John 13:34 – A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
1 John 4:12 – 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
Some of the best and deepest ways God has touched me is through the young. I remember a time when my eldest son was about five or six. He was being home schooled and was such a sweet and innocent boy. Because of his gentle heart, as my father had taught me when I was about four years old, when he was very young I taught my son how to defend himself. He knew enough to be way beyond most others his age. One day, looking out a window, I was watching him play with a next-door neighbor friend. A couple neighbor boys, who had come from a rough neighborhood, joined them. At one point, by son accidently backed into the bike of a neighbor boy and it fell to the grass. The bike was not damaged in any way. As my son was apologizing and bending over to pick up the bike, the older brother was goading the younger brother to fight my son. My son then stood up in time to defend himself. The boy threw several punches at my son who blocked all of them. And then, instead of punching the boy, he just pushed him away. He was telling the boy that he was sorry for accidentally knocking the bike over. The boy came back at him several times trying to hit him. Each time my son blocked the punches and pushed the boy away. My son never tried to strike his attacker. Finally it appeared that the boy had given up his assault. My son then turned to speak with another boy and then the boy came up from behind him and sucker punched my son on the nose. It obviously hurt. I was angry as I watched from the house. I thought surely my son would turn and teach this boy a lesson. Instead, my son grabbed his nose, and while the older brother and the boy were taunting my son he just looked at them and wondered at this attack. My son then grabbed his bike, and without responding to the taunts, came home.
After he had come inside I sat my son down and told him I had seen what had happened. I told him that I love his good heart, but in some situations, like the one he was just in, sometimes he will have to defend himself. My son responded that he did not want to hurt anyone. I told him that was a good thing from his kind heart, but if he did not defend himself in such cases, sometimes he was going to get hurt. He said to me “Daddy, I would rather be hurt than hurt anyone.” I knew then that God had gifted my son with a heart better than mine own. I was so thankful, and so proud. I prayed that I would one day have such a heart as grand as my son had.
Kindness, grace, love and mercy come not from obeying rules, but from the heart. From a heart that is given to Jesus. Living under law is bondage. Living from the heart is freedom. Praise God who makes hearts to be like His! More of Jesus from born again, made again, servants of Christ. And the world, will be a better place.
This last Friday, on the 27th, I was working at the Harvest Festival at our church. A son of a sister from our Friday night bible group came to me and gave me a Starbucks gift card. I was puzzled by the gesture. I was told that he won the gift card at an event that I had help sponsor him. He said He wanted me to have the card. Wow! I was so honored, but mostly so amazed at his heart. It really was a wonderful blessing to cap a long day. I thanked God for using this boy to bless me in such an unexpected way. I saw in him the wonderful heart of his mother. How blessed I was to see how he had been blessed and then had let the blessing flow from God, to him, to me.
The next morning I met with a brother to share the Word together. We met, as we usually do, at Starbucks. I used the card that was given to me to bless the brother I was meeting with. I thanked God for the opportunity to pass on a blessing that I had received. Jesus said that all law, and all prophecy, is fulfilled in love (Matthew 22:40). As we receive God’s love, thank Him for it, and then pass it on to others, we have done what God has called us to do. It is intended that we mature to love not from obeying laws, but from a heart that He is continually being made to be like God’s own heart. The love of God that starts with God, is given to us, that we are thankful for and pass on to others, is then received by the others and they are thankful to God, and they also give it to others. The cycle continues, the number of those who are blessed grows. God is glorified. His love is perfected. Great is the wisdom and mystery of God! Simple is how He has called us to live! Praise God! Oh Family, praise God!
Kindness, grace, love and mercy come not from obeying rules, but from the heart. From a heart that is given to Jesus. Living under law is bondage. Living from the heart is freedom. Praise God who makes hearts to be like His! More of Jesus from born again, made again, servants of Christ. And the world, will be a better place.
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.