I promise, I will get back to Psalm 142 (I only walked through verse 2, after all), but life can be full of interruptions. . .
My husband and I will be attending a marriage retreat at the end of this month (our 2nd in 27 years, and last year was the first!) Gary Thomas, who wrote "Sacred Marriage" (among other works) will be the speaker; I'm really excited to go! I asked God last week, "how do You want me to get ready for this retreat time? Is there anything specific?" I don't know about you, but whenever I ask God about what He wants to do in me to change ME, He answers quite quickly :)
In 2005 I embarked on a "30 Day Challenge for Wives to Encourage their Husbands" (you will find the link here www.reviveourhearts.com/challenge) and what an eye-opener it was! I thought I had learned to be an encouraging person (God did lots of "chiseling" on that area in the '90s) but this 30-day adventure taught me that I wasn't sharing the encouragement as much as I should be. Here's a thought . . .how can you really encourage someone if they don't even realize that you are encouraging them because you never open your mouth and say anything????
It's now 2 years later; my husband has noticed the changes; the challenge was difficult at times (replacing old bad habits with new good ones is seldom easy) but I've noticed that God has opened my eyes to encourage others, and not just my husband. Anyway, I'm repeating the "challenge" and I'm inviting any others who are not "faint of heart" to join me.
Can you imagine what God can do with a band of followers who have decided that, by God's amazing grace, "let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." (Ephesians 4:29 ESV)
What would our families look like if mom didn't nag and belittle and criticize? If dad didn't demand and criticize, if he remembered to say "thank you?"
If teenagers remembered that "trash talk" belongs in the garbage can; that they don't have to have a verbal opinion on every subject at all times?
What would our churches look like if we consistently used our words to build others up instead of knocking them down? If we considered the timing of our "instruction" as well as the content? If we were as committed to dealing with our own personal sin as we are to pointing out the sins of others? If we remembered that the best way to learn a new skill (insert = get rid of a sinful habit) is to a) be shown how to do it (get out God's Word and use it!)
b) be given time to practice
c) receive encouragement along the way
What would our communities look like if we actually were nice to "undeserving" people?
4 comments:
Re: Undeserving communities. Quoting my Beth Moore Daniel study, "Daniel interceded for the masses as one SHARING the blame of their sins (its wickedness, deafness and shamefulness) even though innocent of many of their transgressions." After living in many different populations groups I had struggled with seeing their particular sin and its affect on me and my family. It hit me in a new, powerful way of hating the sin yet loving the sinner and confronting my own waywardness.
Okay Bev, I'm with you. Ps. 119:1-8 is plastered around my house lest I spiritually fall asleep... again.
we are starting the Beth Moore Daniel series next week; I'm looking forward to it!
I'm so grateful that God is faithful, even when I'm a "wayward child"
Like Jina I wanted to comment on loving the "undeserving". Isn't that what Christ has done for us? He loved and even died for us while we were still yet sinners. We are to love that same way. I had a recent encounter in which God opened my eyes to this. What if God loved us the way we do others: ie...only when they do good things, or only when they have made restitution for an offense against us? If God loved me they way I love others sometimes, I would be in big trouble. My life and all of the mistakes I make can be so offensive to God...and yet I know that through His grace there is nothing I can do to make him love me any less! or any more for that matter. This is what we are to model to others. I have a hunch that other's offensives against us are tiny in comparison to our offenses against God. Thank goodness His love is unconditional. Lord, help me to love this way...to love those who have offended me or who might rub me the wrong way...the "sandpaper" people in my life. Help me to keep Christ as my example in the way I relate to and love others...whether they be family or friends or coworkers!
Keep up the great dialogue Mama Bev! Can't wait to start Daniel. I am sharing the 30 day encouragement challenge with other friends as well! What a great tool! Thanks again for sharing!
My first thought in response to your questions was, "It would look a whole lot more like the Kingdom of God, and a whole lot less like the World!"
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