Zinged

Editors note:
All the pictures in this post were taken in Manual Mode,
and most of them are completely unedited.  Yay me!





I was zinged today.



And zanged.


But mostly zinged.

You know what I mean?




No?




When you’re sitting in church,
listening to the message,
and it appears to be written for you.



And you sit there, and think,
”How could I miss this?  I know these verses.  How could I MISS this?!”




And you finally get it.









And you hear the still small voice of the Spirit, saying, “See, my child?”
And He gently and lovingly opens your eyes to His truth.

And you know.


You know that yet again you’ve failed, but yet He loves you.

And He tenderly shows you what you’ve been asking.



You know how I was wanting God to tell me what to do in a booming voice from heaven?
Well,  He used a Pastor, and the Holy Spirit spoke.

The text was Ephesians 4:25-32
²⁵Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. ²⁶"In your anger do not sin"^[a]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, ²⁷and do not give the devil a foothold. ²⁸He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.
²⁹Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. ³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. ³²Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Most of us know this passage.


I love the letters of Paul.
They are probably my favourite books in the Bible.









I’ll just list the main points of the sermon.


There are three characteristics of a mature Christian.


1) Kindness

2) Tenderness (compassion)

3) Forgiving Spirit









We’ll start with what characteristics we DON’T want.


These grieve the Holy Spirit (vs 30)


1. Bitterness: deep seated resentment; constant attitude of negativity about a person
2. Wrath: outbursts of rage, flash of temper
3. Anger: settled angry spirit, fueled by resentment and bitterness
4. Slander: attack a persons name, character










What’s the Antidote?



Well, I’ll tell you.



In point form.

~Kindness~

*always willing to help others
*helps unconditionally

Want a life changing difference in your relationships?
Demonstrate kindness daily.

What has God given you that you can share?


Showing kindness can melt the hardest hearts.


Being kind shows the love of Christ through words and actions.

~Tenderness~

We live in a harsh, cruel world.

This can make us hardened, thick skinned, hard hearted.

How to fix?

Spend time in prayer.
Ask God to give you compassion for others.

~Forgiveness~

Means, “To Let Go”


Let go of resentment and hurt.


All through our lives we pick up baggage along the way….
let go of the baggage!


Forgiveness is the center of a Christian Spirit.


The supreme example?
God has forgiven us!!



Jesus had every right to payback.
And HE could have actually gotten it.

”He could have called 10,000 angels!”


And yet the first words out of His lips are,

”Father forgive them.”

Sacrificial love is transforming.

We have a God who forgives sins!



He does it for us!

Amen.

Now, there are reasons that this hits close to home.



I have a lot of baggage I’m lugging around.



And a lot of reasons to be bitter and resentful.



I COULD be CrAzY, people!








But I’m not.
(Well, to some that’s debatable.)







By the Grace of God.



Maybe someday I’ll share some of the experiences in my life.





But not tonight.





Hope this encourages you, as it has me.