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Did you know that the word “good” comes from the old Anglo-Saxon word which literally means “to be like God”?  That would imply that when godliness increases, so does goodness! Maybe you’ve heard this before, if you take God out of the word good, all you get is a big fat zero.  Or perhaps you’ve heard this other saying about God’s goodness,  that good is just God elongated!  Try to imagine your life with God’s goodness flowing through you unhindered.  Out of every pore of your life, goodness oozes out.  That may be a funny word picture, but I think that is how we should begin picturing fruitfulness.  Producing fruit should not be a strain.  It should come very naturally, and just like God who is totally good, we can begin to completely demonstrate God’s goodness in us.  Psalms 107 is a classic portrayal of God’s goodness.  Here are some of the things that Psalms 107 says about God’s goodness.  He is GOOD, He delivers us, He does wonderful deeds, He satisfies the thirsty, and fills the hungry with GOOD things. He broke away chains, He sent forth His Word and healed them, He rescued them, He stilled their storms, He guided them, and listen to this, He sowed fields and planted vineyards, that yielded a fruitful harvest!  God’s goodness is amazing. He is fruitful in everyway.  Let’s make it our goal to be just like Him.

 

E-Word 3-16-12

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I’m getting excited about getting out in the yard soon and gardening.  I love being out doors and making things beautiful in my yard.  I love growing…. vegetables and herbs, flowers and bushes, and fruit trees, really just about anything. There are so many lessons we can learn from the garden.  A few important things are: prepare thoroughly, plant selectively, maintain religiously, and water regularly.   Cultivating goodness and gentleness can happen the same way. First prepare your heart and be ready, then find places to put your seeds in, pull weeds that come up and prune as necessary, and continue to shower your seeds with good words.  Okay, that may be a little simplified, but we can make a plant to be fruitful, just like we plan a garden.  One of the things I grow in my flower beds are boxwood.  I usually trim them 2-3 times in the growing season, and it is quite fun.  I keep them shaped, and any new growth that gets out of the planned shape gets cut off.  That can be in our lives like the time we mess up in our actions and all of the sudden unkindness raises its ugly head.  Take out those trimming shears and cut it off.  Don’t allow it to keep growing.  In our life, that probably means asking for forgiveness, and then promising to God to watch our tongue more carefully next time.  If we want our life to look like a carefully trimmed boxwood, we have to cut off what isn’t appealing and encourage growth in the areas that are desirable.  What is interesting with plants is that you can train them to go the way you want them to go.  And guess what, we can be trained as well.  Let’s be trained to be fruitful.

E-Word 3-15-12

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Perhaps you have heard this saying by Charles Spurgeon:

“Do all the good you can

By all the means you can

In all the ways you can

In all the places you can

At all the times you can

To all the people you can

As long as you can!”

For the Christian, we do good not because we want to obtain approval from God, but because of Christ living on the inside of us.  We don’t think God will love us more, or we’ll get on His good side, we just do good because that is who we are.  Just like it is God’s nature to be good, when we receive our new nature through salvation, His goodness becomes a part of who we are.  It should be as natural as breathing for us to operate in the fruit of the spirit.   God never gets weary of being good, and we shouldn’t either.  There is a great verse in Galatians 6:9 that tells us not to grow weary in doing good, for in time we will reap a harvest of blessing, if we don’t get discouraged and if we don’t give up.  So if you are getting tired, remind yourself, fruitful living is productive!  Things are happening even if you don’t see it with your natural eyes.  How often do we give up just before the miracle happens.  If we knew what was just beyond the mountain in our way, we would know that living for God, and making our lives fruitful for Him, affects not only now, but eternity.

 

E-Word 3-14-12

 

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This week we will continue to press toward our goal to live fruitfully.  Goodness and gentleness come next on the list of the fruit of the Spirit, and I hope you are starting to see and understand that because God operates fully in all of the fruit, with His Spirit living on the inside of us, we can too.  We can develop fruitfulness, as we become more like Christ. We know that God is completely good.  His goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our life.  We proclaim His goodness, because it is his goodness that draws all men to salvation.  When we let the world know that God is the good guy, and not the bad guy, they begin to see things more clearly, and get a better understanding of how the world’s system works.  We do live in a fallen world, and the devil is the god of this world’s system, so the evil we see in the world should never be blamed on God. On top of being ultimately GOOD, God is also kind.  The best definition of kindness that I have heard is  this….Kindness means treating others gently.  A kind person is compassionate, considerate, sympathetic, and humane.  What is so amazing about God is that He not only is kind to us, His followers, He shows kindness to those who are unsaved, those who haven’t made a choice to serve Him.   What is so great about living for God is that when we demonstrate His attributes of goodness and gentleness, the lost can see a glimpse or a glimmer of God in us.  As our actions tell the story of God’s kindness, we really do become a living epistle.  That’s great motivation to live fruitfully everyday!

 

E-Word 3-13-12

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God is Good and Gentle. This week we’re combining goodness and gentleness for our study of the Fruitful Living.  When I think of being fruitful, I realize that when I am filled to overflowing with the Spirit of God, that’s when I can live most fruitfully. Because we have placed ourselves in the hands of God, yielded our will to Him, and have chosen to allow the Spirit of God to work in our lives, we can be fruit producers!  We can be an earthy example of what heaven is like! Of course we are still clothed in flesh, and definitely are “cracked pots” or imperfect vessels, but we are on a path to becoming more like Christ day by day.  That happens more and more as each day we choose fruit over flesh. I think we all have a pretty good understanding that we serve a God who is good.  His Word says that it is the goodness of God that draws us to salvation. God is benevolent, gracious, and generous to us, in ways more numerous to mention.  Read Psalm 107 for a classic portrayal of God’s goodness.  Oh, that we would praise Him for His goodness, and his wonderful works to the children of men. (Psalm 107:8, 15, 21, 31!)  Praise HIM! Great strength under control is an awesome definition for gentleness. A gentle person isn’t weak, he or she is controlled.  The word meekness is used for gentleness in various versions of the Bible denoting a soothing medication to calm the angry mind. A gentle person can be like the calm in the midst of a storm, a balm for an open wound, or a gentle answer against fiery darts. Jesus called himself gentle and humble.  In Matthew 11:28-30, He told us to come to him when we are hurting, broken or weary.  He wants to give us rest – that’s what gentleness and humility do – take us from a place of wrestling to a place of rest.  You can run to the arms of Jesus when you need to find a gentle, humble refuge. You can trust Him!

E-Word 3-12-12 

How often to you hear a piece of music, or read a book, or watch a movie and are moved by the message it brought to you?  Not too long ago, after watching a movie, I was astounded by one simple phrase that was mentioned several times during the film.  It became a very emotional moment for me, because it touched me so deeply.  I saw a picture of God in the phrase, and saw His character revealed in a unique and creative way.  I know you are curious, so I’ll fill you in…. The movie was Australia, and the little boy said to the woman that they would find each other again, because he would “sing you to me.” Because I am a music lover, I couldn’t help but think of God singing over me, or dancing all around me when I am not even aware, but drawing me closer to Himself through the beauty of His song.  God’s Word really does that for us.  God does that with those who are lost.  He gently draws them to himself.  Like the song by Casting Crowns, we want to “Sing Until the Whole World Hears”. We want every one to know God.  As many songs as there are, there are still more to be written. As many books that have been published, there are more to be printed.  As many beautiful works of art that have been created, there are still more to be fashioned by the hands of those willing to use the gift of God on the inside of them to create beauty. He is singing you to Him! As we consider Jesus as the creator of beauty in our lives, think about ways you can create beauty on the canvas of the lives of your children, or your spouse, your friends, or even strangers that you may meet.  This abundant life that Jesus came to give us really is filled with beauty. Find it, recognize it, create it around you, and be more like Jesus every day!

Have you noticed that everywhere you look you can find beauty?  Have you noticed that every time you stop to really listen, you can hear sounds that make you smile?  God’s creation astounds me daily! From the shapes, the colors, the textures to the sounds, the melodies and the rhythms of life, I never cease to be amazed!  Gabriella Mistral once said that “Beauty….is the shadow of God over the universe.”  How true is that!  To hear a bird sing, or see a beautiful piece of art, or hear a fantastic melody, reminds us of our beautiful Lord.  He shadows his beauty over all of nature, and speaks beauty into our lives through the power of His Word.  When we begin to integrate and enjoy the beauty of the Lord around us through what we see and hear, we begin living and bearing His very own likeness and image. How does this happen? It happens as we become aware of His handiwork and live life full of wonder.  God is wonderful.  Where ever we look, we see His wonderful works.  We take time to really look, to really drink it in,  and then we will see wonder, beauty and creativity all around us. To be fully aware of the beauty where we are, our eyes need to be open, and our heart needs to be sensitive so we can drink in all the beauty God has for us. We can live life imprinted with the beauty of the Lord! He created beauty so we can live a beautiful life.  That sounds encouraging to me!

Did you know that once you became a Christian you started on the journey to being a life-long learner?  School started.  You signed up for the course called Christianity 101!  We get to keep on growing and keep on learning day by day for a lifetime!  There are some basics that we are required to know that will help us on our journey.  Those fundamentals are essential to overcoming obstacles that might come across your path, because there is a real enemy that we face, and his name is the devil.  We have to be prepared for a fight and the best preparation happens when we are listening to our instructor.  It is a good fight, because in this fight of faith, we win! Be prepared ahead of time. There are also some character tests along the way, that are pass or fail.  You fail, you take the class again!  So be a good student, and listen well!  Learn the lesson, in fact, you may as well begin to receive the truth with pleasure, realizing what you are learning is for your good now, or for your good later. Truth can be stored up for when you need it.  So, every chance you have to learn something, be ready!  In the process you will learn what not to do as well as what to do.  As you become a better student, it will also make you a better teacher.  If we want to impart what we have learned to someone else, the truth we want to share should be operational in our own life.  In simple words, we should practice what we preach!  A teacher who impacts his or her students, lives the lesson.  So here is your opportunity to be like Jesus.  His words weren’t just nice sounding fluff, that sounded good on the outside, with no substance on the inside. It wasn’t just the whipped cream on the top of dessert.  It was meat and potatoes, a hearty meal that satisfies.  Make your words like that too!

Jesus told us to take His yoke and learn from Him.  When you think of a yoke of oxen, you realize that the oxen have to work together to go anywhere.  There is a will involved in each ox, but if they want to accomplish anything, they must move as one.  I think that is what Jesus is trying to say to us.  Do like he does, live like He lives, respond like He would respond, and surrender like He would surrender.  What we soon realize is that it makes things easier when we yield to Him.  His burden is light, His yoke is easy, we are the ones who make it hard by trying to pull our own way.  It is really light when we realize that He shoulders the weight for us.  We just have to walk next to Him. We just have to stay close to Him.  We just have to stay in His presence. Jesus had a way with people that was exceptional.  Doing things together in everyday life was important to Him, because as we “do life” together, we are trained to follow Him.  He was more concerned with transmitting heart knowledge than head knowledge. The people who were with Jesus “caught” what He taught.  It became real because it was personal and practical.  He met them right at their level.  He let them ask questions and He asked them questions.  He made it easy to learn.  So if we want to be like Him, how can we make it easy for those around us to learn about Jesus?  Maybe the easiest answer is for us to stay close to the Master and to lead them in the same path.  As we become more like Christ, others around us will too.

Have you ever noticed what a great story teller Jesus was while He was on the earth?  He used parables to communicate the truth of His message in unique ways.    One of my favorite choruses about getting the message is  very simple and goes like this…..Give me the Word, make it plain and clear to me, Give me the Word, it’s a light that I might see, Give me the Word, it’s my total victory, over every situation, give me the Word.  Jesus gave His message out plain and clear.  He brought light where there was darkness, and showed the way to live in victory, in His down to earth teaching.  Jesus not only taught with words, he trained those around Him by how he lived.  To learn by example is one of the best ways to learn.   You see that in your home.  Your kids don’t do what you tell them to do, they do what you do!  Even more reason for our words to match our actions.  Jesus started where people were.  He wanted to make the truth relevant to their lives. He expressed truth in varied forms, from using humor, case studies, parables, everyday objects, even puzzles and comparisons.  His teaching style was diverse, and people flocked to hear Him.  Most importantly, I think that Jesus made a way of connecting with His listeners.  He invested in people.  He did this in small groups, with His three closest friends, with the 12 disciples, and in larger groups with the 72 and the multitudes.  People learned at every level.    We can learn each day to be more and more like Christ, and in the process, become better teachers and/or mentors to someone else.  Why not start today?