Dear friends and readers,
I am sorry it has been so long since I have written you. I have not wanted to be quick to speak with all the chaos of the world. As much as the world begs us to speak in the moment of the horrendous things happening in the world today, I realize there is more need for quiet. I think there are times when our peaceful quiet will be beacons of light. I cannot direct you as to when to speak, or when to be silent, but the Spirit can. And up til now, the Spirit’s given me nothing to share.
This morning I woke up to a Periscope prayer by Timothy Willard. It cut off, and I did not get to see or hear the whole prayer, but it set my day to walk with the Lord and ponder His beauty and goodness. He said in his prayer that “his heart breaks for the Church and the way we have forgotten your beauty. Lord, we are not a thankful people, but an entitled people. Lord, bring us down so that we can stand again. Help us to see You in the everyday, in the interactions with our families…”
When I think about the world, the first thing that comes to mind is that the Church needs to repent. The Church is the source of common grace all over the world. Have we failed to live out the truth of God’s word? Have we failed to share the truth of God’s word? The chaos of the world serves as a grace to us, pulling us and reminding us how vital the Gospel is.
This morning, I prayed in the shower for the things in which I still feel a spirit of Restlessness in my own life.
Then I pondered over Galatians 5 and how it relates to the world today. I read Wendell Berry’s Sabbath poems and glanced at the poems of Ruth Graham, one that particularly spoke of God being with us in the dark. What a comfort that is!
When I prayed, I asked the Lord to show me something specific about how I am to serve and the Spirit directed me to Psalm 28. Verse 3 gave me pause,
Do not drag me away with the wicked,
with those who do evil,
who speak cordially with their neighbors
but harbor malice in their hearts.
After hanging out in Galatians 5 and remembering to love my neighbor, the Lord was directing me to my own repentance. Do I ever speak cordially with my neighbors and then harbor malice in my heart? Perhaps rarely, but still at times, I do. I am aware of at least one instance recently in which I allowed ill talk to be spoken in front of me. I tried not to participate in the talk. However, I am just as guilty as those who spoke. My thoughts were similar and my heart as black in regards to what they spoke of. Thus the reason I kept listening. These verses in Psalm 28 were a gentle rebuke.
How many of us speak kindness to the face of our friends and neighbors, but plan to kill them when they turn their back? When I say kill, I mean it the Jesus way. When Jesus spoke in Matthew at the Sermon on the Mount, he said that when we harbor anger in our hearts, we kill our friends, that the way we talk about people matters.
We harbor death toward others when we:
- speak ill of them
- have hidden anger toward them
- call them idiots or dummies to them or behind their backs
- gossip or slander
- question their decisions in a demeaning way
Every time we do this, we elevate ourselves. Self elevation is never right. The passage in Matthew leads us to be peacemakers. We are not to consider ourselves better, but to seek to understand one another and be made right to one another. The account in Matthew 5:21-26 explains this verse:
“Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God.” Matthew 5:9.
A prideful man cannot be a peaceful man. So as God directed me to this verse to rebuke me, I cannot help but see how we all need the same rebuke. In the heart, we wage death and life. Will we allow Jesus to came and set us free from our own corruption, so that we can freely love?
The more we wage this war in our selves, the more we will wage it in the Church, the more peace will come to a chaotic society and world.
Come, Lord Jesus, come, through me and these gentle readers. Rebuke us that we may repent. Let us repent that we may live free. Let us live free that we may love as you loved us. In the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.
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