No Giving Up

To all the children of God out there, some reminders here;

• "The fire at the altar must be kept burning, it must not go out"Lev 6:13
• "Let us not become weary in doing good...."Gal 6:9
• "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good"Rom 12:21

2 Peter 5:5-9

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is short-sighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

Let us not give up.

Suffering Long

"Love can be wronged and wronged and wronged and never wants revenge", says John MacArthur in his sermon on love. 

Oh what an admirable fruit of the spirit, what resilience! Who is capable of that? One who yields to the spirit of God when the circumstance is trying 'beyond limits'. 

It is truly mighty hard to maintain peace in a circumstance that irritates again and again and again and makes one go crazy... It is a golden virtue though and he who can master his attitudes and reactions amidst the craziest of circumstances has great self control.

J.R Miller has this to say about the blessing of patience;

We all need patience. Without it we never really can make anything of our lives. We need it in our homes. The very closeness and familiarity of the family members within our own doors—make it hard at times for us to preserve perfect sweetness of spirit. There is much lack of patience, in most earthly families. We throw off our reserve and our carefulness, and are apt to speak or act disagreeably.

It is easy in the friction that too often is felt in our homes—to lose our patience and speak unadvisedly and unkindly. Such impatient words hurt gentle hearts, sometimes irreparably. But wherever else we may fail in patience—it should not be in our own homes! Only the sweetest life should be lived there. We have not long to stay together—and we should be patient and gentle while we may!

We need the patience of Christ also, in our mingling with others, in our business associations and contacts, in our social relations, and in all our dealings with our neighbors. Not all people are congenial and patient to us. Some want their own way. Some are unreasonable. Some fail to treat us right. Possibly in some cases—the fault may be ours, at least in part. 

Others may sometimes think of us—as we do of them. However this may be, the patience of Christ may teach us to bear with even the most unreasonable people, sweetly and lovingly. He was patient with everyone, and we are to be like Him. If we are impatient with anyone, we fail to be true to the interest of our Master, whom we are always to represent.

1 Corinthians 4:7 "Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud"

True Greatness

Isaiah 57:15

For thus says the High and Lofty One

Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:

“I dwell in the high  and holy place,

With him who has a contrite and humble spirit,

To revive the spirit of the humble,

And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

I love what Jonathan Edwards says about a humility:

A truly humble man is sensible of . . .

  the small extent of his knowledge,
  the great extent of his ignorance,
  and his utter spiritual weakness.

He is sensible . . .
  of his natural distance from God,
  of his dependence upon Him,
  of the insufficiency of his own power and wisdom,
  that it is by God's power that he is upheld and provided for,
  that he needs God's wisdom to lead and guide him, and 
  that he needs His might to enable him to live a holy life.

The man who is under the influence of a humble spirit is content with such a situation as God is pleased to allot to him, is not greedy for honor or fame, and does not strive to appear exalted above his neighbors.

Humility tends also to prevent an arrogant and domineering behavior. On the contrary, humility, disposes a person to a condescending behavior to the vilest and lowest, and to treat inferiors with courtesy and affability — as being sensible of his own despicableness before God.

If we then consider ourselves as the followers of the meek and lowly and crucified Jesus, we shall walk humbly before God and man all the days of our life on earth.

Know God.
Confess your nothingness and ill-desert before Him.
Distrust yourself.
Rely only on Christ.
Renounce all glory except for Him.
Yield yourself heartily to His will and service.

Avoid an aspiring, ambitious, ostentatious, domineering, arrogant, scornful, stubborn, willful, self-justifying behavior; and strive for more and more of the humble spirit that Christ manifested while He was on earth
Earnestly seek then, and diligently and prayerfully cherish a humble spirit — and God shall walk with you here below, and soon shall "Present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy!" Jude 1:24

People Pleasing

I love how Lou Priolo explained the snare of pleasing people in his book Pleasing People: How Not To Be An Approval Junkie. Pleasing people isn't a bad thing at all, but it is a terrible one when we want to please people more than we want to please God. It is a form of the ugly pride we have when we want to maintain  a 'perfect' image of ourselves before people.

Let me share with you the reasons he says it is not even possible to please people:

1. Each person is different and therefore, by pleasing some, you will inevitably displease others
2. People's selfishness distorts their thinking and raises their expectations above that which you can reasonably fulfill
3. Most of them are regenerate and believe you to be  "foolish" and "strange"
4. Even among Christians, judgmental attitudes and critical spirits are all too prevalent
5. Even Jesus the Perfect Man, did not please everyone
6. They are fundamentally incapable of being pleased by anyone or anything other than Christ

So what do we do now? 

We replace our desire to please people with an even greater desire to please God. Here are some of the ways we can do this:

1. Having faith (living with conviction that God keeps His promises)
2. Walking with God (cooperating with God in our transforming of the mind and therefore righteous lifestyle)
3. Living in holiness
4. Doing good works
5. Acquiring knowledge and wisdom
6. Showing gratitude through worship
7. Having godly ambition (looking forward to your reward in heaven)

It takes humility to walk this walk of pleasing God, but God gives us the grace to do so because it is all for His glory.