Staying Tender

Scripture Read: Romans 13:1-10 Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. 3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. 5 Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. 7 Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor. 8 Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law

Application: Many times, the Christian family behaves as if they are above all governments because we are citizens of heaven. True, our first allegiance is to God and our eternal home with Him – but that should make us the best citizens wherever we are in this world. A key to that is our conscience …

Conscience - συνείδησις suneídēsis; to be conscious of. Conscience, to be one’s own witness, one’s own conscience coming forward as witness. It denotes an abiding consciousness whose nature it is to bear inner witness to one’s own conduct in a moral sense (Titus 1:15). It is self–awareness. ^[1]

Once again the idea of Conscience trumps the obvious reason for doing something. Yes we should obey so we can escape the pain of punishment, but just as important, if not more, is the fact that we should have peace with God and ourselves to do what is right, just because it is right. This is an area I think we all need to further explore. Many children of God do not pay close attention to their own conscience. Many, due to sloppiness, make their conscience hard or deaf. They place callous over their conscience or allow “wax” buildup in the ear of their conscience.  Struggling with habitual sins can do a lot of damage to our conscience. How do we begin to re-tenderize our conscience? We want this to be Your property Lord, so we can know that You are working there. Please help us oh Lord. We love You!

* Meditation Questions: When I sin, what do I do? How long after I realize I have sinned do I talk to God? Do I take time to reflect each day on my sin life? What about “little” sins? How much time do I spent planning to live versus time spent regretting what I did?

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Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary : New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.

Overcoming is Good!

Scripture Read: Romans 12:14-21 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. 17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. 19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Application: This is an especially hard concept and command because there are two very difficult issues here. First, figuring out how to balance truth with peace, and second, doing it! Figuring it all out is difficult, but if given time to think, and then reliance on the Holy Spirit it is possible.  Basically it boils down to doing to the other what you would want done to you, which includes being honest. In other words, if we are honest, even though we would want mercy for our failures, if we are people of integrity we want to grow. So, even though we hate the feeling of being embarrassed, we would want to be confronted in a merciful way. The real issue is doing it consistently in our life. As with so much in scripture - the answer is simple – the performance is very difficult! We know the “how” = control the flesh! But we don’t experience doing it with consistent success! – Lord help us be what we know we can be!!! Without You we are dead in the water!  We will meditate on this and seek Your help to always overcome evil with good!

* Meditation Questions: When you show tough love, is it tough only on the other person or is it tough also on you? When confronted with hate or evil, what should the most important question be? What is the key to being good?

Is peace possible?

Scripture Read: Romans 12:14-21 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. 17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. 19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

Application: Jesus warned us that if we live for and like Him we would be hated, yet so many scriptures like this one call us to be people of peace. How does this work? The key word here is “possible” because that determines if this could be a reality. Consider …

Possible = δυνατός dunatós; from dúnamai  - to be able. Able, strong, powerful. With the conditional conj. ei, if, used in an absolute sense or with ésti, the 3d person. sing. of eimí, to be, meaning, if possible (ei dunatón), if it be possible ^[1]

The root word here is where we get Dynamite from. This is a great reminder Lord of what we need to be. If there is any power on our part to be at peace with men – we are to pursue it. That means if there is not peace – it should be because the other person will not allow it! If we apply this literally it is going to cost us.  That request for forgiveness we don’t feel like giving or that response we feel they deserve but for the sake of peace, we hold our tongue. That right we have but for peace we don’t claim it. Painful, yet in the end the real peace we have is with You – so what do we care about men? This is where we want our peace – between us and You! Lord help us to pursue peace. We will and must speak Truth – but we can have the power – from You – to be a person of peace. Teach us the balance here Lord – for we do want to confront when we need to and we want to stand for what You desire us to stand for. Only You can teach us the balance.

* Meditation Questions: Does the word impossible occupy a lot of your thoughts? Is there a difference between truth offending and the WAY we share that truth? What steps do you go through to try and assure peace? Is compromise bad?

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Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary : New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.

Other oriented

Scripture Read: Romans 12:14-21 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. 17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. 19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

Application:  Father – there is nothing we should want more than this – because as a man thinks so is he! If we always desire to consider; how the other person feels; how we would want to be treated if it were us and most important; what would the Lord want for this person - we will be open to allow the Spirit to express the love of Christ through us. Lord this is not an impossible desire. This is according to Your plan as You mold us into the image of Christ.  When we meditate on how to live in harmony with the people around us, we will lift their desires over our own.  The result will be selflessness over selfishness, other oriented – over self-oriented. God, we will not only like ourselves more, we will also see Your power move on the lives of those around us as the love of Christ is made evident in their life. Lead us into this life-style Father!

* Meditation Questions: In what ways am I showing selfless love to my family? My friends? To those I have a difficult relationship with? Have I prayed for You to teach me this kind of love? If I do what should I expect?

A hard pill to swallow

Scripture Read: Romans 12:14-21 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. 17 Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. 19 Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

 

Application: How many times have we seen evil appear to triumph? We should hate evil, but what should our attitude be toward those that do it? The first word in this section of scripture is a hard one to not only swallow but even harder to do! This is the real challenge for many of us – especially those that sense injustice so deeply. The absolute injustice done by people in power today … makes the blood of many of us just boil. We want to call down upon them so much from You Lord. Yet, if we are honest, we can see the fine line Jesus drew. He always warned as He pronounced their evil. He did “call a spade a spade” but he was motivated by love and desired them to turn and escape judgment. Do we warn? Or do we want judgment and want it now! The word used here is clear - Bless - εὐλογέω eulogéō; from eú, good, well, and lógos, word. To bless, speak well of. ^[1]  No ambiguity! Father this exposes a heart that is not one with You. Forgive us  and help us grow in Your compassion. Just because we do not understand how this works does not mean we cannot do it. This is a must and can only be produced by the Holy Spirit – therefore we need to lean on Him when these emotions fill our heart. We know it is ok to hate evil – but we are not to hate the one doing it nor desire their destruction. We know we can pray in general against those that are enemies to You but we are not to make it personal. This is difficult Father – Help us. We love growing in You!

 

* Meditation Questions: Have you made a list of your enemies and continue to pray for them? When you think of how wrong a person is, or how bad a sinner they are, what do you do? Do you ever look in the mirror? Why is that important? We should hate sin, but when we look at sinners what other qualities of God should we look at?

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Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary : New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.

No fear of Court

Scripture Read: 1 John 2:1-7 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. 3 By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; 5 but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: 6 the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. 7 Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word which you have heard.

Application: Today’s “advocates” are very different than what we see here. Today – it is about getting away with, technicalities, not truth and enriching ourselves! Jesus took the meaning to the extreme. Not only is he a friend as the original meant …

Advocate - παράκλητος paráklētos; to comfort, encourage or exhort. It is properly a verbal adj. referring to an aid of any kind. In the Greek writers, used of a legal advisor, pleader, proxy, or advocate, one who comes forward in behalf of and as the representative of another. Thus the history of the term in the whole sphere of known Greek and Hellenistic usage outside the NT yields the clear picture of a legal adviser or helper or advocate in the relevant court. The passive form does not rule out the idea of the παράκλητος as an active speaker “on behalf of someone before someone, Moulton and Milligan define; “a friend of the accused person, called to speak to his character, or otherwise enlist the sympathy of the judges.” This was its use in the secular world of that day. ^{[1] [2]}

 

But Christ also paid the penalty for the crime He is pleading for us. What an Advocate! This is a truth many of us see but I fear we do not treat with the kind of respect that You Lord would desire. Because Your salvation is so complete, we know that even now when we sin You are there for us. Our flesh seizes upon this truth and tries to take advantage. Lord we do not understand this weakness. We really hate sin most of the time – but when we want our flesh to be comforted our hate for sin wanes and we give in to it. This is something we do not want! Like Paul we can feel that scream against sin. Help us Oh God to see victory in this part of our walk with You. We love that Jesus is our Advocate – but we do not desire to employ Him as often as we do. We do love you Lord even though our walk may not show it all the time!

* Meditation Questions: Do I recognize the mental hatred I have for sin versus the emotional hatred? How important is that? Why? How easily do I sin? What does that say?

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Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary : New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.

^[2] Theological dictionary of the New Testament. 1964- (G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley & G. Friedrich, Ed.) (electronic ed.). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

What’s in the mirror?

Scripture Read: Romans 12:9-13 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

Application: How important is it to be real? How in the world can we ever get a grip on life if our own life is not built on reality? It is interesting that as Paul begins this instruction on how we should live with each other – he emphasizes realness and hatred! Notice …

Without Hypocrisy - ἀνυπόκριτος anupókritos; - Combination of - without and to pretend, simulate. Originally it meant inexperienced in the art of acting. In the NT, it came to mean one without hypocrisy or pretense, unfeigned, genuine, real, true, sincere –

Abhor - ἀποστυγέω apostugéō; To hate, abhor, detest with horror or have a horror of. ^[1]

What a combination of words – Not that acting is what we want to do but here in the original even a bad actor was looked down upon. If you’re a great actor people believe what you are pretending to be – that really brings a different side to the idea of hypocrisy – even in pretending there should be a sense of authenticity. The key here is that whatever you are, it should be authentic! Is it clear that what we are IS what we are? An actor is not only an actor – he is a good or bad actor. Our love should not be a bad imitation of the real thing – it should be the real thing. This is what it means to not live in hypocrisy. With that comes the other punch of the successful Christian life – Hating evil – I really like the intensity of this word – “have a horror of” I have not gotten here yet – but Lord I want to have a horror of sin! We cannot do this without You! Many of us find that we kind of just dislike sin. That will never lead us to the walk we desire with You Lord! Father create in us a hatred of that which is against You and not Holy! Holy Spirit we need Your empowering in this!   

* Meditation Questions: How close to sin to I keep myself? What is my attitude toward even questionable things? Does it really matter if someone else can do it? Why? Is the person in the mirror really me or what I want others to see? Would the public me look like the private me?

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Zodhiates, S. (2000). The complete word study dictionary : New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers.