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Don’t judge

5. Jul 2024 On The Way In Love
“Judge not, that you be not judged” (Matt 7:1; NKJV). Jesus cautions us to avoid judging and condemning others for faults we may perceive they have. None of us are perfect and we should consider our own faults before we criticize others (Matt 7:3). We are not to speak evil of anyone (Titus 3:2; James 4:11). God is the ultimate judge not us (2 Cor 5:10).
However, within the church there will be situations where we are to judge and discipline (1 Cor 5:12). Jesus gave us clear direction for dealing with someone who has done us wrong (Matt 18:15-17). Firstly, we go to them ourselves, if we can’t bring resolution, we ask one or two others to help settle things. As a last resort the church leadership should be involved to judge in the matter, discover the truth and decide on corrective discipline if justified. In all judgement the primary goals have to be forgiveness, reconciliation and restoration (Gal 6:1; James 5:19-20). If we don’t forgive, God cannot forgive us (Mark 11:26). Restoration needs to be approached in a “spirit of gentleness” or meekness (Gal 6:1; NKJV). Meekness is power under perfect control. The Scribes and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus (John 8:3-11). She could have been stoned for her sin but Jesus responded by saying, let him that has no sin throw the first rock. None did and Jesus didn’t condemn her but simply told her to sin no more. No judgementalism, just compassion, forgiveness, integrity, discipline and restoration.

Kindness

3. Jul 2024 On The Way In Love
Kindness is part of love, “Love endures long and is patient and kind” (1 Cor 13:4; AMPC). It is also a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22). God is love (1 John 4:16) and He is kind. The Psalms talk a great deal about the lovingkindness of God. “O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy and lovingkindness endure forever” (Ps 136:1; AMPC). The second half of that sentence is repeated in every verse of all 26 verses in that Psalm!
In the Old Testament we read about the kindness of Boaz to Ruth (Ruth 2:5-23). In the New Testament Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30-37. I’m sure we are all familiar with that story, the point being that the Samaritan, from a race hated by the Jews, was the only one who “did the kindness with him” (Luke 10:37; YLT). Jesus followed those words with these, “Go and do likewise.” In Acts 9:36 we read about Dorcas, who was, “always doing kind things for others and helping the poor” (NLT). Eph 4:32 tells us to “be kind to one another” and Col 3:12 tells us to clothe ourselves with a number of things, one of which is kindness.
Did you know there is a week in the year called Random Acts of Kindness week? Next year it is the week from February 14-20, 2025. What a great idea! I don’t know about you but my goal is to make every week a Random Act of Kindness week!

Faith

1. Jul 2024 On The Way In Love
The Bible is very clear that as Christians we must live by faith in God (Mark 11:22). “Now, the just shall live by faith” (Heb 10:38a; NKJV). We receive all of God’s promises by faith. So, what is faith? My favorite definition is in 2 Tim 3:14; (AMPC) “Faith in Christ Jesus (Through the leaning of the entire human personality on God in Christ Jesus in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness).” You may think, “I am not there yet”, that’s ok. We have all been given a measure of faith (Rom 12:3b) and we can build up our faith by spending time in the word (Rom 10:17). For example, if we are believing God for a major breakthrough in our finances, we can dig out scriptures on that topic and meditate on them. One such scripture would be Philippians 4:13, where we read that God provides for our needs.
If we are believing for something that we are praying for, what we say should match our faith. (Mark 11:23). We can’t say we are believing for financial breakthrough and yet also tell people, “I’m just about bankrupt.” In James’ epistle he tells us that a doubleminded man will not receive anything from God (James 1:6-8). When we pray, we believe right then that we have the answer (Mark 11:24) even though what we request may not manifest in the physical realm for some time. In the meantime, we keep meditating on the scriptures to keep us in faith and we thank God in our prayers for the answer. As we dare to believe God, He will amaze us with His love, blessings and power!

Small Beginnings

28. Jun 2024 On The Way In Love
“Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin” (Zech 4:10a; NLT). The meaning of the words “small beginnings” is insignificant or unimportant. In other words, what may seem unimportant or insignificant to us is something that makes God happy. It’s interesting that some of the people God chose to do His work were seemingly unimportant. There was Moses who felt he couldn’t speak properly (Ex 4:10); David whose father didn’t even bring him before Samuel for selection to be king (1 Sam 16:11) and Gideon who called himself “the least in his father’s house” (Judges 6:15). Not to mention Jesus who was born in a lowly stable to humble parents. Jesus Himself chose unimportant people such as uneducated fishermen to be His disciples; He also spent time with people that the world would call insignificant such as tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners. His whole ministry was directed to people with needs.
You might be thinking that what you do for God is insignificant – you don’t have a world-wide ministry, you’re not winning souls to the Lord every day or your prayer life doesn’t feel very dynamic. However, according to our initial verse above God is rejoicing over the small things you do. As Jesus Himself said, “Truly I tell you, in so far as you did it to one of the least (in the estimation of men) of these My brethren, you did it for Me” (Matt 25:40; AMPC).

Greetings that minister

26. Jun 2024 On The Way In Love
Many of the epistles in the Bible, 17 in fact, have some common words of greeting. For example, “Grace to you and peace from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom 1:7b; NKJV). “Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Tim 1:2b; NKJV). In one epistle, written by Jude, the brother of Jesus, we read, “Mercy, peace and love be multiplied to you” (Jude 1:2; NKJV). In their greetings the writers above were conveying words of encouragement from the Lord to the Christian churches. Let’s look at the words used. The Greek word for grace describes God’s unmerited favour, available to His children enabling us walk in and all His blessings and the life He has for us to enjoy. God’s grace encompasses empowerment to be all He wants us to be, especially as His ambassadors. God’s gift of peace is a state of perfect wellbeing in harmony with God and each other, even when we are surrounded by turmoil. Mercy is the practical outward expression of goodness and pity. God shows us mercy in His forgiveness and gift of salvation. We are to show mercy to people who are suffering and in need. In Jude’s epistle the Greek word for love is agape, God’s unconditional love for us and the love we are to walk in as Christians. This love is a fruit of the Holy Spirit in us (Gal 5:22-23; Rom 5:5). Let’s think on God’s greetings by the apostle Paul and other writers of the epistles. These greetings should motivate us to be constructive in our conversations and use our words to be a blessing.

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