoughts.

When God revealed Himself to Moses in Exodus 34 He gave a description of Himself:

The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

I see a God whose mercy and grace, steadfast love and faithfulness, produces perfect patience toward us, the forbearance part of patience.

Sometimes we may wonder, “How long, Lord, are you going to put up with this corrupt, sin-filled world before you come back and end it all?” I hear God say, “Be patient. People are still being saved from their sins. I can wait.”

Jesus demonstrated forbearance in a little Samaritan town where He was not welcome. His disciples were angry and wanted to call down fire from heaven to destroy those evil people right then and there. Scripture tells us Jesus scolded his disciples for that attitude, I think in part, for their impatience toward sinners.

God doesn’t want anyone to die without Him. He can wait until the last soul is saved before He comes back and this life is over. I am happy for that last redeemed soul. It could have been me.

The other half of the Spirit’s patience is long-suffering, according to Cruse. I wonder if we really believe the best is yet to come? Do we consider our problems in this life light and momentary compared to what is ahead? Are we able to face the hardest of our circumstances with confidence and even joy, knowing God is working all things out for our good as we wait patiently for Heaven? Can we suffer long, trusting God for every detail?

The more you know of Jesus, the more you see how long-suffering He was. He waited patiently until the Father said it was time for the cross. He endured the awful pain and humiliation of the cross with patience so that our sin debt could be paid. Not only was Jesus patient with people who followed Him, He was patient with the people who tormented Him. And He was patient during the most unimaginable pain, the most awful circumstances we can imagine. He endured for the joy set before Him, the joy of that day when you repented of your sin and accepted His grace.

Jesus is our example of patience. He lived one day at a time until the right time. He trusted the Father, obeyed the Father, He patiently put up with the foolishness of people, and the evil in people because He knew something better was ahead.

We’ve all heard it said, “Lord I need patience… NOW!!!). Well, friend, if Jesus is your Savior, the Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart, He IS your patience. And the expression of His patience through you in those difficult circumstances and around those difficult people is evidence of the Fruit of the Spirit in you.

Don’t say you don’t have patience. If you have Jesus, patience dwells in you!

Joy

Leave a reply

Luke 10:1-24

The second aspect of the Fruit of the Spirit is joy. Did Jesus express this characteristic? I guess I haven’t spent a lot of time considering whether or not Jesus was a joyful person… until today.

Jesus was serious. He was stern. He was loving. But was He happy?

Head slap! Of course He was!

I never got into watching “The Chosen” but from what I see they portray Jesus as someone who laughed, who enjoyed life, who joked with His friends. A joyful man. I’m thinking that’s probably accurate. People were drawn to Jesus. I don’t think that would have been the case if He was an old stick-in-the-mud.

Jesus used parables to teach important truth, and one of those truths was the fact that God is joyful. Think of the parables of the lost treasure, the parable of the talents, the prodigal son. God is filled with joy when a lost soul is found.

Think of the Beattitudes in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Joy is the blessing God gives to the mournful, the humble, the merciful, etc. A Christian has reason to be the most joyful person in the room!

If I want to express the character of God in my life, there is no room for a gloom and doom attitude. There is no excuse for seeing a glass half empty, or looking for the other shoe to drop. My sins are forgiven. I am loved by the Creator God, I am blessed beyond imagination, and I will live in paradise forever. I have the power of Holy God in me, and I am given the joy of the Lord to fill me and flow through me, no matter the circumstances.

I recently bought a new journal. I go through them quickly as I write my thoughts every day about what God is teaching me in His word. This particular journal has a Bible verse at the bottom of each page, and I’m going to leave you with the verse at the bottom of the page on which I wrote my thoughts for this blog post.

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. (Jeremiah 17:7)

Be blessed. Be joyful!

Love

Leave a reply

Mark 12:30-31

For the next few weeks I am going to be looking at the character of Jesus as revealed in the Fruit of the Spirit, and see how I can apply it to my own walk with God. (The Character of Christ, the Fruit of the Spirit in the Life of our Savior; Jonathan Landry Cruse; Versa Press, Inc., East Peoria, IL; 2001

Today I looked at the first aspect of that Fruit – love.

We know God is love. We know Jesus is God. Therefore, Jesus is love, and His Spirit in me is love. What does that look like? I looked up some of the things Jesus said about love.

He commands us to love. Not an option. We are first of all to love God. And not just to feel kindly toward Him, but to love Him with all our heart, our very soul, and our mind. Jesus is the example of that love; the “not-my-will-but-Thine-be done” kind of love; all in, nothing held back.

Here’s the thing – when we accept His salvation by faith in Jesus, God who IS love, inhabits us, transforms us so that loving Him isn’t just something we do – it’s who we are!

My heart beats His heart, my mind thinks His thoughts, my soul is connected to His and He loves through me. In fact, the second command Jesus gives is that we love one another, love our neighbor.

That command has become so distorted these days because we think it means tolerance, acceptance, live and let live. But Jesus tells us to love in the same way He loves, with agape love that says: “your eternal soul is more important than my comfort, or whether or not you like me. I will gladly endure any hardship if it means you will find the Savior.”

I don’t know about you, but I have my limits. I might be able to handle a rebuff now and then, but beyond that, I’m not so sure. Jesus knows that so He says, “Let me love through you. Here is the gift of my Spirit which is love. Let it flow and you will love with agape love.”

Plus, Jesus expects that love to extend to my enemies. Jesus tells me I am to love them, too. Really, Lord? But here’s what I learned today: He’s not talking about friendship or a warm fuzzy feeling for them. He’s talking about agape love which is that selfless love toward another’s eternal soul. Love them like Jesus loves them.

Jesus embodied love. When I am His through His shed blood, He pours out His love on me, fills me with His Spirit so that I can love Him back, and reveal His love by the way I allow His love to flow through me.

It’s a gift!

A Fruit Is Not A Vegetable

Leave a reply

Matthew 7:15-20

Prophets, teachers, preachers – are we to judge them? The answer, according to Jesus is, yes. Jesus gives us two criteria: their doctrine and their actions. If either is in question, you are looking at a false prophet.

I wonder if the same standard applies to all of us who wear the name of Jesus? Shouldn’t we all speak the truth and shouldn’t we all bear good fruit? Of course we should. The preachers and teachers might be held to a higher bar, but there is a similar bar for all of us.

Oswald Chambers in his book on the Sermon on the Mount says this: “You do not gather the vindictive mood from the Holy Spirit; you do not gather the passionately irritable mood from the patience of God; you do not gather the self-indulgent mood and the lust of the flesh in private life from the Spirit of God.” (p 90 of the updated 2016 version)

Can a person be negative, fault-finding, complaining, and have a biting tongue and be a Christian? Honestly, I don’t see how.

We are like fruit trees. We all bear some kind of fruit. The question is, is it good fruit or bad? Does it come from a heart connected to God’s, or a heart connected to the world? It can’t be both.

An apple or a grape is produced out in the open. A fruit is not a vegetable which grows underground and out of sight. Chambers tells us the world has a prefect right to watch the private lives of Christians to see if the fruit of our faith is genuinely good, or sadly rotten.

If I claim to be a Christian but live a life connected with the world – I am not a Christian. A good tree CANNOT produce bad fruit. Coarse language, dishonesty, negativity, meanness, self-centeredness cannot be the Fruit of the Spirit in us. If those things are present in our lives, the Holy Spirit is not.

We are to be a light to the world, a city on a hill for all to see. Like it or not, the world is watching you to see if your claim to Christ is real or not. They will rightly judge you by your fruit. May it be sweet, genuine, and as good as the Spirit in you.