God's Call
This year's BSF study has been on the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah and the role the kings and prophets played. There are lots of warnings from prophets, and lots of disobedience from kings and their people, thus lots of repercussions for that disobedience. At times it has been tempting to grow a little discouraged in this study with a hopeless "here we go again" reaction. But Micah 6:8 grabbed me.
He has shown you O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
God sent Micah to His people to remind them He cares how they treat others. The author of this lesson wrote..."Sin's destruction ultimately sets people against one another in myriad ways-interpersonal conflict, corporate corruption, deception, power struggles, and oppression. Love of self erodes our love for God. Failure to love God leads to lack of love for others. Our relationship with God directly impacts how we treat one another."
This particular lesson was a reminder that God calls us to "practice the values and virtues that reflect His heart-kindness, generosity, courage and love."
This began a heart search for me of how I am reflecting these four characters of God in my own life.
Was I kind today?
Kindness-on this particular day God surrounded me with people were physically different from me. There was a downs syndromes young man cleaning the facility I was in. He smiled and waved to me with exuberance as I hobbled along. The next stop there was an obese woman with a beautiful smile and cheery spirit and a very elderly woman both women obviously in pain, but persevering through PT. The final stop placed me in a pool with a young woman whom I am guessing was hearing impaired because her speech was very difficult to understand, yet she chatted away continually. All of these people are created by God and so valuable to Him and even with their disabilities and physical limitations they were spreading joy. HA! I was the crippled woman, walking more slowly than any of them with an awful limp!
At the pool facility I was looking for a room to change and a worker in the locker room told me there might be a bathroom around the corner. Every step is painful for me and I knew by the time I limped to that area I would lose my place in line for the other rooms. I explained my plight and asked the worker if she would check for me. She graciously did. I thanked her and asked her name ...Faith. Of course it was. God made me smile.
The king is the friend of all who are sincere and speak with kindness. Proverbs 22:11
Generosity -God gave His life for me. May that be the first thing I think of when I see the needs of others.
Courage- Does is count that I had courage to start going to PT? Oooooh. God just said, "It counts, because you are in a room with other people who need to know what courage in the Lord looks like?
Again and again the scriptures pair these instructions. "Be strong and courageous."
Love-Some people are easier to love than others. Some people think of us in one category or the other when they hear this statement!
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
I read this article by Amy Hall that goes even more deeply in what it looks like for us to mirror God's kind of love.
“In this is love,” John wrote, “not that we have loved God but that he has loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Love is what God did in sending his Son to be our substitute on the cross (Rom. 5:8). Love is what we do when we keep Christ’s commands (John 14:15). Love is sharing with our brothers and sisters in need (1 John 3:16–18). Love is treating each other with kindness and patience (1 Cor. 13:4). Love is disciplining the wayward sinner (Prov. 3:11–12). Love is chastising the rebellious saint (Heb. 12:5–6). And love is throwing your arms around the prodigal son when he sees his sin, comes to his senses, and heads for home (Luke 15:17–24).
The Song (love, love, love this one. Promise me you will listen.)
"First Things First" by Consumed by Fire
