Laughter and Love

Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. (Proverbs 31:25 ESV)

Laughter and Love

Proverbs 31 is used too often as an embarrassment to wives. But it should not be. While at first glance, we see a list of character traits, skills, and energy levels that would be daunting for any human, that list is not intended to shame, motivate, or humiliate wives who fail to meet the high standards described.

Like every part of Scripture, those verses (most of Proverbs 31) point us to Christ Jesus. Put simply, those verses describe what it means to love and to be loved. Loved first and primarily by Christ Jesus. Loved first and primarily through Christ Jesus. Loved first and primarily because of Christ Jesus.

For instance, she provides for her family, working on Christ’s behalf, with Christ’s strength, and because of Christ’s compassion. When she succeeds, it is Christ succeeding. And when she fails, it is Christ succeeding.

The Proverbs 31 woman is a conduit for Christ’s love. She is Christ’s hands for her family, and her community. She is Christ’s mouth, encouraging and disciplining. She is Christ’s mind, planning and hoping and stewarding.

All of those amazing qualities are summarized in 31:30, “a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.”

But my favorite part is that she gets to laugh. She laughs not just for the future (hope,) and not just for the past (faith,) but due to love. She laughs because she is loved, and because she loves.

The most important part of the entire chapter is found in that concept. Fearing the Lord, she knows she is loved and laughs.

Despite her overwhelming schedule, she laughs because of the Lord. Despite her responsibilities, she laughs because of the Lord. Despite her known shortcomings and failures, she laughs because of the Lord.

And we can, too.

We are loved by Christ, and through Him we can love… so we can laugh.

Our tasks are often as daunting as the woman’s described in Proverbs 31, women and men, children and aged, rich and poor, educated and unschooled, happy and sad, lonely and groupie, left-brained and right-brained, you and me. Never forget that we are loved. Never forget that love is the greatest.

And it is a reason to laugh.

Take the love God grants us.

Laughter and Hope

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouting. (Job 8:21 ESV)

Laughter and Hope

Bildad the Shuhite has one of the funniest names in the Old Testament. A common quip is to refer to him as the shortest man in the Bible, Bildad the Shoe-Height. Bildad makes me laugh.

But Bildad reminds me of laughter in an even better way. Bildad reminds Job that God brings laughter to the lips of His people. Particularly His people who are blameless. In other words, with New Testament understanding, those who are entwined with Christ Jesus.

We will laugh.

Some days I really need to know that, and I suspect you do, too. Some days we can barely see through the tears, but we will laugh. Some days we can barely hear anything but cries and moans, but we will hear laughter. Some days we can barely lift our sad souls from the mud of sin, sin’s effects, and sin’s presence. But we will live with laughter.

This is a hope that we can cling to every day. We might not have laughed this morning, but Jesus will yet fill our mouths with laughter. We might not be laughing in the midst of a grey, cloudy, wet afternoon, but Jesus will yet fill our mouths with laughter. We might not be laughing as we try to sleep, our minds far too filled with worry and sorrow. But Jesus will fill our mouths with laughter.

Bildad is right. We have hope of laughter.

Take the hope God grants us.

Laughter and Faith

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lordhas done great things for us; we are glad. (Psalm 126:1-3 ESV)

Laughter and Faith

When laughter is mocking, it is a horrible thing.

Because laughter was intended as a gift, not as a tool for hurting, belittling, or deriding.

Psalm 126 shows us clearly why God created laughter. Laughter is a way to remember good things. Laughter is a way to find joy because of what God has done for us. Laughter is a way to find faith, hope, and love.

Good laughter is both the result of our true memories and the cause of future good memories. Good laughter looks back at our lives and remembers fondly… remembers accurately God’s loving acts… remembers the past fulfillment of even further past hopes.

In the dark of the night, remembering sorrow and failure and despair does not bring an end to the shadow. But remembering God’s answers to prayer and laughing brings light to today’s darkness.

When the chasms on either side of our path overwhelm us, remembering the sadness of our slips, and slides, and falls does not keep our feet well placed. But remembering God’s happy protections and smile-signed guideposts enables us to see where our feet belong.

Christ, as the creator must have laughed when He planned and made a platypus. And while so much of creation has been twisted and made ugly by Adam’s (and our) sin, laughing at the antics of the silly animal brings us back to remembering… goodness… joy… perfection.

Laughter is founded in yesterday, and in our trusting in God’s definition of what yesterday was. Yesterday was God doing good things for us. Believe Him and laugh in that faith.

Take the faith God grants us.

Rest and Love

…but the greatest of these is love (I Corinthians 13:13 ESV)

Rest and Love

We think we improve on the idea of love by adding the descriptor, “forever.” When we are attempting to be romantic, intense, or loyal, we often feel the need to say, not only, “I love you,” but, “I love you FOREVER.”

When we say that, it might display that we are not thinking about the Jesus-kind-of-love at all. And His kind of love is the only kind of love.

Similarly, we add words like unconditional, selfless, and true to ‘love’ as if love could exist without those adjectives. But love is always unconditional, selfless, true, and eternal or it is not love. Love without those things might be nice, it might be realistic, it might be present… but it is not love.

Love does not stop. It does not wear out. It does not ever rest. That is one of the reasons Paul chooses love as the greatest of all.

In that place, time, and presence of Jesus that we call heaven, we will be loved and will still love. We will have rest from sin and sin’s effects, but not from love. We will have rest from sorrows and tears, but not from love. We will have rest from chaos and fear, but not from love.

Love never ends. (I Corinthians 13:8)

We will not need Faith in that time of rest, because what we believe in will be right in front of us. We will not need Hope in that time of rest, because all promises will be obviously fulfilled.

It is not really accurate, though to say that we will need love in heaven.

We GET have love in heaven. Forever.

Heaven’s rest is love in the presence of Jesus. Both being loved and loving.

And we get to practice it now. Jesus summarized the law with the command to love. (Matthew 22:37-39) Heavenly rest can get brought into our daily lives best NOT by sleeping, taking a break, and relaxing (although those things are grand gifts from God, too!) but by Love.

Both through being aware of God’s love… and by choosing to love.

Love is the best rest.

Take the love God grants us.

Rest and Hope

In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. (John 14:3 ESV)

Rest and Hope

Boxcars look pretty big when seen from the railroad crossing. But boxcars are even bigger from the inside when filled with 50-pound burlap bags of carrots waiting to be loaded onto pickup trucks. Ninety degrees, extremely humid, we were in a boxcar oven being roasted for Sunday dinner.

Two of us worked twelve-hour days for two weeks before the job was done. I learned a lot about rest that summer. When the bed of a pickup was full, we had a brief respite while a new pickup took its place. We lay on the floor of the boxcar and breathed. And we stared at the old clock someone had mounted on the boxcar wall. Hoping that the minute hand would move faster. Hoping that the hour hand was wrong.

And then, promptly at seven each evening, we went home and slept.

Somehow, the next morning we awoke and had the energy and strength to do it again.

That cycle of work, small rest, and true rest is present in our lives every day and every week.

We have small rests from the sweat of our brows each night… and bigger rests on the Lord’s Sabbath. And even that rest is a pointer towards the BEST rest. Those mansions. That place. Heaven.

Jesus prepared a place of rest for us. That is what that mansion over the hilltop really is.

Heaven is a restoration to the time before rest was needed as a cure to Adam’s curse. Heaven is rest, not in the sense of sitting back with our feet up drinking iced tea… but rest from troubles, struggles, pains, hardship, reasons to worry, and sin.

What makes the rest grand though, is not how relaxing is it. It will not be relaxing at all. Heavenly rest will be the most exciting thing we can imagine. Because we will be with Jesus!

When we rest now, in our little ways of sleep and Sabbath, we are tasting what we will feast on in heaven. We are sampling Him. We are enjoying Him. We are focusing on Him. We are emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually being WITH Him… in preparation and practice for when we are also physically with Him.

When we rest now, therefore, let it be about Him, not us. Go to sleep thinking about Him, talking to Him, considering Him, experiencing Him. Let the Lord’s Day be about Him… the Man that the Sabbath was made for. (Mark 2:27, 28 ESV)

And let today’s rest become hope.

Take the Hope God grants us.

Rest and Faith

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. (Genesis 2:1,2 ESV)

Rest and Faith

Even God rested.

I was working, when a teenager, with my father and my older cousins. We were doing the plumbing in a new house construction. And those men worked hard. They began as the sun rose, and they lifted and pushed and carried and installed and sweated until the sun went down.

I felt guilty for stopping to rest. (Sometimes I still do.)

My uncle, the boss, walked by me once while I was taking a break and smiled. I jumped up and stammered an apology, but he interrupted me. “Tommy, even God rested.”

God did not rest because He needed to rest. He has infinite energy, strength, and stamina. He did not rest because he needed a break. He has no limitations. He did not rest because He needed to re-focus. He is omniscient and focusses on the entire universe without batting an eyelash.

God rested to provide us with His example because He knew WE would need rest.

Not only does this concept apply to resting on His Day and heaven, but it refers to every day. We need rest. And that is ok.

When you need rest, remember the Creator’s example. Trust in His command, in fact, to rest. (Exodus 23:12 et al)

Take the faith God grants us.

Learning and Love

Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day. Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the aged, for I keep your precepts. I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word. I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. (Psalm 119:97-104 ESV)

Learning and Love

I am a fan of author J.R.R. Tolkien. In a small, shallow sense, I love his work. This is manifested in how often I read Tolkien’s books, how often I read books and articles about his books, and my pleasure when experiencing or even thinking about what he has written.

When humans love, we both enjoy knowing about what we love, AND we yearn to know about what we love. No matter how difficult the learning, we try to know what we love.

The author of Psalm 119, that Psalm known for its length, loved God, not in a small, shallow sense. He therefore loves learning about God. The Psalmist therefore pays attention to God’s Law.

When the Psalmist writes of God’s Law, though, he refers to more than the ten commandments. He means more than the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. God’s Law refers to all of God’s Word.

Because the Psalmist loves God, the Psalmist loves to learn about God.

Even more, Psalm 19:1 tells us that while God’s Word is the primary way to learn about Him, all of creation also teaches us about God. Writers from David Hume to Arthur Holmes to R.C. Sproul inform us, in fact, that ALL TRUTH IS GOD’S TRUTH.

Every true thing we learn can teach us something about God.

We love God… and that causes us to love learning. Because learning leads us to Him. And that is the goal of our every thought, every word, and every deed.

Loving Him leads to learning about Him, which leads to loving Him.

Take the love God grants us.

Learning and Hope

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (I Corinthians 13:11-12 ESV)

Learning and Hope

On my bookshelf is a line of books that stretches out for almost three feet. These wonderful orange books, printed by the United States Air Force, are lesson plans and assignments to learn the Russian Language… spoken, written, and thought.

I bought that set of books, after haggling for over a year, from a friend who owns a used bookstore in North Dakota. I took the books home and got to work. After nine months I had only covered a few inches worth of the series.

I knew forty verbs, fifty nouns, four common verb declensions, three forms, and approximately one quarter of the pronunciation charts required to achieve Level One.

I gave up for four years.

When I think about my efforts back then, I remember Paul’s comments in these verses.

We have so much to learn. We know so little. Even about important basic truths of the gospel, our knowledge is so small.

But we WILL know! We will know fully! We will even see Him as He is! (I John 3:2)

On those mornings when we do not know what is going on… at those times when we remember that we have forgotten more than we think we ever knew… in those afternoons of confusion and insecurity.. have hope that we WILL know all that we need to know. And more!

We will know as much as Abraham, as much as Moses, as much as Elijah, as much as Isaiah, as much as Matthew, as much as John, as much as Paul.

God will teach us.

Take the hope God grants us.

Learning and Faith

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. (Psalm 139:6 ESV)

Learning and Faith

Dr. Nicholas Wolterstorff might be the smartest man I know. He was the father of a kindergarten elementary school classmate of mine. Dinner at the Wolterstorffs was an amazing thing. The family would eat chicken, carrots, and mashed potatoes like any other family.

But the conversation was out of this world.

I remember discussions about time, time travel, quantum theory and mechanics, the dangers of democracy, the benefits of manned space-flight, the best methods to raise healthy turnips, and how high to pull one’s socks.

That man knew something about everything. And my young brain absorbed it alongside the potatoes.

But Dr. Wolterstorff’s great brain was a dull tic-tac-toe board compared to God’s knowledge.

And so God helps us. He gives us the gift of faith until our brains grow big enough to comprehend everything He knows.

Rather than opposing concepts, faith and reason go hand in hand. The true things God grants us to know by faith now, we will know by reason and experience later. The true things that we have experienced, or deduced, no longer need faith for us to know.

Later on in Psalm 139, the Psalmist reminds us why we yearn for both faith and reason. We want to know God’s thoughts. He writes, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you.” (Psalm 139:16, 17 ESV)

Take the Faith God grants us.

Broken Things and Love

So Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, for he ate always at the king’s table. Now he was lame in both his feet. (II Samuel 9:13 ESV)

Broken Things and Love

I have an old jean jacket. A member of the Rocky Mountain Elks Foundation gave it to me as a gift many years ago. Quite stylish, it has a dark brown collar, a nifty Foundation patch, and subtle seaming. At first, I wore it whenever I was out and about. Spring and Autumn, it did its job, and looked alright.

But now it has holes. It needs more patches than can feasibly be sewn. The hems are threadbare, the pockets leak, and the collar has faded to an uglier color.

Now I wear it only when I need a little warmth when doing yardwork.

But it remains my favorite jacket.

Rather than make me ashamed, the imperfections actually make me like it even more.

Mephibosheth reminds me that God loves me in the same way. King David took in the crippled descendent of his enemy. While every else rejected the young man, David loved him. David welcomed Mephibosheth into his home, like family.

Mephibosheth was broken… and David loved him.

I, too, am a broken vessel… and God loves me.

He knows who I am… and loves me enough to kill Jesus on my behalf.

He knows what I am… and loves me enough to adopt me.

He knows why I am… and loves me enough to Justify me, sanctify me, and glorify me.

He loves me because I am broken. I find peace when I remember He loves me because He is my only hope.

Take the Love God grants us.

Broken Things and Hope

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5,6 ESV)

Broken Things and Hope

When living up North, we used to say that the Dakotas had three seasons. Pre-roadwork, roadwork, and post-roadwork. I think the same could be said in most States.

Even though I am never excited to drive through a Construction Zone, I do feel a certain comfort. Roadwork now means smooth driving later. At least, most of the time.

The struggles and pains of our daily lives are a lot like rough roads. Potholes are often the result of irregular temperatures, just as our life-potholes are often the result of extreme life-changes. Cracks and chasms are often the result of rough usage, just as our life-cracks are the result of poor life-choices. Weeds spreading across unused roads are often the result of neglect, just as life-weeds are the result of inattention to what is really going on around us.

Local highway departments promise to fix those broken roads. More comforting, though, is God’s promise to make our paths straight. More comforting because God keeps His promises. More comforting because God has infinite resources. More comforting because God fixes more than a physical road.

Far too often, we have decided not to notice our crooked, broken roads. Christians, we seem to think, are not supposed to talk about our sorrows, our failures, or our present sins. Describing PAST brokenness is ok, as long as we can point to shiny new pavement.

But we are broken. We struggle with present shame, present tears, present sorrows, and present sins. The Good News of the gospel, though, is that God will straighten those paths!

Other road crews will fail. But God will not fail. Pretending we are not broken is ineffective. Blaming someone else does not help. Trying new programswill only lead to more potholes and cracks.

Hope as we travel our broken roads is never found in anything or anyone but Christ Jesus. And that is a sure, secure, absolute hope!

Take the hope God grants you.

Broken Things and Faith

Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down. (I Kings 18:30 ESV)

Broken Things and Faith

The invention of duct tape was amazing, particularly because duct tape flies in the face of modernity. Today, our civilization buys new, replaces, and upgrades. But duct tape repairs, reuses, and fixes.

My first bicycle was given to me by my parents when I was 9. It was a second-hand Schwinn. Before it became mine, it had already been repainted, rewelded, and straightened out. And for me, that process continued. I learned how to use a wrench on that banana seat. I learned how to clean rust off the wheels with elbow grease and extra-fine sandpaper. I learned how to patch tires, inflate tires, and reseal tires.

While many of my friends got new bikes each year, I grew to know and to love my broken and repaired bike.

I think God was preparing me to understand how He loves His broken and repaired people.

Elijah is about to perform the miracle of his age. The story is familiar… the Baal-priests being shown to be fools. The stone Baal altar being burned. The faith of Elijah bearing the fruit of God’s display of Himself that ended in a much-needed rainstorm.

But to me, the story begins with Elijah repairing God’s altar on Mt. Carmel. Elijah could have built a new altar (it seems the old altar had been pulled down many years before.) But instead, Elijah fixed the broken thing.

And God smiled.

Repairing the broken things in the lives of His people is what He loves to do. When we are made new in Christ, He does not recreate a completely new creature. He builds on the foundation of our broken past. He somehow loves who we were, even as He molds us into the image of His Son, our Savior. He reweaves our messed-up tapestry. He repairs our broken hearts… and we remember how broken we were so that we can have faith in today’s breakings.

Our potter, rather than cast our broken shards into the trash, reworks us… our past… our memories… our personalities… our character… into new beauty. Jeremiah describes it this way, “And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.” (Jeremiah 18:4 ESV)

I am broken. Are you? Remember that God does not turn His back on the broken. He had Elijah fix the broken altar and used it with joy to fulfill His grand purpose. Have faith that He will do it again, with you.

Take the faith God grants you.

Work and Love

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Work and Hope

And say to Archippus, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.” (Colossians 4:17 ESV)

Work and Hope

The worst thing about mowing the lawn is that the job is never done. The moment the lawn mower is on the way back to the garage, the grass is already growing. Other important jobs also seem to stretch before us. When will our children be all grown up and not need us anymore? When can we hang up our evangelism hat? Will we become God-trusters? Will we see more of the Kingdom before our eyes?

These kinds of tasks stretch even farther than our lawns, it seems.

But Archippus gives me hope. This man, only mentioned in this verse and in Philemon 2, was commanded by God to finish His work. And God is not the kind of boss who would give us a command that was impossible to fulfill. Archippus was going to be able to finish his task.

Archippus is not the best example of this hope. Jesus Himself, our role model, our example, our path-maker, also has a job that He brings to completion. (Philippians 1:6) We get to imitate Him.

When the job seems too long, remember that He finishes first. When our checklists of Godly duties seem to be more list than check, remember that He finishes first. When our eyes open in the morning already beset by fatigue, remember that He finishes first.

Archippus reminds of Jesus and the work HE completes.

Take the hope God grants us.

Work and Faith

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (Genesis 1:31 ESV)

Work and Faith

I know two people who are enthusiastic about the idea of work. And I have reason to doubt both of them. For most of us, work is hard. For most of us, work is unpleasant. For most of us work causes physical, emotional, or even spiritual sweat.

Because of this: “cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground. (Genesis 3:17-19 ESV)

Our work now causes us a lot of trouble. Work causes conflict. Work causes pain. Work causes relational difficulties. Work causes confusion. Work causes shortages of time, energy, and resources. All of which are covered under the “sweat of our brow.”

What can we do about it? We usually search for help through more work. We ‘try harder.’ We ‘work smarter, not harder.’ We attach things to our work like community, service, and love. And those can be helpful.

But God gives us something else.

God offers us faith in His Word. He describes work in these terms: The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” (Genesis 2:15 ESV) Work was originally something that God gave to Adam… and it was not a bad thing, then. In fact, after describing in detail what keeping the garden meant, God declared that it was very good! (Genesis 1:31 ESV)

Sin wrecked everything. Even work. Especially work.

But way back there in the past, where God created work and gave it as a gift to Adam, it was a good thing. A very good thing. And faith allows us to look way back there and cling to that good thing.

We can choose to have faith in the very good work that God made.

While twisted, tainted, and torn apart by sin’s effects… just like all of creation…just like dolphins, apples, knees, and mountains… work is at its created core, a very good thing.

And in the same way that we see good in dolphins even when they splash us, apples even though they rot, knees even if they hurt, and mountains despite their harsh weather, we can, in faith, see good in work.

We can make work unselfish, because of how it was created. We can make work loving, because of how it was created. We can make work joyful, because of how it was created.

Take the faith God offers.

Anger and Love

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. (I Corinthans 13:4-7 ESV)

Anger and Love

Love and anger are opposites. Discounting that rare beast, righteous anger, which we actually rarely wield notice how many of Paul’s descriptors of love help us understand and reject anger.

Paul’s examples of love cut at the core of most of our anger. We are angry because we are impatient, insist on our own way, are resentful and are unwilling to bear all things.

We are angry because we choose not to be kind, are arrogant, are willing to be rude, and believe the worst instead of the best concerning the target of our anger.

We are angry because we compare ourselves to someone else and find envy, boast, and an unwillingness to endure anything less than ideal.

We are angry because we can see nothing but our own definition of what really is.

We are angry, much to our later shame, merely because we are irritable today.

We are angry because we have clung to too much false hope in someone else’s ability to change, someone else’s ability to keep promises, someone else’s character, or someone else’s righteousness. Remember, hope only is found in Christ.

Love, Christ’s love, offers a counter to anger. Love, Christ’s love in us, offers us a counter to anger. Love, Christ’s love lensed by us, offers us a counter to anger.

Take the love God grants us.

Anger and Hope

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16 ESV)

Anger and Hope

We become angry when we choose to become angry. Anger does not happen to us… we get angry and then usually justify it. Foolishly, we think we deserve to be angry. We think that it is our right. We think that we need to be angry.

But anger is a desire of the flesh.

While we like to cling to the idea of righteous anger, rarely is our anger of that sort. Our anger usually is the result of selfishness. Our anger usually is the result of greed. Our anger usually is the result of frustration.

And Paul, looking ahead, gives us hope of getting rid of anger.

He writes that if we ‘walk by the Spirit’ we can walk away from our selfishness.

Since anger is a common issue, it is worth noting how to follow Paul’s instructions.

I believe, in this case, walking by the Spirit involves these concepts.

a) Remember your salvation. Like the man who was forgiven much, (Matthew 18:21-35) we need to be constantly aware of our humble state before God. Remembering what God has forgiven us nudges us away from anger, and towards forgiveness.

b) Be open to the Spirit applying God’s Word. Particularly regarding loving others (I John 4:19-21) and patience. (I Thessalonians 5:14) God’s Word provides guidelines to assist us in overcoming anger.

c) Admit that our anger is unrighteous. We spend too much time convincing ourselves that sin is not sin. To overcome our anger, admit the sin in it. (Isaiah 5:20) Even if it is not wholly sinful.

d) Ask daily to see things God’s way. He is the definer of all reality. Lining up with HIM is exactly what wisdom is. (James 1:5) Since He poured all of His wrath on Jesus, we can choose to dismiss our anger, too.

If you are mired in anger, God gives hope that your anger can be overcome.

Take the hope God gives you.

Anger and Faith

You will say in that day: “I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. (Isaiah 12:1 ESV)

Anger and Faith

One of the angriest men in American history was Nathan Bedford Forrest. He was angry at the Yankees, angry at his family, angry at his nation’s leadership, and angry at himself. Once, laying in a hospital bed barely conscious, he jumped out of bed to hunt down the man who had shot him a few hours before. Reportedly he said, “I’ll shoot the man who killed me.” He failed, and reportedly, somehow, the two became friends.

Forrest tried to overcome his anger on his own for many years. In fact, his anger was one of the things about which he was most angry at himself.

Nothing overcame his anger.

Until he turned to Jesus Christ. According to Jack Hurst, in Nathan Bedford Forrest: A Biography (Knopf, 1993), at the end of his life, Forrest finally learned that God’s anger against His Son on the cross was a good reason to stop being so angry himself. Forrest was able to look back at God’s wrath poured on Jesus. With Christ’s work against sin, including anger, Forrest didn’t really have all that much to be angry about.

Looking back to Christ’s work on the cross allows us to have faith that God will take our anger, too. Unrighteous anger is something that many of us struggle against. God got rid of His righteous anger by killing Jesus. So He has no anger left.

We do not need to have anger left, either.

Take the faith God grants us.

Memories and Love

The memory of the righteous is a blessing. (Proverbs 10:7 ESV)

Memories and Love

I am a wee bit sentimental. I enjoy looking at photo albums. I enjoy reading my old journals. I enjoy looking at my children’s old school papers and artwork. I enjoy discussing old vacations, trips of yesteryear, and important events.

My memories are tightly bound to my experience of love.

But some memories are not. When I remember the times I was unfair to my family, it is not connected to love. When I remember my purposeful rebellions, it is not connected to love. When I remember my pride and my arrogance and my selfishness, it is not connected to love.

But the memories I have stored about righteousness are precious. Those memories cause joy. Those memories cause peace. Those memories are a blessing.

One of the ways that God loves us is through giving us good things to remember. He then further blesses us by letting us remember those things. He then continues to bless us by letting us see that those good things that we remember are examples of love.

Take the love God grants us.

Memories and Hope

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4 ESV)

Memories and Hope

Who takes pictures of sad times? I have never seen a photo album made about chicken pox, food poisoning, or getting lost on vacation. We do not want to remember those things. We want to forget them.

Parents worry about creating bad memories for our children. When courting, we want good memories, not embarrassing situations. We try to forget bad jobs, bad cars, and bad haircuts.

I do not understand exactly how memory will work in heaven. I believe we will be so amazed at the new present, and so overwhelmed at the glorious future, that we will not be doing a lot of remembering the past. This life will be shady and gray compared to the full color life of heaven!

But somehow, when we do remember, our memories will be healed. We will not mourn them. We will not weep about them. They will not hurt. Jesus will wipe away every tear.

God does not remember His people’s sin. (Isaiah 43:25) Our sin will not be talked about in heaven, thought about in heaven, or remembered in heaven.

Our mistakes and troubles will not be remembered in heaven. (Isaiah 65:16) Since our ticket into heaven is paid by Christ’s life, our miss-steps, errors, failures, and troubles will not matter anymore.

We will remember Christ’s love. We will remember Christ’s grace. We will remember the faith, and hope, and love that He has granted us. And that will fill our memory banks.

I look forward to those memories. I hope, because God has said so, that the memories of my sin will be wiped out or changed. I hope, because God has said so, that the memories of my rebellions will be wiped out or cleaned. I hope, because God has said so, that the memories of my slips, slides, and falls will be wiped out or fixed.

Take the hope God grants us.