Dad and Mom with their four young girls!

Why does Easter move around on our calendar? Valentine’s Day is always February 14^th. Mother’s Day is the 2^nd Sunday of May and Father’s Day is the 3^rd Sunday of June. July 4^th is celebrated on July 4^th! (Duh!) Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday of November; Christmas is the 25^th of December. New Year’s Day is well . . . it is the first day of the new year. But Easter? The most celebrated of all the holidays? It moves around! A lot.  🤪

And before we answer that question, here’s another puzzling thought: how did bunnies and eggs become symbols for Easter? Bunnies don’t even lay eggs! If eggs are our symbol, then why not have a chicken? Or a bird? Or even a platypus! I know. Bunnies are cuter than platypuses. But still. Why are we coloring eggs for the egg hunt and eating chocolate bunnies on Easter? It is very confusing. 🙃

     And why do we buy Easter outfits and not Thanksgiving outfits? Or Valentine’s Day outfits, or Christmas outfits? (Okay. Some people do buy ugly Christmas sweaters—but that is just wrong.)  Then, of course, there’s Easter Lunch, which for many starts with a baked ham and ends with a carrot cake (to coincide with our cute bunny). And when did jelly beans appear? And why are they connected to Easter? What is this moveable Easter holiday really all about?

Mom made all the dresses and we bought matching shoes and socks and new purses!

     Okay. 🤨 Let’s take these questions one at a time. Easter moves around because the Jewish calendar is linked to solar and lunar cycles. It has to do with the Passover date, which also fluctuates. Easter is to be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox. Okay. Now that that is cleared up . . . 🙄

     So, why bunnies and eggs? There are many theories. But here’s the gist of it all. Pagan tradition, which predates Christianity, considered the bunny a symbol for fertility. Christians later took that symbol and used it to connect to the new life theme of resurrection. (Plus, bunnies are just so cute! 🐰) Later, many Christians began giving up eggs during lent. The chickens, of course, continued to lay eggs anyway! So, people would gather the eggs and save them for Easter. In order to salvage the bunny’s role in Easter, the Christians gave the bunny the job of delivering the eggs to everyone on Easter morning (because he was just so cute 🐰).  Then people began coloring and decorating the eggs to enhance the celebration. How the bunny became chocolate was purely for commercial reasons because who could resist a chocolate bunny? And jelly beans—well, they look kinda’ like eggs and are colorful and are just fun to eat. 😁

Mom made the capes, too. Enter our dog, Perky.

As for the outfits? It seems like as good a reason as any to buy new shoes, right? And then, of course, we need a new outfit to match the shoes. And a new purse. And my grandmother would have also bought a new hat. And I don’t know about you but my dad took pictures of the family out in the yard in our Easter outfits (made by my mom) every year for as long as I can remember. (By the way, in case you want to know, I’m the youngest and shortest one in all the pictures.) We would dress up, go to church, come home to a great meal cooked by Mom, look for the Easter eggs Dad had hidden in the back yard, hopefully find them all (but never did until weeks later when they began to stink), and then eat jelly beans and chocolate bunnies from our baskets. There is a lot of tradition wrapped up in this holiday for many—none of which have anything to do with Jesus! Except, of course, going to church.

Yes, these outfits were also made by Mom! We actually wore gloves! I don’t know why I had such a large purse. I loved Perky.

More people go to church on Easter than any other Sunday of the year. And there’s nothing wrong with that. There’s nothing wrong with any of these things—chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, new outfits, colored eggs, egg hunts—it’s all good and fun. And it’s spring time and flowers are blooming and trees are turning green and, except for the pollen, it’s great to be outside again! And if people come to church all dressed up, that’s great too. I’m all for it.

     Actually, without Easter, the Christian church would not exist. It is the most important time in the Christian faith. So, in the midst of all the activities, we need to make sure we remember why we are celebrating and why we are happy (except for my sister Lynn, who was clearly unhappy in this photo). And here it is: After Jesus was crucified Mary Magdalene went to Jesus’ tomb only to find it empty, with Jesus standing nearby! And she talked with him and then “went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord.’” (John 20:18)

     We have new life in Christ. He is risen! Go and search for him yourself.  And then tell others!

I think Paul’s favorite word/topic was grace. He uses it countless times in his writing. As a matter of fact, did you know that he opens and closes every single letter with some variation of “Grace to you”?¹  Really! Go ahead! Check it out. I’ll wait.  🧐. . . 🤔. . . 😬 . . . 🙄 . . .  I told you so. 😉

     Why was Paul so consumed with grace?  Consider this. Before Paul was converted, he spent his life persecuting Christians and even “approved of [Stephen’s] execution.”²  On his way to Damascus, Paul was “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.”³ He actually asked the high priest for permission to arrest “any belonging to the Way”³ so he “might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”⁴  He writes that he “persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.”⁵  Wow!

     But you know what is truly amazing? Paul did these things because he thought it was the righteous thing to do! Which makes me wonder . . . 🤔 What righteous things am I doing that God might not approve? Hmm. But I digress. What happened to make Paul realize he was not pleasing God? Christ confronted him!

     Paul’s testimony is perhaps the greatest of all time! His life was absolutely turned upside down. I imagine no follower of Christ had thought about evangelizing Paul. As a matter of fact, even after Paul proclaimed to have been converted, believers were afraid of him. When Paul came “to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.”⁶

     After his conversion, Paul referred to himself as “a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent.”⁷ He believed he was “the foremost”⁸ sinner of all. He felt God’s grace to him was so undeserved that he spent the rest of his life proclaiming Christ as Lord and administering to everyone around him the grace that he had received himself. He writes Timothy, “But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.”⁹

     And that’s how we should live our lives as well—grace overflowing. What does that mean exactly? Webster defines it as: approval, favor, mercy, pardon. And that’s pretty accurate for our purposes, too. The common religious phrase is that grace is unmerited favor from God, but that’s a bit redundant for me because, really, a favor is always unmerited, right? 🤓 Anyway. We need to be people who are overflowing with grace.

     Paul was overwhelmed by God’s forgiveness toward him. So, everywhere he went, he announced, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers.”¹⁰  Paul’s life was radically changed by grace. He says, “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace.”¹¹  We, too, have been give this “gift of God’s grace.” As a matter of fact, John writes, “For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”¹²

     Since we have been given much grace, why are we not gracious? 🤔 What would it look like to be gracious to others? Well, you know, being thoughtful, hospitable, courteous, outgoing, polite, neighborly, attentive, considerate, friendly—giving unasked for and undeserved favor to people. It can include big things as well as little things. And the little things often make the biggest impact. Why? Because they are so unnecessary. Gracious acts are not required or expected; they are extra. And go a long way when delivered.  Paul writes, “But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also.”¹³

     As we learn to “excel in this act of grace,” we will, like Paul, be overflowing in grace.  Grace is really what people need more than anything else. So, at least for today, let’s be gracious.

     “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”¹⁴ 🙂

¹Romans 1:7      ²Acts 8:1     ³Acts 9:1       ⁴Acts 9:2    ⁵Galatians 1:13    ⁶Acts 9:26     ⁷1 Timothy 1:13     ⁸1 Timothy 1:15     ⁹1 Timothy 1:13-14       ¹⁰Galatians 6:18    ¹¹Ephesians 3:7    ¹²John 1:16     ¹³1 Corinthians 12:9      ¹⁴Romans 16:20

I am not satisfied with my prayer life. But who is? Well, maybe you are; I don’t know. But I am not. I am convinced that we pray mostly out of selfish desires. We pray for things to happen—things we believe we need, things that we believe God should want for us! And sometimes we are right. But mostly . . . well . . . mostly we don’t know what we need at all. But what are we to do? Pray! But let’s take our prayer to the next level. Let’s call it Praying 2.0.

     Prayer is not just about asking for what we want or even yielding to what God wants. It is much more than that. Sometimes praying is like venting. We talk and spill our thoughts and wishes to God.  It’s like uncluttering our minds and casting our burdens on the Lord—all good things to do. In our talking we sometimes remind God about prayers we have already prayed and that’s okay, too, but totally unnecessary because God heard us the first time! If our prayers sound repetitive to us, then it is probably because we are constantly reminding God of what we need! So, perhaps it is time to lift our prayer life to a different level; that is, instead of praying for things, let’s pray for perspective—like Paul. Or even better, let’s memorize some of Paul’s prayers and pray his prayers.

     Here’s a good one: “I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations forever and ever. Amen.”¹

     If we want our prayer life to improve, we need to become better pray-ers, so that we can witness God’s answers—which often go unnoticed because we are not very good listeners! So, as we pray like Paul, one thing we must remember to do is listen for his voice, which is heard “through his Spirit in our inner being.” This particular prayer is about accessing the mighty power of Christ, which lives in us!

     So, how do we do that? Well, without analyzing this prayer in detail, we can generally see two things: 1) we need to grasp the depth of God’s love for us, and 2) we need to understand that God wants to do more than “all we ask or imagine.”  Perhaps our prayers are too specific! After all, did Paul pray for specific things to occur? Not very often. Instead, he prays that we “may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” And he believes that “fullness of God” will enable us to expect “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.”  In Ephesians 1, Paul prays for “the Spirit of wisdom,” and the “revelation in the knowledge.”  He prays that our hearts are “enlightened” and for us to know the “hope to which he has called” us. And that we would know “the riches of his glorious inheritance,” and “the immeasurable greatness of his power.”² That’s how Paul prays!

     Our prayers sometimes sound like a laundry list or a medical report. We mostly ask God for things to happen. But Paul doesn’t pray like that. He prays for spiritual perspective of things instead.  By contrast, our specific prayers are quite narrow and small. Of course, sometimes it is good to be very precise, but maybe we should start including a spiritual perspective of those things that concern us. For example, if we need guidance, read or better yet, recite Psalm 32:8. And then pray, Lord, instruct me in fill in the blank. Lord, counsel me as I consider fill in the blank.  Or when we are not sure about a choice, read or better yet, recite Philippians 1:9-11. And then pray, Lord, give me discernment as I decide fill in the blank.  Praying scripture is as close to our thoughts being God’s thoughts and our ways becoming his ways is ever going to be.

     Another way to lift our prayer life to the second level is to learn the power of waiting on God. It seems to me we spend more time waiting on God than actually serving him! That can’t be right, can it? Umm. Maybe. You see, I am beginning to think that the waiting is the serving! Hmm. There are countless scripture verses on waiting, so let’s just sum it up with this great one: “I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him.’ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”³

     And there it is. A few small steps that could push our prayers to the next level: Praying 2.0.

     Why not start now?

¹Ephesians 3:16-21      ²Ephesians 1:17-19     ³Lamentations 3:24-26

John writes about “a woman who had been caught in adultery.”¹ The scribes and Pharisees brought her to Jesus as he was teaching in the temple. Obviously, they did this to shame her and to trap Jesus into contradicting himself. “And placing her in the midst they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?’ This they said to test him.”² 

But before we get to what Jesus said, let’s pause and consider a couple of things. First, we all love to throw stones at others—to point our finger, to accuse, to condemn those folks whose sins have been made public! 😏 Why? It makes us feel good about ourselves because we would never do that! We, like the scribes and Pharisees, are quick to pick up a stone and throw it at someone whose sin has been found out!

Second, let’s ask ourselves the same question as the scribes and Pharisees asked Jesus. “So what do you say?”³  Hmm. 🤔 Well, first of all, I would say not to actually stone her. 🙄 Secondly, I would say, Where is the guy? I mean, if she was caught “in the act of adultery,”¹  he was caught, too. Does he get off scot-free here? 😠 Thirdly, I would say, it all depends on her response to being caught. Is she frightened? Is she remorseful? Is she proud? Is she angry? I guess what I really think is that forgiveness could be granted if she is penitent. That sounds fair and right.

So, what did Jesus say? Nothing. At first. He actually “bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.”³  What was he writing? We are not told. I wish I knew. But I tend to think he did this for effect—creating tension in the air because the scribes and Pharisees “continued to ask him”⁴  “so what do you say?”³  Come on, teacher. What’s your opinion here! We’d like to know! What do you say? And finally, “he stood up and said to them, ‘Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.’”⁴

And it was quiet. 😶 And those who had picked up stones dropped them. And no stone was thrown. And “they went away one by one.”⁵  And later, at their houses, people discussed what had happened. Some were astounded by Jesus’ forgiveness. Others were incensed by it. And me? I am convicted that my “forgiveness” was actually given with conditions attached. Which it usually is for many of us. I must confess that I enjoy judging others. But Jesus teaches us that we are all sinners and have no business doing that.

When everyone was gone, “and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him,”⁵  what did he say to her? “‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.’”⁶

God forgives us of our sins with no strings attached. His forgiveness is unconditional—unlike mine. 😦 And now that I study it, my “forgiveness” is quite Pharisaical!  So fair and right!  So, here is the greatest lesson this story can teach us: There is nothing fair about God’s forgiveness! 😯 Hmm. 🤔 I think we should ponder on that awhile.

Our instructions from Jesus are clear: He told his disciples, “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.”⁷ It is a gracious way to live: forgiven and forgiving.

¹John 8:3    ²John 8:3-6    ³John 8:6    ⁴John 8:7    ⁵John 8:9    ⁶John 8:10-11    ⁷Luke 6:37 

Happy leap day! 😀 Here is some useless information. It takes the earth 365¼ days to rotate. Therefore, every four years we add an additional day to the calendar to make up for the extra time.  We are supposed to feel like we are taking a leap by adding this day; therefore, it has been dubbed leap day. The five million or so born on this day are called leaplings. And that’s more than anyone needs to know.

     So . . . what shall we do with this bonus day? 🧐 Um. Well. Surely, you know that it’s not really an extra day. It’s just that we humans love to use numbers to even things out.  Of course, leap day always falls on the 29^th—not an even number at all. But my good friend who loves numbers tells me it is a prime number, which apparently is a good thing. She talks with at me about prime numbers and factors and absolute value and composite numbers and ordinals and blah, blah, blah. I just smile and nod. (Sometimes I just nod. 😏) I think her favorite verse is “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.”¹    Some people love numbers. I prefer words. And I really don’t care if we would be “out of kilter” if we did not leap. 🙄 And don’t get me started about Daylight Saving Time! 😠

     Although God invented the day and the night, we humans are the ones who invented time keeping and calendars. We love checking our watches and keeping score and counting things. Quick! How many clocks do you have in your house? Please include all appliances/devices/phones and actual clocks (even if they are not working) in your calculation. Go ahead and check. I’ll wait. 😉 🙃😴🖐️😶😐I counted 24 in my house. TWENTY-FOUR!! And if I count our vehicles, make it 27. And I think I’ll include my hour glass, so 28. What is wrong with us? 🤪

     Really, though. How many time devices do we need? The truth of the matter is that we love feeling like we control things . . . like time. But here’s a spoiler alert: WE DON’T! We just like to think we do. Contrary to popular belief, time does not slow down or speed up. Neither does it ever stop or start. And, sorry, Rolling Stones, but time is not on your side. It actually does not play favorites! And, dear Cher, we cannot turn back time. And, Chicago, if you really want to know what time it is, just ask someone. All of us have phones with clocks! And really, Jim, you cannot save time in a bottle! I am sure most people would argue with Styx that we can never have too much time on our hands. And lastly, Otis, why in the world are you wasting time sitting on the dock of the bay when you could be spending time after time with Cyndi doing something useful?

     We can be on time for an appointment and stay in time with the music. We can have time on our hands and we can run out of time. From time to time we might be apathetic. We take time off from our jobs and mark time as we wait for a job. A gift can be timely or timeless. We can take a time out or be in a time out! We can take our time and apparently time can fly!  We really cannot make up for lost time. And I’m not really sure if you gain time or lose time crossing over time zones. Some believe that people can die before their time. Time was, when people wouldn’t give you the time of day. Some people believe their time has not come. According to Charles Dickens (the greatest writer of all time), it can be “the best of times and the worst of times” at the same time! Some believe that there is such a thing as time travel! Of course, we all know that “for everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.”²

     But I digress. 🤨It is time for us to address today’s issue: what shall we do with our extra twenty-four (my friend would prefer 24) hours—our extra time? Why not ponder this: “I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God’s gift to man.”³

     Today would be a good time to enjoy the time we have here. Whatever the circumstances, wherever you find yourself—take a moment and embrace your extra day—even though it’s not really an extra day. 🙄 Which reminds me: my time is up.

     Until next time . . .

¹Psalm 90:12    ²Ecclesiastes 3:1    ³Ecclesiastes 3:10-13

Jesus tells the story of the sower who sowed his seeds in four places: on a path, on rocky ground, among thorns, and on good soil. The thorny place intrigues me the most because it “is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.”¹  These might be church-going people! The ones who hear sermons, who read their Bibles, who, when asked, would say they are Christians. They hear the Word of God and it takes root. And branches sprout but as fruit begins to grow, the thorns “grew up and choked them.”² And they do not understand why this is so. They may, in fact, look at others whose lives are fruitful and wonder why God does not bless them as well! 😠

     It’s a good thing to wonder about and a good question to ask: Why do some Christians have fruit and others have thorns? 🤔 The answer is twofold: 1) fruitful Christians are better at not allowing “the cares of the world” to affect them. What are those “cares”? Life. You know, the stuff we all do each day. It is easy to become consumed with life. All those “cares” subtly encroach into our prayer time and our Bible study time. The “cares of the world” are all the little things we must do to keep our family intact. And 2) fruitful Christians are generally not fooled by “the deceitfulness of riches.” Oftentimes “the cares of the world” are directly attached to “the deceitfulness of riches.” Those people are busy working in order to pay for all the things they are taking care of!

     But I think the real thing that separates the fruitful Christian from the unfruitful one is this: the unfruitful Christian “hears the word.” The fruitful Christian “hears the word and understands it.”³ Understanding the Word of God is vastly different than just hearing it. How do we acquire understanding? Various ways. But the best way is to study God’s Word. Or to put it like the psalter: “Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding . . .”⁴  God will give us understanding when we are willing to be taught.

     I find it quite interesting that this portion of Psalm 119 discusses the very things that Jesus was referring to in his parable. Read this: “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!”⁵  In other words, Don’t let me be deceived by riches! And then: “Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.”⁶  In other words, Don’t let the cares of the world distract me!

     But I think the heart of the message is this: “Give me understanding that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.”⁷ Our “whole heart.” That is another area of life that unfruitful people need to address. When we do things half-heartedly, we are doing so because we are so distracted by “the cares of the world”!  We are often multitasking. Few things get our whole attention, our “whole heart.” It’s a problem. But when God gives us understanding of his ways, we will see the fruit from our labors and will want to live for him more and more. We will understand that his “rules are good.”⁸ and say: “Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!”⁹

     Too much of our time is devoted to earthly things, things that do not last, things that give us temporary pleasure. Many of these things are not bad; in fact, some of them are quite fun!  God certainly wants us to enjoy our life, but first we need to get first things first! God is mostly concerned with most important things—eternal things. When that part of our life is in order, everything else seems to fall into perspective. It is so true that when we “seek first the kingdom of God and all his righteousness,”¹⁰ everything else falls in its proper place.

     To understand God’s Word is to meditate on it, study it, and then test it out. The person who does that “bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another case sixty, and in another thirty.”⁴  People who understand God’s Word are fruitful. So, to conclude: “Delight yourselves in the law of the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust in him and he will act.”¹¹  I am tempted to explain this passage to you, but you know what? You need to do that yourself. Study this one. 🤓 And then do what it says. Then you will be fruitful. And you will understand.

     Guaranteed.

¹Matthew 13:22    ²Matthew 13:7   ³Matthew 13:23   ⁴Psalm 119:33-34    ⁵Psalm 119:36    ⁶Psalm 119:37    ⁷Psalm 119:34    ⁸Psalm 119:39      ⁹Psalm 119:40    ¹⁰Matthew 6:33   ¹¹Psalm 37:4

For those people still hoping to fall in love, here is some unsolicited advice: Don’t fall for it! Don’t believe for one minute that falling in love is the prerequisite to a good relationship. Many people fall in love. And out of love.  I, myself, fell in love quite a few times—and lived to tell about it! But I have only lived with one man and that happened after I married him! And he was a man with whom I was deeply in love (and still am deeply in love after 34 years—35 in April)! I firmly believe that love is a decision, not an accident—like the phrase “falling in love” implies. Some people think that falling in love is uncontrollable—it just happens. No, it doesn’t. That, my friends, is the justification of many an affair. We didn’t mean for it to happen; it just did. Poppycock! 😠

The marriage “list” that many women and men carry around in their heads (and on paper) include mostly irrelevant things, such as physical beauty (including height & weight), age, education, status (including yearly salaries), temperament, talents, skills, and things they have in common. These are all fine and good, but frankly, they are temporary and transient things. All of them. 🤨 It might be a starter list, but it is not a final list for looking for a life-long mate.

A final list is found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. Take the time to read it now. Go ahead. I’ll wait. 🙂. . .🤔. . .🙃. . .😐. . .🖐️. . .😶 If you are looking for someone to hook your wagon to, spend your life with, grow old with, marry—look for a person who has those qualities. If he/she does not, move on.

That is not to say to look for a perfect person, but look for someone who values that list and considers that the measuring stick for him/herself. And then look at other qualities that are important to you, spend a lot of time together—a lot of time together—and ask yourself two questions: 1) does he/she make me a better person? And 2) does he/she love me as much as I love him/her? That’s it. 😀

Even so. Here is the most important thing about Paul’s great list. Before we marry, we are to look for our life partner to exhibit and pursue those attributes of love. However. However . . . once we marry, we are to cease looking for those things in our mate. Wait. 😯 What? Yeah. Once we are married, we must stop measuring our mate against this list (or any list). Why? Because the decision has been made and it is final. Our choice. Vows have been exchanged. That’s why it is important to be sure about the choice! 

So, what happens after we are married?  Now we are to become the models of the list (as we should have been all along for our mate’s sake). We are the ones to be patient and kind and not envious or boastful, not arrogant or rude, or insist on our own way or be irritable or resentful, or rejoice when things go wrong for someone but instead rejoice when things go right for the people we don’t particularly like. We are the ones whose love “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”¹  And, perhaps most importantly, our “love never ends.”²  That should be us. Of course, this list is impossible to live up to! Which is why the most important thing to look for in a mate is that he/she is a child of God.  Only the Holy Spirit of Christ living inside of us can help us to love like that. And, by the way, it is best if Christ is the center of our marriage because he is the greatest example of love.

If that is true for both you and your mate—now that’s a good match! And there is nothing accidental about it! Falling in love is overrated. Looking for love and deciding that a person is someone we could believe in, hope in, endure things with, and love forever—now, that’s someone to decide to fall in love with! 😁 And it can be a wonderful life together.

¹1 Corinthians 13:7     ²1 Corinthians 13:8

The last two traits on Peter’s great list that God “has granted to us all”¹ are brotherly affection and love. Although they might sound like the same thing, they are not at all. Brotherly affection is kindness. Kindness is always that thing that is never required, always unexpected, and rarely experienced. If mercy is unmerited favor, kindness is unmerited special treatment. When was the last time any of us did an act of kindness for someone else? And how often do we do those kindnesses? 😒    

     Did you know that there is a Random Acts of Kindness Organization? It was founded in 1995, started out in San Francisco and then moved to Colorado. Their mission? Make kindness the norm. If you visit their website, you can find RAK calendars, posters, bookmarks, coloring books, bingo games, quotes, videos, information on how to start a RAK club, how to infiltrate the workplace with RAK, etc. There are RAK designated days of the year, RAK activities, and an RAK Blog. It’s a thing! 🤪 And I applaud the foundation and its participants. I’m tempted to buy a calendar. Or make a t-shirt.

     But here’s what I have observed. Acts of kindness are intentional. The people receiving the kindnesses may be random, but the kindnesses themselves are rarely accidental. Kindness has purpose and thoughtfulness embedded in it. So, the people who have the characteristic of being kind have reached a high level of living. They are generally selfless people who are not hurried or flustered by things not going according to plan. There are very few kind people. Maybe some monks are kind. Even though I appreciate the RAK movement, I think their mission statement will never be achieved. Kindness will never be the norm. It just won’t. RAK people are demanding the impossible from humans. Humans are mostly self-centered sinners. Some of you might be touting, I’m nice! 😠 But that’s not the same thing. I can be nice! Nice is pleasing and agreeable. And might I add to the list bland and boring? 😶 But kindness? That always includes something extra.

     Of course, “the Lord is righteous in all his ways, and kind in all his works.”² And “love is patient and kind.”³  And we are commanded to “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”⁴  And the fruit of the Spirit includes kindness.⁵  So, we are to pursue kindness, but it is a high calling, right under the trait of love.

     Which is our last trait. And what can we say about love? Read 1 Corinthians 13 to get a big picture. But for the best example, go to Christ. For “God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”⁶  Since I cannot add anything to that, I will stop. Although I think Peter’s traits are listed in a specific order from easiest to hardest, they do overlap. We can have moments of brotherly kindness while we are still mastering knowledge and times of self-control while we struggle with goodness.

     If Peter’s list of traits that God has granted to us feel unattainable, it is because they are; that is, we cannot achieve them by ourselves nor have much success in them for very long. That is why God has given them to us by “his divine power.”¹  They are gifts. And they are ours to help us “escape the corruption that is in the world caused by evil desires.”⁷  But more so, they are ours to enable us to “become partakers in the divine nature.”⁷ They are only for believers but some believers will not exhibit these qualities because “he has forgotten he was cleansed from his former sins,”⁸  which means that he has not escaped “the corruption that is in the world.”⁷

     Even for those who understand we have been set free from our sins, it is confusing to know that we have received these great gifts, yet we still have to “make every effort to supplement [our] faith with”⁹  them. Then later, Peter adds that we must “be all the more diligent to confirm [our] calling and election,”¹⁰  to ascertain them. But we must realize that being “conformed to the image of his Son”¹¹—and that’s what is going on here—is a life-long endeavor.

     God has not left us by ourselves, unarmed and unprotected and unable to live a godly life for him while we await our new heaven and earth. Instead, he has given us everything we need to become more like Jesus. And one more thing.  Peter says God’s promise is not that we will never fall once we perfect these qualities but that “if [we] practice these qualities [we] will never fall.”¹⁰  

     Let’s go practice! 🙂  

¹2 Peter 1:3     ²Psalm 145:17     ³1 Corinthians 13:4     ⁴Ephesians 4:32    ⁵Galatians 5:22     ⁶Romans 5:5    ⁷2 Peter 1:4     ⁸2 Peter 1:9      ⁹2 Peter 1:5       ¹⁰2 Peter 1:10     ¹¹Romans 8:29    

One of the things Peter says we have been granted is steadfastness. Other translations use the words endurance, patience, and perseverance. If self-control is the hardest trait to master on Peter’s list, steadfastness is a close second. Why? Because we love to quit. We abandon, grow weary of, lose interest in, and walk away from projects, programs, and people. And sadly, we give little thought to quitting. We justify our reasons and accept the consequences as if they mean nothing to us. And ironically, we are then pretty quick to start another project, program, or person! 🤪

Here’s a thought: why not stick with something/someone? Why not “run with endurance the race that is set before us”¹?  Why not commit to it? And if we stumble, simply get up and keep going! And when we feel discouraged, we need to read these words: “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”² And then read them again. And write the words down and put them in our cars and on our desks and commit them to memory – at least the last part: “Do not be discouraged.”

Peter knew the people he was writing to were discouraged and so he said this: “Therefore I intend to always remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.”³ It seems that most of us need reminding to not be discouraged. We are more acquainted with discouragement than perhaps any other quality. Which is quite sad because God has given us the power to overcome anything!

Jesus knew we would succumb to discouragement. He told his disciples, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”⁴ Other translations read: Be of good cheer! Cheer up! Be brave! Have confidence! Be courageous! Be encouraged! Which is the opposite of being discouraged. In order not to give up—to persevere—we must be courageous. That would be a great quality to nurture, would it not? It appeals to me—to be brave. To stand up, to fight through, to hold fast, to be steadfast.

This quality is so difficult that I believe it is the evidence that these traits are in order. Let’s backtrack. There is no way to achieve steadfastness until we master self-control. And self-control cannot be obtained until we are consumed with the knowledge of Christ. And our knowledge of Christ will be thwarted until we begin the work of ridding ourselves of bad behavior and instead develop good habits of being good people. One thing is contingent on the other. 🧐  So, the next thing on Peter’s list after steadfastness is godliness. Which sounds absolutely impossible, right? But actually, this is the second easiest of the traits (after goodness)! 😦 No, really. It is. Why is that? Because being godly is something we cannot produce of ourselves. It is the result of supplementing our faith with goodness and knowledge of Christ and the outcome of being a person of self-control and perseverance. It is not that we will consider ourselves as godly, but others will see us as godly. We will practice godliness unaware. The moment we think we are godly is evidence we are not. Godliness is something we are to ever be pursuing.

But we are always to be in pursuit of all the traits for we never arrive at perfection. We are a work in progress, and what Peter is explaining here is that the work is never done, for “if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from becoming ineffective . . .”⁵ So, it is apropos that we jump ahead a bit and read what happens to people who are not working on these traits, whose qualities are not increasing. Here it is: “Whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind . . .”⁶  So, what we have here is a blind believer! Hmm. 🤔 What do those people look like? They are the ones who have faith but are not adding to it, not supplementing their faith with the traits Peter has listed. They believe in God, but have not allowed God to infiltrate their lives.

Sadly, they have not escaped “the corruption that is in the world.”⁷ Instead they have been duped by it, lured into it, and deceived by ungodly people. This, by the way, is the very reason that Peter wrote this church. The believers were being led astray by false teachers. He warns them: “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.”⁸ To be “carried away” by the corrupted world is to live in a state of instability. Unfortunately, James explains the fate of unstable people: “For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”⁹

Once we begin to focus on being steadfast, we are on our way to being stable. And we will be looked upon by others as godly, which is hard to fathom. But it is true. However, we still have more to learn. Peter is not done! 😉

¹Hebrews 12:1      ²Deuteronomy 31:8      ³2 Peter 1:12      ⁴John 16:33     ⁵2 Peter 1:8     ⁶2 Peter 1:9     ⁷2 Peter 1:4      ⁸2 Peter 3:17     ⁹James 1:7

Self-control. Peter tells us to supplement our faith with—among other things—self-control, which can be defined as temperance or discipline or abstinence. Although it is an admirable trait, few really want to obtain this one.  It indicates giving up things and restraining ourselves from giving in to things. I don’t believe I have ever heard a sermon about self-control. Solomon (a very wise man) wrote that “a man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.”¹  Hmm. 🤔 In other words, a man with no boundaries. That’s a dangerous man. 

Interestingly enough, self-control is really about liberation though, because creating boundaries ironically gives us freedom. For if we do not have control of our desires, they have control of us. In fact, we will be enslaved by them. 😦 Freedom is the ability to say no. But how do we access the power to say no? Paul tells us in his letter to the Galatians. He writes, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.”² Hmm. 🤔 I’m a bit confused. Is the Spirit keeping us from doing the bad things we want to do or is the flesh keeping us from doing the good things we want to do? Perhaps both. After all, they “are opposed to each other.” At any rate, we do possess the power to resist the flesh. It is when we “walk by the Spirit.”

So, how do we do that? The Spirit, the holy Spirit of Jesus, lives in us and Paul gives us a list of the “fruit of the Spirit,” and included in that list is “self-control.”³ Self-control, then, is a fruit. As we allow the Holy Spirit to live more and more in us, this fruit begins to blossom and grow. And Jesus tells us how this happens, but let me warn you—his words are hard to hear! 😯 He says, “I am the vine; you are the branches.”⁴That sounds good, but there’s more. Listen carefully. “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes.”⁵So . . . let me see if I understand this correctly. If we do not bear fruit, we are cut off, and if we bear fruit we are cut down? 🤪 But pruning is the perfect analogy because there are several reasons to prune something. Pruning gets rid of dying branches, stimulates new growth, and revitalizes plants.

Growing in Christ is a process and sometimes we will not understand why it hurts so much, but it is always so that we “may bear more fruit.”⁵  And his promise is this: “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”⁴  Which brings us back to self-control. We cannot have self-control without the help of the Spirit. It might be the hardest of the things to manage on Peter’s list. You see, if we lose control of ourselves—our tongues (our temper and our language), our bodies (our lust for immoral things and food and drink), even our minds (our attitudes and our judgment)—we not only are miserable and enslaved—we jeopardize our testimony.

The key, then, is to abide in Christ. We are to immerse ourselves in his Word and “walk by his Spirit”⁶ by praying through our days. His presence and his power are enough. When Paul was struggling, he prayed to God for relief and God’s answer was this: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”⁷  So, when we recognize, admit, and confess our weaknesses (like our inability to control our desires), we can rest assured that God’s power will rescue us. And here’s the best part. Jesus said, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”⁸  We serve a wonderful God. 🙂

¹Proverbs 25:28    ²Galatians 5:16-17    ³Galatians 5:22    ⁴John 15:5    ⁵John 15:2    ⁶Galatians 5:16    ⁷2 Corinthians 12:9    ⁸John 15:7