Ephesians 4:1-3 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, (2) with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, (3) being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

I like those words, humilty, gentleness, patience, tolerance.  What does that mean?

Humility-you acknowledge that you are a sinner, far from perfect and no better on your own than anyone else.  It is a tough thing to have true humility and I am still learning it.

Gentleness-How do we react to others?  Do we speak harshly and angrily?  Impatiently.  Or do we try to speak lovingly and gently.

Patience-Another tough one.  People need time, but more on what that doesn't mean in a minute.

Tolerance-This one is misused and abused by the world.  I fear that this twisted meaning has made its way into the church.  Tolerance does not apply to SIN but only to sinners.  Sometimes those who are in sin get upset when that sin is named and they are called to repentance.  The shining of light upon sin and the calling for repentance is not intolerance.  We are supposed to name sin and call for repentance.  People need time, but not to continue in sin.  One of the best examples of Jesus embodying this is the woman caught in adultery.  First he dispatched those who would condemn her to death while ignoring their own sin.  Then he forgave her.  BUT there was one more thing.  "Go and sin no more."    He called her out of her sin.

When I'm asleep and someone turns on the light, I hate it.  I want that light off!  People in darkness can get pretty upset when we turn a light on.  But that does not mean we shouldn't reach for that switch.

John 3:19-21  "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.  (20)  "For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.  (21)  "But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

This is why there is no place for secrecy in the church.  We have come to make a clear distinction between privacy and secrecy.  Secrecy says, "I don't want you to know my struggles."  Privacy says, "You don't need all the gory details."    Let's not be afraid of the light.  That is why I work very hard on trying to be transparent.  I share my struggles, failures, and weaknesses here on the blog, from the pulpit, and in one on one conversations.  I am a deeply flawed and weak man apart from the work of Christ in my life.  It is only in Christ that I have strength.    I don't need to stand in protection, defiance, or defense.  God justifies so I don't need to justify myself.    Shining light is not an act of hostility, it is an act of love.

Do you welcome the light?  Are you eager for secrecy, or are you ready to be humble before not only God, but His people?  I'm still working on all this and I hope that you are too.  THAT is true maturity.

Ever know someone who always seemed to be either in a state of war or was about to be again?  There are some people you meet that seem to be full of grace and joy, and then there are others who seem to be perpetually upset by people or things.  In fact, some people seem like they are not happy unless someone or something is making them unhappy.  I used to have some family members who sometimes embodied that idea.  Someone was always doing something they didn't like or thought they shouldn't do etc.

You can run into those kind of people about anywhere, including the church.  They are always ready for an offence and can often recite upon request a list of previous offences by various people or entities.  One thing you will not hear a lot of is grace toward sinners.

The Bible anticipates this behavior.  Check out this small sample of Proverbs.

• Proverbs 16:28  A perverse man spreads strife, And a slanderer separates intimate friends.
• Proverbs 18:6  A fool's lips bring strife, And his mouth calls for blows.
• Proverbs 20:3  Keeping away from strife is an honor for a man, But any fool will quarrel.
• Proverbs 26:21  Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, So is a contentious man to kindle strife.
• Proverbs 30:33  For the churning of milk produces butter, And pressing the nose brings forth blood; So the churning of anger produces strife.

That last one shows the cause of strife; anger.  The perpetually upset are people who anger easily and sometimes rather forcibly.  I often wonder what is at the core of such anger.  Is it pain, disappointment, sin?  I think whatever the trigger, the Bible is clear that the root of such things is unforgiveness.  Grace forgives, unforgiveness creates bitterness.  But there is hope!  Some more Proverbs.

• Proverbs 10:12  Hatred stirs up strife, But love covers all transgressions.
• Proverbs 15:18  A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, But the slow to anger calms a dispute.

Love covers all transgressions.  If you chose to express love, you can walk away from anger, no matter how justified you feel that anger is.  I find that when I pray for people who hurt me or frustrate me, when I ask God to renew my love for them and see them the way He does, that even if they are still engaging in behavior that is hurtful to me, that I can love them and begin to look past the actions.  That is not easy, but it can be done in the Lord.  That leads to that second Proverb, about being slow to anger.   In both of these cases, I am required to go beyond myself, my rights, hurts, reactions, and look at the other person and love, forgive, listen.  That is very hard to do and the perpetually upset seem to find it almost impossible.

I feel sadness and compassion for those who live such lives.  If there is a person like that in your life that you feel makes your life miserable, consider the fact that that person makes themselves far more miserable as they wall themselves off from person after person and situation after situation because of strife.

Be a person of grace.  Be a person of forgiveness.  Be a peacemaker.  Be slow to anger.  Understand that no matter what the action toward you, you control your own reaction. Then you can live a life of joy and as you are a joyful person, you will be amazed at how much more you will enjoy life and how people will be drawn more to you.

This is a great article which talks about scientists discovering that the chicken came first.  Now I don't know if their scientific evidence is all good or not, but it is interesting.  I already knew this because God created fully formed animals which had the ability to reproduce.  Interesting that science seems to bear out that sequence, even as they don't believe in God.  I love the end of the article where they credit nature with design and intelligence.   ""Nature has found innovative solutions that work for all kinds of problems in materials science and technology — we can learn a lot from them.""   They say that sort of thing a lot about nature, but deny a personal, planning, intelligent God.  Hmmm

We just had a great week at Camp and although I normally feel like camp weeks shoot by, this week seemed to take a long time to pass.  It was a very busy week and at moments (especially the end of the week) a rather hard week in many ways.  I am SO thankful for our speakers this week, Tim & Gayline Shorey.  They are such wonderful, godly people who are full of encouragement.  Sarah was able to have a couple of really great heart to heart talks with Gayline and I was able to have the same with Tim.  It is so important for us to have people older than us to mentor us, teach us, and encourage us.  Tim was a huge encouragement to me as he validated some things that I was struggling with and encouraged me when I needed it desperately.  I know that Gayline performed much the same ministry for Sarah.

We all need to have mentors, teachers, older adults who can come alongside and speak into our lives.  Tim made a big difference in my life this week just by his encouragement.  It was nice to have a man I look up to and respect remind me that my concerns are not groundless, my hurts not stupid, my hopes not hopeless and my ministry not vain.  I was glad that Sarah could have a wise ear to share some hurts from her past year and have herself validated as well.

Thank you Lord for great godly mentors and friends!

I think everyone gets discouraged at one time or another.  In ministry it can be an especially hard thing.  I find for myself that discouragement is often the result of me focusing too much on what I do in my own strength and not enough on what God is doing.  You see, I am a perfectionist which means that I should do all things perfectly and always succeed.  All ministry endeavors should work, all people that I invest in should grow, change, and be grateful.  All sacrifices pay off and are appreciated.  All leaders lead well, all followers follow.  Good intentions are never misunderstood. Oh, and let's not forget that no one is ever displeased, no matter what.  Now come on, how hard is that to achieve?

Exactly!   The expectations are unrealistic to begin with and also really reflect an "own strength" focus.  The Bible tells us that God's Word, when sent forth, never fails in what God intends it to do.  So failure or perceived failure is usually a result of our work failing, not us failing to do God's work.  That is a good thing for me to remember.  He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it.  My expectations for myself and man's expectations for me will never work out well if I allow myself to be slaved to them.

I find that discouragement is actually more apt to take place when God is doing great things.  It is in those moments that satan moves into high gear, getting us to focus on what is not happening instead of what is.  We will miss the joys and successes all around us because all we focus on is those areas where we have not conquered.  Again, a result of focusing on the works of man and missing the works of God.

Don't let discouragement cause you to step back from the calling God has given you.  Man may fail you and you may fail, but God does not and when you allow Him to use you, God's work will be accomplished, no matter how you feel about it.   That's what I'm going to work on.