The Extra Mile

   Picture that you have just finished the last thing you need to do after work. It is a Friday and you are ready to go home to your family and enjoy the weekend. You grab your coat and pack your bag. You pull your keys out and start to walk away when suddenly you hear your co-worker. He asks you to help him finish part of this project.
   Now, you had just put in a full day of work. You were diligent and finished all of your tasks. Then this co-worker has the gall to ask you to help him! You have a choice. You could stay and help him or you could make up an excuse and say you had to get home. I just want you to think about what you would do...
   Meanwhile let's look at what the Bible says about this. In Matthew 5 Jesus is giving instruction to people. He begins to talk about the idea of "an eye for an eye" in verse 38. He says that if someone strikes your right cheek let him strike the other as well. He goes on to say "If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles" (Mat.5.40). Now, some of you may be saying "what does that mean? How can someone force me to go a mile?" Others may be saying "my coach, or trainer, would make me do that." Still others may be saying "If I had to go a mile, let alone two, I would fall over and God would take me to heaven!"
   Let's look at the context of this verse. Back in this time the Roman Empire was in charge. Roman guards had a lot to carry at times. It was legal for a Roman soldier to pull someone at random to help him carry his things. The soldier could only force that person to carry his things for a mile. Thus, Jesus was saying to go another mile with that soldier. Think about that: it is an inconvenience for you, it is a very hard job, and you are pulled away from what you need to do.
   Back to my first situation: what would you do? Would you have stayed to help your co-worker? Jesus would say that not only should you stay but you should also help him finish the project! You may be asking "why should I help? What if my co-worker takes all of the credit?" He may do that but we cannot control the actions of others. We can only control our own actions. Who knows? Maybe your helping the co-worker out will lead the co-worker to Christ.
   So, when people ask you to help will you help? Will you follow the teachings of Jesus? Will you choose to go the extra mile?

   Matthew 5:38-42 and Colossians 3:23

   Image from here.

A Tale of Morals and Righteousness: The Armor of God Series

   “Our assurance is anchored in the love and grace of God expressed in the glorious exchange: our sin for His righteousness” (Tullian Tchividjian).

   The next piece of armor is the breastplate of righteousness. During battle, soldiers would normally use their sword and shield to block blows. However, sometimes an arrow or sword would sneak through and would hit the chest. Thus, the breastplate protected the most vital organ of all: the heart.

Human hearts are finicky. The heart needs protected because it is so important and because it can be turned easily.

   Righteousness is defined as “acting in accord with divine or moral law: free from guilt or sin” (Merriam-Webster). In other words one must have a good moral compass in order to be righteous. How do we get morals? When we are young we are told stories that have morals in them.

   In my K5 class the Bible curriculum always tried to pull out a moral of the story. As a writer and reader I love to pull morals out of stories, thus why our church once did a Moral of the Story is VBS. Morals are important in society. If no one had morals then society would crumble. And yet, it is the people who choose to lie, cheat, and steal who are glorified while those who have morals are stomped on. At least, that is what it seems like. That may be why the heart is so finicky. We want what we want when we want it.

   Is it possible to have morals all the time if we have sinful desires? No, it is not possible to have morals all the time. Those of you who are wondering why I am saying this listen to this story. Once there was a man and his wife who lived in a farm in the country. It was a fairly secluded area and they did not get visitors often. One day a man knocked on the door and asked for help. The man said he needed to be hid. The farmer agreed. It was just how he was. He would help anyone who needed it. The guest went into the bathroom. A few minutes later another man knocked at the door. He asked the farmer if anyone had come by. The farmer had a choice. He could either rat the man in the bathroom out and not know what this other man would do to him, or he could lie. Either way the farmer would be party to some form of wrong. The farmer said he had not seen anyone. The man at the door went away. In order to save someone the man lied. He was not free from sin.

   As stated before, no one is ever totally righteous. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to have good morals. It is just important for us to realize that the only one who walked the earth who was righteous was Jesus. Because he was righteous, he covered our sins with is blood. That is why we can have the breastplate of righteousness. It isn’t our righteousness that covers us, it is his.

   So, do you realize that you can never truly be righteous without the blood of Jesus? Do you still try to choose to do the right thing? How can you guard your heart from the Devil’s lies?

   1 John 3:7, Romans 5:1-5, Ephesians 6
   Image from here.

Conclusion: The Fruit of the Spirit Series

   “Grow deep roots to harvest rich fruit! When your roots run deep, you cannot help but bear the fruit of the Spirit” (Michael Beckwith).

   Thus ends the journey through the fruits of the spirit. Even though my journey of writing about the fruits of the spirit has ended my study and application of them in my life has not. Because, if we as Christians stop learning about and applying the fruits of the spirit then we fail to grow in God.

   Through this journey I learned a few things that I hope you realized as well. First, all of the fruits of the spirit are connected in one way or another. Detaching them was a difficult task as was defining them. For example: if one has a gentle spirit then that person will love others. If that person loves others then the person will show self-control if someone else angers him, and so on.

   Another aspect I hope you have seen is that without God one cannot exhibit all of the fruits of the spirit. This is why one must be in constant communication with God. And, why you must have a relationship with God. God wants us to be his friend, and he wants him to grow in him. Above all else we must remember that when certain things happen in our lives, that we may not like, it is all within God’s plan for us. That is why we must trust him.

   So, are you willing to grow and exhibit the fruits of the spirit? Do you have a relationship with God in order to better exhibit the fruits of the spirit?

   Matthew 7:15-20, John 15:1, Matthew 6:19-21, Galatians 5:22-23

The Goodness in Choosing Right: The Fruit of the Spirit Series

   “Goodness is about character, integrity, honest, kindness, generosity, moral, courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people” (Dennis Prager).

   When you hear the word goodness what do you think of? You probably think of people doing nice things for others. It sounds a lot like kindness doesn’t it? Why would Paul put both kindness and goodness in the fruit of the spirit if they are pretty much the same?

   Kindness and goodness are not the same. You can be good by showing kindness. But, goodness is “the deliberate preference of right to wrong, the firm and persistent resistance of all moral evil, and the choosing and following of all moral good” (Easton’s Bible Dictionary). In order to be good one must choose to do right rather than wrong. And, ever since sin entered the world, that isn’t easy.

   The way to learn right from wrong is either by studying or by learning from a teacher. While I was student teaching, in my last semester at Lancaster Bible College, I was having a really difficult time getting the students to learn. I could not understand why the students did not want to learn more about their world, especially when I was doing it in a fun way/trying to cater to their individual interests. On top of that I was getting frustrated because I felt like a failure as a teacher.

   Then I had a conversation with my professor. She told me that I seemed to be getting frustrated because students did not want to learn and they were misbehaving. Then she told me that I have a definite sense of right and wrong. I feel that students are always growing but they can either grow the right way or the wrong way. It became my goal, after that conversation, to plant seeds of learning in students to help them grow the right way.

   In order to choose right rather than wrong, one must know the word of God. And, like I said the best way to learn right from wrong is to study or be taught. But, there is no way that we can always choose to be good because we are sinful creatures. We need to pray to God to help us choose his path rather than the wrong path. With his help we can choose follow his ways.

   So, have you chosen to follow God? Do you have a teacher in your life to help you learn right from wrong and keep you accountable? Do you believe that it is only through God that you are able to choose right from wrong?

   Psalm 23:6, Romans 12:9, Galatians 6:10, Galatians 5:22-23