Choices

31 Proverbs Highlights: #10-Family Conflicts

/ johngregoryjr / Leave a comment

(A simple series highlighting verses from each chapter of the book of Proverbs)

Hatred stirs up conflicts, but love covers all offenses. (‭Proverbs‬ ‭10‬:‭12‬ CSB)

Our natural response to an offense is defense. And how we choose to respond shows whether we have chosen love or hate.

This probably shows up most often in family relationships. You’ve witnessed it, maybe even been caught up in it. The families who get offenses right, and we all go through them, practice love. 

To check how your family is doing in the “love covering offenses” category, give 1 Corinthians 13 a read. Then choose love.

31 Proverbs Highlights: #8-Wisdom

/ johngregoryjr / Leave a comment

(A simple series highlighting verses from each chapter of the book of Proverbs)

Doesn’t wisdom call out? Doesn’t understanding make her voice heard?…”For the one who finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, but the one who misses me harms himself; all who hate me love death.” (‭Proverbs‬ ‭8‬:‭1, 35-36 CSB)

5 Truths from these verses:

  1. The search for wisdom should never end.
  2. Our ear should be bent to her call, much like the sheep attentive to their shepherd.
  3. Life is found in making wise choices.
  4. Choosing to listen to wisdom rather than refusing is choosing to live rather than dying.
  5. To reject wisdom is to reject yourself.

31 Proverbs Highlights: #4-Growth

/ johngregoryjr / Leave a comment

(A simple series highlighting verses from each chapter of the book of Proverbs)

“The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭4:18‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

The imagery of the path’s light getting brighter and brighter as the morning progresses seems to go along with the truth that spiritual growth is a process.

The more you walk in righteousness the clearer choices/decisions seem to be.

The more you seek God the closer he seems to be.

At salvation, you come out of the darkness. Sure, it can seem quite bright at first. But walking the path of sanctification only brings more brilliance.

Walk On to the Midday!

Fruity Fridays: Kindness Results

/ johngregoryjr / Leave a comment

(A series on the Fruit of the Spirit, Galatians 5)

I was driving down 26th St. W. in morning traffic. A car pulled out into traffic. A garbage bag fell off the top of the car and rested in the opposite lane of oncoming traffic. What to do? Was it garbage or might it have something valuable in it? The driver didn’t seem to notice they lost the bag. What to do?

I could have said, “Not my problem. Besides, there are plenty of other drivers who could deal with this. I have an appointment.”

I decided to ask God what to do. More specifically, I asked him to have the driver give me some kind of indication that I could tell them and still get to my appointment on time. Within two blocks of my turning off 26th, the driver turned on their blinker to turn into a business. I said, “Thanks for the sign,” and followed.

Before the driver opened the car door, I was at the window. She rolled down the window, and I said, “I was behind you when you pulled into traffic, and it looked like a garbage bag fell off the top of your car. I wanted to let you know in case it had something valuable in it.”

She was embarrassed. “I didn’t even notice. It was my garbage. I forgot to put it in the dumpster. Thank you so much.”

I got back in my car and headed to my appointment. I don’t know if she did anything about her garbage. I do know that I resisted the flesh and followed the Spirit to show kindness to a stranger. I don’t always choose kindness, but when I do it results in…

  • …thinking less of myself and more about others
  • …resisting the initial thought that is all about me
  • …listening to that small voice that gives me a kind idea
  • …choosing that temporary inconvenience
  • …showing someone their blindspot
  • …helping someone with their garbage

Wilderness Principles

/ johngregoryjr / Leave a comment

“Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these 40 years in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.” ‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭8:2‬ ‭HCSB‬‬

  • God is there.
  • God has a purpose.
  • The journeyers will face significant choices.
  • Loyalty to God’s word is the goal.
  • What’s in the journeyers’ heart will be revealed.
  • Humbling is a good thing.
  • At the end of the journey, look back through the lens of what God did.

Fruity Fridays – Choose Love

/ johngregoryjr / Leave a comment

by Eric Vorhies

The fruit of the Spirit is a gift from God that allows us to get a glimpse into His incredible personality. Love is no exception.

But do we have the understanding of love that is trying to be conveyed through Gal. 5:22-23?

Love – We fall in and out of it. It can be blind or it can happen at first sight. It can be learned and made. It is how we feel about those closest to us and our favorite food. It is closely associated with matters of the heart and things we are most passionate about. But is this the kind of love that the Spirit is gifting us?

I do not believe that the fruit of the Spirit is a list of feelings as much as they are a list of choices that God gives us the power to choose through him. Love is no exception. Just as God loved us, we can choose to love.

Isn’t that the real power of love? Despite how we feel about something or someone, we can bridge that gap and have communion with them. This is the exact desire of God’s relationship with humanity.

God created humanity knowing its depravity.

God sent Christ to permanently restore communion with humanity.

One day, Christians will live in perfect community with God forever.

God is love. It is the driving force behind His relationship with us. Though it is filled with overwhelming emotion, it is a very deliberate choice. And we too have been given similar choices. Through the Spirit, we have been empowered to choose love despite our feelings.

Today choose love…

Choose to love those who think differently.

…look differently

…act differently

…choose to offer a bridge to build community rather than building a wall.

nelson

It’s Ok if They Say ‘No’

/ johngregoryjr / Leave a comment

When someone tells us no either directly in conversation or indirectly in their actions, we are tempted to take it personally. We are most tempted to do that when we were expecting a yes.

In my @youversion reading plan today, the topic was that God is a giver, in particularly a giver of choices. Here’s a quote from the reading:

When people say no, he allows it and keeps on loving them. God is a giver. And one of the things he always gives is a choice. But like a real giver, he also gives the consequences of those choices. He respects boundaries because he created boundaries in the first place. 

So if you want to give and love like God does, you can give others a choice to say “No…

  • …I don’t forgive you”
  • …I don’t want your help”
  • …I don’t like your decision”
  • …I don’t want to talk right now”
  • …I don’t understand where you’re coming from”
  • …I don’t agree with you”
  • …I don’t think you’re right for this position”

When you give them the loving choice to say no, then you will less likely take their no personally. It’s their choice. Give it to them. It’s okay if they say no.