Tag: Grace

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The Other Side of Steadfastness

Dear Sister,

Jeremiah the prophet (not the ever-so-popular bullfrog) had a rough life. The Lord told him to prophesy about His own plans for Israel and the nations while never allowing Jeremiah to see them come to be. Yet in the midst of Jeremiah’s darkest times and darkest laments (the book of Lamentations) he writes “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness (vss. 22-23).” Jeremiah held to the truth he knew about the Lord: That His mercy, goodness, love, and His grace are steadfast. Why did that mean so much to him – and as well to us?

Man, do I love the idea of the Lord’s steadfast love, mercy, and kindness. This love never ends and never changes. But as I was thinking of the steadfastness of the Lord a question pricked my mind. How much of the Lord’s character can be described as steadfast? Is it just his love, mercy, and kindness? I don’t believe so. The Bible teaches that the Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever…that we can trust He is who He is, the Great I AM. What truly hit me about this is not His love, mercy, and kindness, but the steadfastness of His justice. Why? Because if the Lord was not steadfast in giving justice to sin, then we could never understand or appreciate the steadfastness of His love, mercy, and kindness. To know the wrath that sin deserves spurs me to tell my friends and family about Jesus and the hope of the cross. To know the wrath my sin deserves spurs me to seek forgiveness and repentance before a holy God.

Sweet sister, don’t just stop and chew the steadfast love, mercy, and kindness of the Lord for comfort, go deeper. Like Jeremiah, remember the steadfast justice of the Lord and where that leads those that do not trust Jesus as their Savior and hope. Remember the steadfast justice of the Lord and seek His repentance in your own life. Then like Jeremiah, the full realization of the Lord’s steadfast character will not only give you rest and comfort, it will spur you on to do the hard things the Lord calls you to do. Pray I will do the same.

Your sister in Christ,

Colleen

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On the Waves of Patience

Beloved Sisters in the Lord,

Would that I had the patience of a saint, as some of you think! Indeed, patience is a precious gift of the Holy Spirit, following the flow from LOVE, JOY AND PEACE! (22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23). Patience, in the biblical sense, means slow to anger, long-suffering. What a definition—slow to anger. Only God is slow to anger and, therefore, truly patient with an impatient world. What a gift to have God’s word remind us of His patience with us! Read, Dear Sisters, from Psalm 103: 8-14.

8″The Lord is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
9 He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father pities his children,
So the Lord pities those who fear Him.
14 For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.”

In human nature, patience is cultivated through the trials and setbacks that we experience during our lifetime. As the children of God, our patience should result from trusting Him, our Father in Heaven. It is when we pocket our trust in God that we become quick tempered, easily angered, and yield ourselves to fret and challenge and forget the blessed new creation that we are. (Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17) The very fact that we are saved for eternity should be something that completely overwhelms us with patience to endure any and all infractions on what we deem most important—in our perfect little world, for our perfect little agenda!

No, Dear Ladies, I do not possess the patience of a saint, but there is someone who modeled it for me. Having recently taught a Bible study on Noah and God’s Covenant with him, I began to wonder about the eight people in the ark who were saved through the awful forces of water surge and down pour of the wrath of the holy, holy, holy God on a completely sinful world. Has anyone given much thought to Mrs. Noah as possessing the patience of a saint?

As far-fetched as this may seem, think for a moment of this sinner saved by grace, and what she endured while her husband constructed an ark, a huge building that was to house animals and plants and his family for many, many weeks. Think of her patience as they were ridiculed while this vessel was being built in the middle of dry land. Until then, people had not known rainfall, let alone a deluge, and they could not understand what Noah was doing because they had refused any relationship with God, their Creator and Provider.

But Noah was chosen by God to know Him. And so, what could she have done, other than patiently be his helpmate, feed him, keep him company, and give him encouragement from the very Gospel she received from him. Then they entered the ark and there she was with Noah and her sons and in-laws, locked in a floating box of gopher wood, listening to the bleat of sheep, the moo of cows and the chirp of birds…and these are only the sweet sounds! Think of her patience as she feeds the two elephants and two camels, the two frogs and the two dogs, and, possibly being food herself for the two mosquitoes, that were being kept alive for the restoration of the natural world that was being devastated by our most patient God!

My Sisters, patience requires us to endure—to put up with—the most uncomfortable situations: the surroundings, the sounds, the smells, the selfishness and, yes, even the silliness that we may not like. Even dealing with family dynamics had to cause more stress as they all wondered what was going on outside!

In the end, this patient lady emerged from the ark to observe a totally destroyed world, and to be God’s chosen one, among the 7 others, who were saved. She and the others had much work to do, clean-up, rebuild and evangelize the new ones to be born for the repopulation effort. That had to be an unspeakable challenge to her patience. But, oh, what grace and mercy she and her family had been given—they were saved by God!

If, indeed, we contemplate our own salvation, through the mercy of God Who, through His Son, Jesus Christ alone we are spiritually restored to Him, then we can begin to enjoy Heaven now! What could possibly irritate, annoy, attack and consume us when we are already in Heaven? Like Mrs. Noah, trust God and patiently ride the waves of each day within the ark of His sovereign grace!

With thankfulness for His Grace alone,
Mimi

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Divine Patience

My dear sister,

My husband and I have spent over a year and thousands of
dollars toward adopting a child from Russia. Last week we found out
that Putin’s pen has sadistically slammed the doors to all Russian
orphanages for Americans. Only those with a court date before
January 1 can finish the process to receive their wanted child. My
heart breaks for the families that have seen and held their
expected child yet will never bring them home. My heart also fills
with anger toward the pride and selfishness of a leader that cares
more about proving a political point than providing placement for
his own country’s precious children. How can the Lord let this happen?

Patience is an attribute of God that we sometimes overlook.
Psalm 145:8 says, “the Lord is compassionate and slow to anger”.
What does that mean? I read in Arthur Pink’s Attributes
of God, that the patience of God is the power of control
that God puts on himself so he can bear with the wicked in waiting
to give them their just punishment. Wow! How quickly do we demand
justice and punishment of wrong done to others or us? I would
honestly not grieve the loss of Putin if he was struck down
tonight. I want our State Department to give harsh sanction to
Russia so they can feel a bit of the pain that my heart bleeds
after this. But if I think about it, all sin is ultimately against
God. That means that all the sin and evil in the world deserves His
wrath…now! Yet he continues to exercise his patience by withholding
this righteous wrath. More than that…he also gives us mercy and
grace while he is giving us this divine patience! I can’t imagine
doing that!

To hold back righteous justice AND simultaneously
giving the same convict grace and mercy. Yet this is what our Lord
does! He did not punish Putin when he signed that law. He does not
necessarily kill the men who persecute Christians when they land
the final blow. He is very aware of all the injustices in this
world, from being persecuted at work for your faith to children
being left to die because they are not the correct gender. Yet He
is patient with His wrath. But trust sweet sister that vengeance is
the Lord’s. Justice will be given in the next life if not this one.
Trust the Lord with the injustices in your life. He sees them and
knows them. He desires all men to come to repentance which is why
he exercises his patience in giving all mankind a chance to hear
the gospel. I’m convicted to pray for Putin…that his eyes will be
opened to the gospel and his life will be changed. May the Lord’s
patience allow Putin to find grace and give it to his own people.
God has been so patient with you, dear sister. Who has treated you
unjustly in your own life that you can exercise this same patience,
yes even to pray that they will repent and see the glory of Christ
for the forgiveness of their sins from our patient God?

Your Sister,
Colleen

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The Ultimate Act of Kindness

Dear Sister,

The Ultimate Act of kindness;
As I penned the words in a letter that would never be delivered, my anger, bitterness, and un-forgiveness towards the offender was handed over to God. My sin had been dragging me down, like a huge boulder around my ankles, keeping me from the life of freedom and joy that was bought for me on the Cross. And though I didn’t see it at the time, I was participating in the greatest act of kindness ever done, the first true forgiveness begun at the Cross, and continued through my changed heart towards the one that had grieved me deeply.

In Ephesians, we find this command: Ephesians 4:32 (HCSB) 32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ. Here we see that there is a direct relationship between kindness and forgiveness. Think back to the last time you spoke an unkind word. What was the source of that unkind word, you might ask yourself? All too often, for me, it is bitterness that has grown within me, the result of a lack of forgiveness. Oh, how easy it is to collect past hurts, like trinkets in a curio cabinet, and allow them to collect dust within us. But our example is Christ, who put aside all things, to show us the ultimate act of kindness, his death on the Cross. We see this in Ephesians, as the verse begins with the topic of kindness, and ends with the example of the cross as the final summation of the idea, of the chapter.

All of our acts of kindness must flow out of that great and glorious example of grace shown us on the Cross. Without this as the motivation for our kindness, we will be giving in to a works-based mentality, relying on our own resources, and our limited supply of kindness, rather than on the unlimited treasures of God’s grace. In my mind, kindness then is the big and small acts of grace that we shower on those around us, because of the transformation we receive through Christ and His sacrifice.

Aristotle’s Rhetoric defines kindness as being “helpfulness towards someone in need, not in return for anything, nor for the advantage of the helper himself, but for that of the person helped.” (Wikipedia) What greater need did any of us have, but the salvation of our souls? And what act of kindness better exemplified an act not solely for ‘the helper himself, but for that of the person helped,’ than what Christ did for us on the Cross? I pray we would not lose the depth of this virtue, kindness, as simply one in a list of many others. No, it is the result of a transformed life, a life transfixed on the Gospel.

Be kind….just as God also forgave you in Christ.

Basking in His extravagant kindness….

Your sister,
Ruth

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Lessons From Joseph

Beloved sister,

Is it the friend who betrayed you?  Or could it be the relative who defamed your character?  Is it the co-worker you sit next to every day, or the church member you dread seeing?  Chances are, there is someone in your life that you need to forgive, to move past bitterness.  We all, in our flesh, are prone to holding a grudge, and withholding the love that is due our friends, relatives, and neighbors.  And yet as Christians, we are called to a radical life of forgiveness.  But how, you ask?  When the pain is so big, and the reasons for extending grace and forgiveness seem so small in comparison, what then?  You don’t understand what I’ve been through, you protest!  And perhaps I do not, but can I offer a word of encouragement?  Christ forgave you, when you were His enemy, and because HE suffered for us in every way, without sin, He will see us ALL through this challenging process of forgiveness.  Let’s take a walk through the life of Joseph for some answers….

Was Joseph without sin? As a young man, and the favorite of his father, Joseph made some choices that were perhaps not as wise as could be.  Telling his brothers of his dreams of greatness not once, but twice, was a good way to incite anger in them, which eventually led to the poor treatment he received.  No, his brothers were certainly not justified in what they did, but can we take to heart what we see here?  That perhaps there is some fault on our part, as well as on the part of the ones who have sinned against us?  Can we commit to reflection, even if our imperfections were very small in comparison to how we were sinned against?  Searching my own heart and seeing my faults often makes forgiveness easier to work through.

We all suffer greatly, but our Savior is Greater…. He was left for dead, sold into slavery, twice imprisoned, and slandered in character, to name a few things that Joseph endured.  We all have our laundry list of ways we have been sinned against.  I am not here to belittle what you have suffered dear sister, but do you, like me, often rehearse in your mind what has been done to you, in sin?  Reach out to your compassionate Savior instead, who suffered to the point of death, in perfect innocence.  Though our sufferings may be great, there is One who has suffered greater, and will walk with us through the darkest valleys.

The love of God breaks Joseph’s heart…. In Genesis 45, we see how Joseph’s love for his brothers finally won over, and he wept as he declared his identity.  While we do not see what transpired in the heart of Joseph, it is obvious that God was at work, bringing him to this point of deep forgiveness and grace towards those who had sinned against him.  We even see how they dined together in fellowship.  How can we arrive at this point?  This is only possible by the grace of God.  As we daily offer our hurts to the Lord, He is able to change our hearts and bring us to the point of radical forgiveness.

There is hope for you and me…. My dear sister, perhaps this has been a painful letter to read, as you struggle to know how you can come to the point of forgiving your enemies.  But may I encourage you—not one of us is able to forgive, apart from knowledge of how we have been forgiven.  As we humble ourselves before an Almighty God, admit our own sin, and embrace the forgiveness we are offered in Christ, we will become radical ‘dispensers of Grace’…. ambassadors in the great Kingdom of Love.

Your forgiven sister,

Ruth