“HAVE YOU SEEN JACOB THACKSTON?” – March 6

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” Galatians 5:6

Have you seen Jacob Thackston?  Is that name recognizable?

Google will not readily yield an accurate association.
The trappings of fame are not its acclaim.
Familiarity does not come from notoriety.

The name, Jacob Thackston, has a particular importance to me.  It is a name that has come to transcend even the owner in my mind.  I associate this name more with a characteristic than a particular personage.  It represents a potential that resides in each and every one of us.

We are all potential Jacob Thackstons.

Four years ago, Jacob Thackston was one of the top Lincoln Douglas debaters in Region II of the National Christian Forensic and Communication Association (NCFCA).  He won several tournaments and qualified for the NCFCA National Championship.  However, I don’t remember Jacob Thackston for these reasons.

I don’t remember any of his speeches;
I don’t remember any of his cases;
I don’t even remember what he looks like.

In fact, Jacob Thackston had thoroughly faded from my memory when an event just five weeks ago brought his name flooding back to my remembrance.

It was my family’s first year of involvement in NCFCA that I became familiar with the name Jacob Thackston.  My son was 14 years old and we were at our second tournament.  We were still figuring out this whole crazy, one-clap, NCFCA experience.  My son was struggling with some learning challenges.  He was doing cognitive therapy and we were simply thrilled that he was doing one speech, an Illustrated Oratory speech.

The first time I heard the name Jacob Thackston was as we were leaving the tournament and a young man walked out of the building and yelled:

“Hey Kyle, I want to see you doing LD next year.”

My wife and I, were “who was that”?  And my son said, “That’s Jacob Thackston”.
It was a long ride home and that name came up repeatedly.

Jacob Thackston was a senior and he had won the Lincoln-Douglas final debate at that particular tournament and my son was a fan. My son had followed Jacob Thackston around the whole tournament and timed all of his rounds.  Yet, I discovered that Jacob Thackston had done a remarkable thing as a senior to this novice speaker, my son.

He showed kindness to my son.  He encouraged my son.

What I heard from my son the entire ride home was:

“Jacob Thackston thinks I should do LD”;
“Jacob Thackston said that he would help me”;
“Jacob Thackston thinks I can do it”.

I must confess that I did not agree with Jacob Thackston.  I thought this whole LD idea was a bad idea.  My son had learning challenges; he was going to get slaughtered…but we tried to be good parents, sucked it up and said, “Oh I think that will be wonderful.”

That made what I saw five weeks ago so incredible in my eyes.  Five weeks ago at the NCFCA Spokane Open, my son walked across the stage the winner of a NCFCA national open in Lincoln Douglas debate.  I was astounded.  Honestly, it was a sight that I never thought I would see while driving across the State of Washington and hearing my son first tell me about Jacob Thackston.As my son received his trophy, I was as proud as a Dad can be and I was grateful to a lot of people.  Like most NCFCA competitors, my son has received a lot of help and encouragement along the way.  Yet, Jacob Thackston specifically came to my mind because it had all started with him.

It had all started with his kindness.

Consider what his words could have done.

He could have been harsh or condescending;
He could have been indifferent or aloof;
He could have said nothing;
He could have discouraged my son…
to the point that our second tournament was our last.

Now, you may not think that showing simple kindness is a big deal but I will vehemently disagree with you. It may have been a simple thing but just because it was simple does not negate its tremendous impact.

Jacob Thackston’s simple kindness changed our lives.

• Kindness changed my son’s life. His life is different because of his involvement in NCFCA; profoundly, positively different.  Kindness tilled the opportunity of participation to be planted in his life.
• Kindness changed my life.  I am on the board of directors for NCFCA.  The simple kindness of a teenager started a whole series of events that have brought me to participate in a way that I had never aspired.

That is the profoundly powerful impact of kind words.

The kindness of Jacob Thackston was more than a good guy being friendly.  The spirit of God can be recognized in his action. I believe that his actions were the result of the faith of a child of God working through love – specifically love in the form of kindness.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. (Galatians 5:6)

What do you think counts from the second tournament that my family attended?  Do you think the trophy Jacob Thackston took home all those years ago counts for more than the change his kindness made in my family’s life?

The kindness of Jacob Thackston is an example of how to combine what we do with how we do it, for the glory of God.  Jacob Thackston competed with intensity; he pursued excellence; he was focused; he was prepared; he was ready to address life issues from a biblical worldview.  He was successful.

However, what he did at that tournament in Washington did not eclipse how he did.  The kindness shown to my son demonstrated a faith working through love and that made all of his actions count.  It was his faith working through kindness toward a novice teenager that has continued to bring glory to God.

Kind words do not cost much.  Yet they accomplish much.
~ Blaise Pascal

Therefore, my encouragement is to never underestimate the power of simple kindness.  Speak what needs to be spoken.  Do what needs to be done.  Yet, always speak and do from a heart that loves God, a soul that hopes in God, a mind that is set on God and an attitude that loves your neighbor as much as yourself.  May our words accomplish much and may our legacy be a legacy of kindness for the glory of God.

Have you seen Jacob Thackston?
Have you been Jacob Thackston?

May we all become Jacob Thackston!

PRAYER: Lord, I thank you for the how you have used and continue to use the kindness of Jacob Thackston.  Father, help me to be like Jacob Thackston.  Help me to live a life characterized by simple kindness.   May the fruit of you Spirit flourish in my life in a love for you and for all those with how I interact for your glory.  May we all become a people who glorify you through our kindness.   I pray this in the precious name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen

I LOVE YOU…THERE I SAID IT – April 27

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

 “I love you!”, my friend professed as I turned to leave.

Oh, man…why did he go there?

“I have a profound appreciation for you, also,” was the perfunctory reply I dared not utter since  “love”  hung in the air.

I struggled for an appropriate response as milliseconds turned toward awkwardness.

Why could I not respond with, “I love you too”?
Why does professing our love from a brother in Christ seem so weird?
Why couldn’t we  just hit each other on the shoulder and that be enough?

I mustered up a weak, “me too,” as I made for the door.

Few phrases cause me more social angst than a profession of brotherly love from a non-confidant. I might have been scarred by the Bud Light commercials from the mid-90’s (I Love You Man).

The problem arises from my cultural interpretation of the implied meaning of love.  Love as defined by Dictionary.com:

1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.
2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.
3. sexual passion or desire.
4. a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart.

I know intellectually what the Bible teaches regarding love.

The second is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  (Mark 12:31)

These things I command you, so that you will love one another.  (John 15:17)

Love one another with brotherly affections.  (Romans 12:9)

Owe no one anything, except to love each other…  (Romans 13:8)

Let brotherly love continue. (Hebrews 13:1)

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart… (1 Peter 1:12)

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.  (1 Peter 4:8)

Greet one another with the kiss of love…  (1 Peter 5:14)

Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.  (1 John 2:10)

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:11)

If anyone says, “I love God”, and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  (1 John 4:20)

Our culture has skewed the meaning of love to such an extent that I struggle with the emotional aspect of love. I can intellectually know that I should tell my brother in Christ that I love him but a mental checklist suppresses my feelings:

Do I have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for this other person?
…Nope.

Do I feel a warm personal attachment or deep affection for this person?
…Not really.

Do I feel a sexual passion or desire for this person?
…Definitely not.

The inevitable conclusion is that I don’t feel the profound emotional response of love for this person as I have come to know what those feelings should entail. This conclusion makes any reciprocal profession of love seem less than genuine (Rom. 12:9). How can I love them…I barely know them?  That makes it weird.  Weirdness goes off the scale in trying to tell a sister in Christ that she is loved by me.  And to just complicate it more, consider the implications of the command to love our enemies.

But I say to you who hear, Love our enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.  (Luke 6:27)

If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? Fore even sinners do the same.  (Luke 6:32)

If they truly are our enemy, than all the inherent meanings of love are turned upon their head. Our love must be genuine. It must flow from a heart that truly feels love. Therefore, we need to change our definition of love.  C.S. Lewis has aided my personal definition transition. He defined love as:

Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.
~Answers to Questions on Christianity,” God in the Dock .

When we remove the societal demand for emotional affection from the definition of love, we begin to gain a better understanding of how to practically live in genuine love for those who are acquaintances, distant neighbors, or an enemy.

When I love someone, wishing for that person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained, my actions become those defined by love (1 Cor. 13:4-7).

Love is patient and kind
…because that leads to their ultimate good.

Love does not envy or boast
…because that will not lead to their ultimate good.

Love is not arrogant or rude
…because that will detract from their ultimate good.

Love does not insist on its own way
…because that is the way to their ultimate good.

Love is not irritable or resentful
…because that will detract from their ultimate good.

Love does not rejoice at wrongdoing
…because that will not lead to their ultimate good.

Love rejoices with the truth
…because therein lies their ultimate good.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things for the ultimate good of those we love.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish
but have eternal life.
(John 3:16)

God loved us while we were yet enemies because He desired our ultimate good and He accomplished it.

I  genuinely want that for everyone. I genuinely wish that all would come to Christ. I genuinely wish that all my family, friends, acquaintances, and enemies would come to their ultimate good. I don’t want to do anything that would be a stumbling block to anyone’s salvation or sanctification.

Based on this more appropriate definition of love, I do love people even though I find it sort of weird to express it.  However, expressing our love for one another is important.

Therefore, I want to express to all those who are reading this blog:

I LOVE YOU!

PRAYER: Father, thank you for first loving me.  Thank you for desiring my ultimate good and working out everything to that end.  Thank you for enabling me to love others – even my enemies.  Help me to to desire their ultimate good.  Lord, I lift up my enemies to you in love – give them their ultimate good, which is to know you. Father, make me a loving person in all ways and at all times.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen

Just to clarify, I love you …in an unromantic, less than platonic,  non-sexual, slug you in the shoulder sort of brotherly love …
that genuinely and earnestly wishes  the ultimate good for you,  that Jesus Christ, will flow in and through your life.

I know … it just seemed a little weird.
(I am working on it.)

QUOTE (Frances Ridley Havergal) – Dec 14

Frances Ridley Havergal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“Seldom can the heart be lonely,
If it seek a lonelier still;
Self-forgetting, seeking only
Emptier cups of love to fill.”
~ Frances Ridley Havergal

In honor of Frances Ridley Havergal, an English devotional writer, who was born on this day in 1836.  She was the author of the classic hymns “Take My Life and Let It Be” and “I Gave My Life for Thee.”

Resources:
Frances Ridley Havergal > Quotes
Today in Christian History – December 14

“ENTICED BY TOMORROW” – Nov 4

“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” 1 John 3:2

Tomorrow plays an enticing melody.  It is a melody that every person cannot help but hum during the day.  We plan in a chant of tomorrow.  We daydream in the croon of the future.  We fix goals in a serenade to what might become.  The necessity of tomorrow brings us all into the choir.  However, the allure of what is just around the corner can grasp our attention like acrophobia can steal a view.  Tomorrow has a perpetual rhythm whose powerful grasp is difficult to escape.

mendhak / Foter.com / CC BY-SA

My plans, goals, hopes and dreams, all inhabit tomorrow.  A goal intersects with the presence for a preciously short instant where it is either accomplished or not.  A plan evaporates upon implementation.  Hopes and dreams are recast once they are realized.  Tomorrow provides an escape from the physical bounds of the presence to the ethereal possibility of what may come.

It is easy for the promise of tomorrow to eclipse the duty of today.

Waiting for tomorrow is how I have spent the majority of my life.  I have lived preoccupied by planning to make tomorrow better.  I daily make investments of time, money, and energy into tomorrow.  The majority of our lives are spent striving for tomorrow:

Secondary education were years spent in preparing for college or work.
College was spent in preparation for graduate school or a career.
A career was spent in preparation for advancement.
Advancement was spent in preparation of retirement.

Tomorrow provides a consistent rhythm for most of our lives.  We live for the weekend.  We live for the next holiday.  We live for the next vacation.  If we are not careful, we can end up living for tomorrow and miss duties of today.

Garry – www.visionandimagination.com / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

An unhealthy focus on tomorrow can steal our confidence and contentment in the presence.  As we study and learn all that we don’t know, our lack of qualifications can keep us sidelined.  Past failures can cause us to doubt our capabilities in the present.  Our esteem for the mature can lend to prolonged deferment.  Our investments in tomorrow can deprive the profits of today.

Thomas Hawk / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

For a follower of Christ, there is an aspect of tomorrow that will never be improved from today’s reality.  For all who are in Christ, we are children of God, today.  A decade, century, millennium will not improve upon the title that we have, today.  We are children of the most High God.  We are fellow heirs with Christ, today.  The reality that we experience today allows us to cry, “ABBA! FATHER!”, through the Spirit of adoption that we have received.

Beloved, we are God’s children, now. 

The reality of who we are today should change how we view the present.  Who we are today, frees us from the enticing song of tomorrow with all of its promises for a better future that keeps us from being active in the present.

Beloved, we are God’s children.

What we will be tomorrow has not yet appeared but we know that someday we will be like Christ and we shall see Him as He is.  That will be an incredible tomorrow.  The reality of this incredible tomorrow should provide perspective to all of our planning, goals, hopes and dreams for our personal tomorrows.

Beloved, we are going to be like Christ and we shall see Him as He is.

We all have a duty to plan for tomorrow. We all are filled with hopes and dreams for the future.  Who we are should inform all of those plans.  It should shape every hope and dream.

Beloved, we are God’s children.

We are free to accomplish our Father’s business in all its varied forms, today.  No child of God has to wait for tomorrow to do our Father’s will today.

We don’t need a position or permission, degrees or pedigrees, time or dimes, acceptability or civility to:

…love the Lord your God with all of your heart and
with all your soul and with all your mind.

We do not need to wait for tomorrow to love the Lord today.  We can love God regardless of the condition of our today.

…love your neighbor as yourself.

Our neighbor’s heart can be encased with our love today.  Love does not need to wait until tomorrow.

Beloved, love does not need to wait for tomorrow
because we are God’s children today.

PRAYER: Lord, thank you for allowing me to be your child now.  Thank you for allowing me into your family today.  Father, I look forward to the day when I will be like Christ.  I look forward to the day when I will see Christ as He is.  I long for that day.  Lord, you know that I get distracted by all the cares of this word.  You know that I can make an excuse not to be loving out of my addiction to my dreams of tomorrow.  Change my mind to the reality that I do not need anything from tomorrow to do your will today.  I pray this in the precious name of your Son,  Jesus Christ.   Amen.

“WHAT’S UNDER THE HOOD?” – June 14

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”  1 Corinthians 13:1-3

When I was a teenager, I bought myself a sweet ride.  It was black and shiny.  I added chrome rims with wide, low profile tires making speed bumps a hazard.  I bought a stereo that was more for the listening pleasure or displeasure of those outside the car.  I swapped the original steering wheel out for a small custom chrome wheel that made sharp turns a work-out.  I fussed over that car.  I washed it.  I buffed it.  I polished it.

I was so cool cruising the streets of my small,  rural town in my ’69 Camaro.  It was more than a mode of transportation from my home to school.  It served a purpose that was beyond a mechanism to speed the activities of my day.  My car was a representation of how I wanted my little world to see me.

However, there was a problem with my car.  It was a problem that was beyond my financial abilities to fix.  My Camaro rolled off the assembly line with a deficiency that belied its exterior.  My Camaro was powered by only six cylinders.  This is not the standard Camaro.  Chevrolet did not build the Camaro brand on six cylinder cars like mine.

2010 Camaro (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Camaros are known as muscle cars.  The title does not come from having the same amount of horsepower as a family sedan.  Muscle cars have the kind of power that will pin you to your seat with each stomp of the accelerator.  They have an enticing guttural purr that speaks of their latent power even while idling.  A muscle car earns its moniker by what cannot be seen.  My Camaro did not earn any such moniker.  It had no muscle under its hood.  That is probably why my parents allowed me to buy it.  My car was a sham.  It looked the part, but it was not what people thought it was.

I would go on the Friday night cruise and drive really slow.  Often, I would find myself sitting next to real muscle cars.  They would rev the engine of their real muscle car and I would feel horsepower envy through my very being.  I was forced to play a cool indifference in my refusal to race; like they were a contender not worthy of a response from my beast.  All the while, I knew that I had a kitten under the hood.  I hated the appearance of power without anything to back it up.

My car was all show and no go.

I wonder how often I have lived in a manner that my faith is more like a poser for the real thing just as my Camaro was.  How often has my faith been all show and no go?

The Christian life is a response.  All that we have has been given to us.  We were saved despite ourselves while we were yet enemies of God.  There is nothing that we can earn through the practice of our faith.  We walk in a newness of life due to the grace that has been shown to us by our Father in Heaven.  The only appropriate response is love.  All other responses are a jumbled confusion of conflicting motives.  Motivation originating from anything other than love is just another example of our old flesh trying to get back into play.

The power plant that drives the actions of a child of God is a heart in love with their Redeemer. 

It matters greatly what is under our spiritual hood.  We can be motivated by many things but love is the only attitude that unleashes the full power of the Spirit in our lives.

I am hesitant to even suggest the number of Christians who are living under-powered lives.  I know my own heart.  I know that my own selfishness slips into the motivations for many of the activities that I choose to do for the Lord.  I can do all the right things for all the wrong reasons.  I have done that.  I struggle not to do that.

I think this is terribly common among us who are striving to follow Christ:

I have seen teachers whose ministry is contingent upon appreciation.
I have heard indifferent worship given between snippets of the last week’s events.
I have known elders who operated with an ongoing list of  wrongs done to them.
I have seen ministry leaders whose staffs feel beleaguered and taken for granted.
I have watched obedience offered to please a parent.
I have heard offerings being given in order to purchase privilege.
I have known accountability resulting in writing off a person who made a mistake.

Many of us look really good from the outside.  We have all the appearance of power but what we really have under the hood is suspect.  I think that it is very good to check one’s motivation.  I think it is good to listen to what our lives sound like.

Why are you going on that mission trip?
Why are you helping at Church?
Why are you giving your money?
Why are you giving your time to ministry?

If you are doing it for any reason other than out of love for your Redeemer, then you are probably doing it in your own power.  Consider how severely under-powered you will be and it will still gain you nothing.

Power is something that cannot be faked.  At some point, our poser bluff will be called.  Maybe, now is the time to check what you are running under your spiritual hood.  A swap of motivations can be as easy as falling upon our needs in confession and crying out for help to our Father who has been waiting for the right attitude to flood us with the power of His Spirit.

PRAYER: Lord, you know my heart better than I do.  You know that I do so much from the wrong motivations.  I know that I am probably more of a clanging symbol than a beautiful melody to your ear.  Father, help me.  Help me to walk in a love for You and for my neighbors.  Forgive me for allowing my selfishness to get in the way.  Forgive me for all the right things that I have done out of the wrong motivation.  I don’t want to be fake.  I don’t want to pretend to be living in the power of your Spirit.  I want to know the real thing.  I will to live in your love and your power.  Strip me of any motivation that is not pleasing to you. I pray this in the precious name of your Son, Jesus Christ.   Amen.

“MEANS TO AN END” – April 14

“O Israel, hope in the Lord!  For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.” Psalm 130:7

It is just a means to an end.

That is a saying that I have uttered on many an occasion.  This saying has been applied to countless insignificant, meaningless, or unpleasant activities that are completed in order to obtain a greater purpose.  The greater purpose is the goal and the lesser activities are the means or method by which the goal is obtained.  It is a principle that is used all the time.

Someone may have a goal of being a corporate CEO.  The means to becoming the CEO is working all the various positions on the corporate ladder as they climb up to obtain the primary goal.  Many of those jobs are not very rewarding.  However, the CEO is the end; all the jobs along the way are the means.  That is why they do them.

Someone may have a goal of becoming an elected official.  The means to getting elected is going to all those political party functions, the “meet and greets”, the shaking hands, and the baby kissing.  Campaigning can be exhausting.  However, being elected is the end; the campaigning is the means.  That is why it is done.

Someone may have the goal of becoming fit.  The means to getting fit is eating less and exercising more.  Working out is not that enjoyable.  Eating less and healthy is not very satisfying.  However, being fit is the end; working out and watching what you eat is the means.  That is why it is done.

I think that everyone understands that it takes means to reach desired ends.  However, there is a problem when we allow this mentality to drift into our relationships.

People are never means.  People are always ends.

There is so much heartache that comes from people being treated as means to achieve some other end.  People are often tossed aside when they have served their purpose.

The friend who is no longer called because better ones have been found;

The girlfriend who is dumped after she has given herself;

The boyfriend who is broken off because there are better options;

The colleague who is abandoned since he is no longer of an advantage;

The friendship that is pursued because of connections;

The spouse who is left for a new source of happiness.

It is an unloving attitude to treat another person as a means; to treat them as a pawn in a grand strategy of obtaining a greater purpose.  We are told that the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself.  The goal for every person who we engage is to encourage, edify, teach, and train.  The people with whom we interact should be better for that experience.  They should be more joyful, more peaceful, and happier; they should feel like they have experienced kindness, gentleness, and goodness.  They should know that they are loved after they have spent time with us.  That is our end with other people.  Our neighbor’s best is the end; love is the means.

In much the same way, God is never the means. God is always the end.

Many people seek out God to get something.  They come to Him with expectations and when those expectations are not fulfilled they leave Him.

They seek God to make their life better;

They want God to repair their marriage and/or relationships;

They want God to give them wealth and connections;

They want God to make them feel better about themselves;

They want God to keep them out of hell.

They seek God for the purpose of obtaining those other things.  They are not seeking God because He is God.  We are told that the greatest commandment is to love God.  Our primary purpose is to bring glory to God for who He is and what He has done.  We bring God the greatest glory that is possible from us when we love Him with all that we are, think, and do.  Bringing God the glory that He is due is the end; our love is the means.

In God’s plan, I am never the end; I am always the means.

I put myself in a bad place when I make myself an end.  I was never intended to be my own personal end.  I cannot be following the greatest of commandments when I have made myself an end.

We are making ourselves the end when we say things like, “I deserve <fill in the blank>; to be loved, to be happy, to be respected, to be appreciated, to be acknowledged, to be rewarded, to be feared.  The results of not having our blank filled in, the way we want, is often anger, jealousy, envy, gossip, and coveting. Those sins are the fruit of making ourselves the end. We were never intended to be our own personal end; we have always been the means for showing love to God and others.

The good news is that we do not have to feel left out.  One of the blessings of Christian community, as God intended, is that other believers will be interacting with you as their end.  They will be showing you love as their means of encouraging and edifying you. This is one of the reasons that living within the Church, the body of Christ, is so important to our souls.  It is when we pull away from those whose end is our best that we begin to start looking out for ourselves and our own personal ends; only bad results will come from that.  We need to allow the means of other believers to work to their desired ends in our lives.

Now, we all know that the church is imperfect.  Other believers can let us down.  Other Christians often have their ends very confused and do a horrible job of loving their neighbors.  We can come away after interacting with some church folk and be discouraged and feeling unloved.  We need to learn to forget ourselves and understand that they don’t owe us anything.  Their actions are often the result of sin and/or immaturity.  Remember, they are our end; not our means.  We do not need to rely upon them.  We can rest assured that we will never be left abandoned in an emotional wasteland.  God is always for us.

We are God’s end; His love is the means.

We are children of God.  There is nothing that can prevent Him from showing His love to His children.  He knows what we need.  He knows that we need His peace, contentment, encouragement, and love.  He knows how to give His children good gifts.  When we make ourselves our personal ends, we are declaring our unbelief in the sufficiency of God.

We can trust God to fulfill us.

We can trust God to sustain our self-esteem.

We can trust God to give us happiness.

We are in the hands God.  He is merciful and gracious; slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  He is faithful and can be trusted with our emotional well-being.  It is a small thing for the creator of the universe to fill you and me with joy.

We just need to trust Him with our hearts.

PRAYER: Father, thank you for showing me your steadfast love.  Thank you for not leaving me to rely upon myself.  Thank you for being sufficient in all ways.  Lord, help be to show your love to my neighbors.  Forgive me for being manipulative of other people and not loving them like I should.  Lord, I pray that I will be a blessing to all those I meet and that they will feel loved by your steadfast love flowing through me. Amen.