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Kindness, Identity and Overcompensating – VOTD.11.29.16

Posted in Verse of the Day | November 29th, 2016 | by

A woman named Martha opened her home to (Jesus). She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”  Luke 10:38-42

Last time we saw how easy it is to fall into a sense of value-less-ness when our relationship with the Lord is not founded on our true identity in Him…the truth of His unconditional love for us, and His plan for our lives. Many sit on the sidelines (or don’t come to the game at all) because they haven’t got that foundation of identity in Jesus cleared up. It’s living out of rejection.

Another way rejection works is for people who have spiritual identity issues to become the star performer…they overcompensate (and you’ve probably seen this). They’re like Martha, trying to become all things to everyone and at the end of the day they’re so exhausted from meeting everyone else’s needs—they’ve been so kind to so many—that there’s nothing left and they become weary while doing good and lose heart (Gal 6:9). (more…)

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Kindness, Identity and Relationship – VOTD.11.28.16

Posted in Verse of the Day | November 28th, 2016 | by

While David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. And Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David at Horesh, and encouraged him in God.  1 Samuel 23:15,16

We’ve been looking at foundational questions in the Christian life such as “Who am I?”, “Why am I here?”, “What is God’s plan for me?”, “Does God Love me?”… The answers to these questions make up our personal identity. And without healthy answers to such questions we will have a shaky foundation for practicing Christian graces such as kindness.

A final question: “So what?” “Does anyone even care who I am, that God loves me, that He has a plan for me?” Questions like that brings us to the topic of relationships. That is, in my life, do I have relationships that affirm my value to God and His plan for my life?

In today’s verses, we see Jonathan coming to David and encouraging him in the Lord—in context he’s affirming David in who he is, why he’s here, and what God’s purpose is for David’s life. We all need relationships like that. Because when we’re bombarded with feelings of rejection it’s easy to conclude that nobody loves us, nobody cares, then the enemy has us right where he wants us: defeated. We give up. Stop trying. Throw in the towel…

Withdraw, withdraw, withdraw. And that’s the hopelessness route. It’s the battleground of no value. They feel like they have no value, period. Self-rejection and unworthiness typify their lives. And their hearts turn off and they’re numb and they isolate themselves and they’re miserable and they don’t even know why. (more…)

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Our Identity – Seeking God – VOTD.11.22.16

Posted in Verse of the Day | November 22nd, 2016 | by

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:12-13

Last time we drew our attention to Jeremiah 29:11 which says, “I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Today’s verses follow right on the heels of that promise. Last night I saw this meditation which I wrote 5 years ago on the same verses and it fit well with our theme of our identity and practicing kindness. So I’m reproducing it here. You see, God’s plan is active and He calls his people to actively pursue it. And Kindness is what happens when we’re pursuing our identity in Jesus.

God is telling His people: I’ve got a good plan for you (v29), here are some things you can do
1. CALL to Me. God is calling us according to His purpose, Paul writes (Rom 8:28). In keeping with the purpose and plan God has for us, He calls us. But He wants us to call out to Him. “the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him (Rom 10:12). Calling on God is both simple and profound. It was so central to the identity of Christians in the early Church that they were referred to as “those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 9:14, et al., 1 Cor 1:2) (more…)

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The Identity of Kindness (pt 4) – VOTD.11.21.16

Posted in Verse of the Day | November 21st, 2016 | by

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you, and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Closely tied to the question we’ve been looking at related to our identity in Jesus and our practice of kindness (Who am I? Does God Love me?) is another question that makes up our identity: ‘Why am I here?’ For Christians, this comes down to God’s call on our lives. This is where His plan comes in.

It’s not uncommon for Christians at times to be obsessed with God’s plan for their lives. This is especially true when they haven’t established who they are in Jesus, or internalized the fact that God loves them immeasurably more than they can comprehend. (See parts 1, 2, & 3 of this series).

So if Christians try to determine, establish, and walk in God’s personal plan for them—without the foundation of identity and the love of God—they are more likely to fear His plan or their inability to attain it…than a faith-building confidence they find comfort in. It becomes a frustration, like finding a needle in a haystack.

And it’s come to a place where saying “God has a wonderful plan for my life,” becomes a Christian cliché rather than a truth we live from. When I meet other Christians they want my resume (they ask the questions—what positions do you hold? what roles do you play?). They are trying to discover my identity but they’re looking in the wrong place. (more…)

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The Identity of Kindness (pt 3) Who Am I? – VOTD.11.15.16

Posted in Verse of the Day | November 16th, 2016 | by

…being found in (Jesus), not having a righteousness of my own that comes from keeping a list of rules (religious characteristics), but that which comes through faith in Christ. Philippians 3:9

Last time we looked at 2 questions establishing the healthy identity that is needed for kindness to fill our lives. 1. ‘Am I loved by God?’ 2. ‘Am I loved by others’. Today we’ll look at a 3rd question ‘Who am I?’ Apart from roles I play; apart from titles people call me, apart from things I do, who am I really?

‘Who am I?’ is a question usually associated with kids in their teens trying to figure out the imponderables of life; the question is dismissed as an adolescent heart-palpitation. But our identity is important to God and it’s an area that virtually all advertisers, all employers/schools, all churches/clubs attempt to engineer and exploit. They know something we don’t: If they can define our identity, you and I will belong to them and they will control us.

What do they drive us to look for our identity in? What we wear; What we buy; Who we associate with; How we use our time (that’s a biggie); What we see in the mirror. What other people will think (as if everyone is thinking about us in the first place!).

Even as Christians who walk in the Spirit, our identity is often about religious characteristics. I travel a lot and I meet a lot of wonderful Christians. I can tell you the first questions Christians always ask: Where we go to church; what denomination/non denomination are we; What’s our political stance on a social issue (including Israel); What about school… Do you see where this is going? We identify each other by our religious characteristics instead of being in Christ. (more…)

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The Identity of Kindness (pt 2) – VOTD.11.14.16

Posted in Verse of the Day | November 16th, 2016 | by

One of the teachers of the law…asked [Jesus], “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Jesus answered, “The most important one is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31

There’s a popular saying that if we are to love others as we love ourselves, we have to love ourselves. That statement has been used to justify all sorts of self-indulgence, which was never the point of Jesus words in today’s verse. But it also reflects a truth that becomes more obvious when talking about showing love through acts of Kindness.

People who are at peace with themselves are able to give peace away. People who are kind to themselves are people with a reservoir of kindness to work from in their kind words and actions. People with a healthy identity spread emotional health among those they come in contact with.

So the first question in establishing a healthy identity is ‘Am I loved?’ And we have to find a yes to that. ‘Am I loved by God?’ is the central question of life, and similarly, ‘Will I allow myself to receive God’s love?’ We know we are loved by God—at least we know it in our heads. But do our hearts respond to His love? (more…)

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The Identity of Kindness – VOTD.11.08.16

Posted in Verse of the Day | November 8th, 2016 | by

For to me, to live is Christ (Phil 1:21) Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God (Gal 2:20) Your life is now hidden in God with Christ. He is your life. (Col 3:3,4)

We’ve been looking at the Christian grace of Kindness over the past few weeks, and that has been the foundation from which we’ve looked at a spirit of entitlement and now are considering a spirit of rejection. Both are obstacles to practicing kindness as a lifestyle.

Last time we saw how kindness is a weapon in the spirit realm and so it’s something the enemy wants to prevent in our lives. Nearly everyone has had their motives misunderstood when they’ve reached out in kindness, so it seems safer to not reach out. That’s an obvious problem of a rejection-spirited person. But most of the time it goes quite a bit deeper…to the core of our identity.

Through the lens of rejection, we will struggle with our own identity. The person who finds their identity in Jesus will live out of the peace of that identity because their self-value is established in Jesus… “to live is Christ”. The tragedy here is that for many in the Christian faith our identity is not found in Jesus, it’s found in a role we play. When we have a spirit of acceptance, our core identity is “I’m a child of God.” “I’m the bride of Christ”. And we live out of that identity. (more…)

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A Spirit of Rejection – VOTD.11.07.16

Posted in Verse of the Day | November 7th, 2016 | by

Grant to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified. Isaiah 61:3

We’ve been talking in recent weeks about Christian kindness and some of the things that make kindness happen; some of the things that hinder it. One of the foundations for any of us practicing kindness is how we see reality around us—and that has a lot to do with how we see ourselves…and how we see God.

Kindness is a weapon in the spirit realm. So when it comes to spiritual warfare, the enemy wants to give us a lens—a way that we see things—that gives the side of evil an advantage. These lenses are not necessarily a just a temptation or an accusation, even though the enemy is good at both. But with a lens, the enemy gives us a way of thinking that envelops us, and a filter through which we see everything else— how we see others, how we see ourselves, how we see God. (more…)

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The Poor in Spirit – VOTD.11.01.16

Posted in Verse of the Day | November 1st, 2016 | by

Blessed are the poor in spirit,
  For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:3

A reader sent me an interesting quote related to the spirit of entitlement that we’ve been talking about in these meditations. It’s too long to reproduce here, but the sum and substance is this:

The result of being poor in spirit is you get it all…the whole Kingdom. That’s not a reward…it’s the consequence. That suggests there must be a result of NOT being poor in spirit. It, too, is not a punishment…it’s a consequence.

The poor in spirit have access to everything. Being poor in spirit is what enables us to experience repeated “Yes’s” to prayer without it leading us into a spirit of entitlement…without it destroying us. If God blesses us with many “Yes’s” and we’re not poor in spirit, we will not be able to get away from an inner “You owe me, God” mentality no matter how much we cognitively know that it’s wrong to feel that way…no matter how much we know that God is a giving Father who will not withhold any good thing from us (Ps 84:11).

And it gets worse: Without being poor in spirit we will not be able to get away from an inner “I deserve God’s blessing” mentality…no matter how much we know it isn’t true. We know God’s blessings come from His grace (undeserved favor) yet we’re insidiously taking silent credit for God’s blessing us and that attitude is so far from the reality of His grace and mercy that He will not feed it. He won’t feed it because He loves us too much, not too little. (more…)