Trust?

Trust is defined as the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. It seems that we take trust for granted until we wonder if something or someone is trustworthy like when we cross a swinging bridge or choose a doctor. In a couples’ counseling session trust may have minimal significance until either the husband or wife utters the piercing words, “I do not trust you!” Sadly it seems most people live with little concern for the impact of their choices that result in the lack of trust or the inability to trust. Only when trust is required do we realize its importance, and only when trust is lost do we appreciate its value. Yet have we considered the issue of how we posture ourselves in trust and its ramifications on our relationship with God? How does trust factor into our interaction with God?

Solomon moves his son to consider the issue of trust in the well-known passage of Proverbs 3:5 – 8 (ESV).

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
      and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
      and he will make straight your paths.
Be not wise in your own eyes;
      fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your flesh
      and refreshment to your bones.

Trust is actually the result of making the choice to believe in God’s truth. Given the meaning of the Hebrew word batah the emphasis here is to be moved to hope by force of belief that has previously been solidified in faith. Thus the process of sanctification can be observed in its linear flow: truth is introduced by revelation leading to enlightenment, belief is embraced, faith is experienced, as hope now becomes the essence of the new normal.

David presents in poetic fashion an understanding of walking with God in trust leading to the expected outcome of peace.

Trust in the LORD and do good;
Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the LORD;
And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD,
Trust also in Him, and He will do it.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light
And your judgment as the noonday.
Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him… (Psalm 37:3 – 8 NASB)

Have you considered what actually influences our willingness to trust? Spiritual death resulted from the choices Adam and Eve made. Their sin broke humanity’s relationship with God, and the devastating consequences trouble us daily. As a result of the Garden encounter:
      1. Humanity disconnected from truth and connected with perversion.
      2. Humanity developed a distorted view of God’s image.
      3. Humanity created a delusional view of themselves.

Belief and what we believe in are the bases for that which we choose to trust. The real question is do we believe in the truth or do we believe in a lie? Truth is not of a human origin and can be found only with God. “Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’” (John 14:6 ESV).

Truth is comprised of principles, precepts, and promises of God that empower life with the strength of God. Although God’s law is written in our hearts, we must make the choice to believe God’s truth by accepting His reality as fact. Yet just knowing God’s truth as fact will not change our lives until we believe by faith and appropriate God’s truth in the course of our living. It is not until truth shapes our choices and molds our behavior, sculpting us into the image of Jesus, that we may say we believe. Do we really believe what we say we believe about God so that it permeates our lives and defines our actions?

We may have a vast knowledge of the Bible, but if this knowledge has never changed us it is because we do not believe what we know to be true. When we believe, we act on what we know is certain. “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see” (Heb. 11:1 NLT). It does not require complete comprehension. Absolute understanding is not a necessity. What is essential is that we trust and follow in God’s way. “You will hear a word spoken behind you, saying, ‘This is the correct way, walk in it,’ whether you are heading to the right or the left” (Isa. 30:21 NLT).

Insight Journal
I can trust God because...

(excerpts included from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

I Lost Trust

I remember the very day when trust departed from my [Kirk] life. It was the first day of spring when I was 4 years old. For a long time my father had been promising to build a house for us. Our house was a cement shell with rough cement floors, cinder block walls, and room dividers. We had no running water or bathroom. We were dependent on two wood burning fireplaces to keep us warm in winter. When it rained there were three leaks over my bed and five leaks altogether in the bedroom that was shared with my two brothers plus Mama and Dad too. Many a night we awoke to rain soaked quilts. Interestingly, it was quite comforting to return to sleep with the dripping sounds of five pans catching water.

From my description you may think I grew up in 1920’s – 1930’s. Our living conditions were substandard even in rural North Carolina for the 1960’s. For some time Dad had been responding to my questions about moving with, “Well, Erk,” (this is what Dad called me) “in the spring we will build a house and move over to the land.” “The land” was a five-acre plot that somehow my mother was able to buy and retain amid my father’s continuous drinking and gambling. With Dad’s comforting refrain consoling my heart, I would run off with thoughts of a better tomorrow when we would move into our new house – a home with heat, a roof that did not leak, and maybe even carpet. This hope kept me a bit warmer as the damp winter lumbered long with its cold.

Finally, winter gave way to the impending joy of fairer days. One morning I awoke to the most beautiful day I could ever remember. It was the kind of morning that made you feel good on the inside. I sprang from my bed and ran outside to commence an intense day of play and mischievous gallivanting. I recalled running into the house almost plowing into Mama, who asked me why I was so happy. I said, “I feel good today!”

“Well honey, it’s the first day of spring and we all feel good because it is such a pretty day.”

“It’s spring!” I screamed with anticipation that had come to fulfillment. I ran through the house telling everyone to get their stuff because today was moving day!

Mama chased me through the house, confused and somewhat amused with my flight of fancy. She grabbed me while saying, “What are you talking about?”

“Mama, it’s spring and it’s time to move to our new house over at the land!”

Mama quickly retorted, “What house? There is no house at the land.” Mama by this time had grown concerned and was on her knees making eye contact with me and holding me by the shoulders quite firmly.

“Mama,” I replied, “Dad said that in the spring he would build us a house and we would move. It’s spring, so let’s go!”

“Honey, your dad has not built the house yet.”

I remember not being dissuaded by such a sentiment. “So it’s not done yet,” I conceded.

Mama began to recognize the implications of my beliefs. She asserted very directly to me, “Kirk, there is no house. Your dad has not built a house and that is all there is to this. We are not moving!”

All that was previously wonderful changed to the hue of awful. I was incensed to the point of rage. I yelled at Mama, pushing her backwards. “You are lying! My dad can do anything!”

I ran out the front door to where my dad was talking to his drinking buddy, Larry. I could not contain myself so I got in between them vying desperately for Dad’s attention. Dad was too busy looking at Larry’s new Harley, which probably was purchased with all the money my dad lost at Larry’s house gambling on cards, chicken fights, and dogfights. I could no longer wait, so I blurted out, “Dad, today is moving day! Let’s go and pack so we can move to the land!”

I remember Dad being bewildered and annoyed. “What are you talking about little Erk?”

“You said that when spring came we would move, and today is the first day of spring, so let’s go Dad!”

By this time Dad was not only annoyed but also angry that I had interrupted him and embarrassed him by pointing out the fact that he made promises he had no intention of keeping.

Dad pushed me aside. “Can’t you see I’m talking? We are not moving. I have not even cleared the land, and I have not built the house! We are not going anywhere, so leave me alone and quit bothering me!”

I was crushed. I learned that day that the man I thought was so great was a consummate liar. This was the first of many such occasions where I caught my dad lying until the day that he finally left and never came back.

But what I lost that day was more than my relationship with my dad. I lost the willingness to trust. I remember so vividly believing with complete confidence that my dad could have done anything. In my innocent mind it would have been no big deal for him to clear the land, build the house, and move us into it – all in three short hours.

This human example illustrates the influence of trust. Even when trust is misplaced it exerts a certain power on life that provides hope even when believing in a lie. We choose where to place our firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. Throughout life we look to our objects of trust to provide security. Disillusioned we stumble into the pit and believe we can trust no one but ourselves. The harm befalls us when we develop a heart that is not willing to trust in anything beyond ourselves and what we can control through our own efforts. In our feeble attempts to be the god of our own lives, we miss an intimate connection with the Father who is worthy of trust.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths. (Prov. 3:5–6 NKJV)

Insight Journal
Children see God as relevant because they can trust that there is someone bigger who knows the best way to make things work out. When did I lose that concept of God?

Do You Need A Spanking?

Have you noticed a growing trend that people tend to broker only in those commodities of God that provide instant return – love, grace, mercy, forgiveness? Rarely does anyone equally welcome His moral attributes that cause us to flee into the rocks in fear of His holy presence. Relating to God demands that we have a holy reverence for Him that moves each one of us as His children to value God with all our soul’s ability. Only through encountering the total of God’s moral nature are we given the ability to form a proper response that is remotely worthy of Him. Embracing God’s truth, justice, righteousness, goodness, and holiness are the only means by which we as hopeless sinful individuals will ever appreciate Christ’s love, grace, and mercy. Only with this godly perspective can we run to Him for forgiveness when we are faced with the fear of wrath or discipline.

The wrath to come is God’s judgment, condemnation upon the children of “disobedience,” upon those who are outside of Christ’s redemptive grace. Paul admonishes the Roman Christians to note that “it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience” (Col. 3:6 NASB). Paul continues to assert, “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18 NASB). While chastisement is God’s loving discipline upon His errant children, “My son, do not scorn the Lord’s discipline or give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son he accepts” (Heb. 12:5–6 NET).

Many possess a distorted view of God’s holiness while wrongly assuming that His love, grace, and mercy somehow stay the hand of His holiness, justice, and righteousness. God is hence presented as one who “winks at sin” and is portrayed as an indulgent parent. Such teaching betrays the essence of God’s moral nature and does little more than encourage sinners to believe they are saints and saints to living little better than sinners.

The truth is God has established holiness as the moral standard by which to enter into fellowship with Him.

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:5–7 ESV)

The problem is that apart from Jesus’ redemptive care, administered to us through His gospel applied to our souls by His Holy Spirit and actualized within our lives by His divine unction, we are incapable of connecting to God. A desperate dependence upon the grace of Christ forms the foundation for relating intimately to Him in relational communion.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1John 1:8–2:2 ESV)

As our advocate Christ intercedes on our behalf before the Father because He has pleased the Father through His sacrificial death on the cross. The Bible sets forth that “in Christ all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross” (Col. 1:19–20 ESV).

As our heavenly parent, Christ chastens His children so as to bestow upon us His holy heart.

It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Heb. 12:7–11 ESV)

Perhaps the most frequently chastened sin in Scripture is the issue of unbelief, when God’s children murmured against Him and /or moved away from Him to God-substitutes thereby committing idolatry. Is this not still the pattern that is most seen among Christians today? Christians attempt to place God on notice that He has not pleased them. Protest follows as they seek a God-substitute to foster having their own way.

God, as in the Old Testament, chastens His children that they might learn to trust Him.

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears. (Heb. 12:12–17 ESV)

God has no higher concern and espouses no greater agenda than to promote Jesus as preeminent within our lives. Thus His grace is dedicated to this mission. Grace cannot be manipulated or exploited to achieve our own selfish ambition, nor will it be subservient to our vain conceit. Grace resides securely within the heart and mind of God, having no other master, and can be wielded by none other than His hand.

Insight Journal
I need to ask for forgiveness from God because I wanted God to serve me on my terms when…

(excerpts included from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

As A Little Child

“An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest” (Luke 9:46 NIV).

“When he [Jesus] was in the house, he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the road?’ But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest” (Mark 9:33, 34 NIV).

We read these verses and marvel that the disciples could be so petty after Jesus had just announced his coming persecution and death. “…he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, ‘The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise’ ” (Mark 9:31 NIV).

Jim Rosscup, in An Exposition on Prayer, postulates

Several things could have led to the question. (1) Jesus had spoken in His great sermon about being greater in the kingdom (5:19), later of being least in the kingdom (11:11). (2) Jesus had singled out Peter, even promised him keys to the kingdom (16:17–19). To wield keys in a king’s palace was to have position with authority giving access to various rooms. Other things, too, could naturally provoke the curiosity. (3) Three disciples were distinguished in going to the Transfiguration, nine not selected (17:1–13). (4) Conviction is building among the disciples that Jesus is the Messiah (16:16). The three had even heard the Father attest Him (17:5). And Jesus has just given Peter the illustration of a king and his sons. (5) Jesus singled Peter out in providing tax money for Himself and this one disciple (17:27).

Too often people gripe about who the pastor spends the majority of his time with, or joust to gain recognition from prominent individuals in order to feel significant. While complaining that there are “favorite pets” people vie for that sacred position themselves, all the while protesting that everyone should be treated equally. However, Jesus life did not exhibit that example. He chose disciples to invest His time in (Matt. 4:18–22), and committed the spreading of the Gospel message to them (Matt. 28:16–20).

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. (Matt. 18:1—5 NIV)

Matthew 18, then is about pleasing God and having a status He approves. A prayer question in curiosity about who is greater in pleasing Him receives Jesus’ answer in criteria of pleasing Him. These flow in attitudes of humility, receptivity, discipline and forgiveness. …they are to view what pleases Him as He assesses it in them, in a servant’s attitude. This is to be humble, dependent on and receptive to Him, prizing His will in self-control and disciplining others, and forgiveness. In essence neither entrance into nor eminence in the kingdom is due to human greatness. It is a privilege conferred by God’s grace. It is not by people deserving but by their dependence. The quest is not really status by the followers’ worthiness, but submission to His will. At the core is not seeking high achievement, but submitting in a humble, helpless attitude—that is, not grasping for self but giving oneself away to God and to others in ways that please Him. (Rosscup)

The Life Application Study Bible notes in reference to Matthew 18: 1–4:

It is easy to lose our eternal perspective and compete for promotions or status in the church. It is difficult, but healthy, to identify with “children”—weak and dependent people with no status or influence.

Jesus used a child to help his self-centered disciples get the point. We are not to be childish (like the disciples, arguing over petty issues), but rather childlike, with humble and sincere hearts. In what areas of your life do you tend to struggle with childishness? In what ways are you making progress with childlikeness?

Insight Journal
Am I willing to become “as a little child” and dependently trust Christ even though it may mean that I will have no status or influence?

Christ Is Relevant to Unity

Oneness with Jesus produces unity with each other.

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:1 – 3 ESV).

What does it mean to be eager? We anticipate with delight a good many things; Chocolate, bicycling, camping, time with our children, and the list may go on and on. But how many of us can really say that at the top of our list is an eagerness to keep the "unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace"? Some are too busy creating disunity within the body of Christ, therefore the thought of maintaining unity is lost to the almost good intention which slightly emerged somewhere between “I ought to…” and “I should…” and “maybe next time.” The sad truth is that being “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” is not part of our daily agenda.

The admonition however is clear; we are to be eager to keep the peace that has been committed to us by the Holy Spirit of God. Unity serves as the benchmark of our divine kinship. To be one with Christ is to be one with all Christ represents, and with all who are one with Him.

The issue of unity is so essential and implicit to Jesus that wherever unity is found, there you will also find Christ in the midst of it. Union with Christ, as evidenced by the traits of such a connection (the Epistle of 1 John delimits these traits), becomes the foundation for all fellowship within the body of Christ and is the litmus test for anyone claiming to be Christ's follower.

This notion of being unified in the Spirit, with all that Christ represents, is completely fulfilled in possessing the love of Christ within our hearts and expressing the love of Christ to others. See 1 Corinthians 13:1 – 3 and 1 John 4:7 – 21.

Oneness with Jesus compels us to connect to each other.
What compels someone to possess an earnest desire to be a steward charged with maintaining the health and welfare of unity? To be the keeper of the light that has been lit by the Holy Spirit? Would it not be that very Spirit that lives within us that moves us into a concerted oneness with each other?

Unity and union are elements comprising intimacy afforded by a common identity while establishing family connection. Unity (the state of being one) is the process producing the condition of our union (the state of being united). Unity is what God is achieving through oneness within the hearts of His children, while union is the resulting condition being established between His children within His Spirit. Unity and union are not merely synonyms but rather are various dimensions of the relational matrix. Unity is caused by oneness with Christ compelling the condition of union to exist between His children.

Oneness with Jesus prompts a sharing of our unified faith with each other.
The issue now is how do we enter into oneness? The answer is that we must have a unifying identity (being in Christ), leading to an unbreakable intimacy (being of Christ) motivating a uniform industry (being compelled by Christ).

The prepositional phrase “of the Spirit” is genitive in case and is certifying that this unity has originated from God's Holy Spirit and is given by the redemptive process of grace, bestowed by the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ. It is He who is working within and between the children of God bringing all His children into the unity of the faith.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:11–13 NIV).

Unity possesses a very unique and distinct signature. Peace is the bond offering proof of who we are in Christ and to whom we belong. Peace asserts that we are children of God birthed by the Bride of Christ – the Church.

Peace is the evidence of those who are dependent on Christ to provide the ability to cope with the problems, pain, and perplexities of living. In the midst of conflict we can experience the absence of fear, dread, and impending doom as we rest in the presence of His safety, tranquility, and contentment. A continuous relationship with Jesus Christ overflows with peace that comes from entrusting every struggle to Him. There is strength in knowing that while all around us is in flux and failure, Jesus provides a spiritual stability beyond the normal boundaries of this existence. We experience peace in the presence of finding Christ relevant to our situation even when we cannot be in control.

You will keep in perfect peace
      all who trust in you,
      all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
Trust in the LORD always,
      for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock” (Isa. 26:3–4 NLT).

Our relationship with each other is to draw directly from the well of Christ and to drink inter-personally of the water of everlasting life. As we are with God through Christ Jesus—at peace, we are to be with each other—“in the bond (or ties) of peace.” With identity establishing intimacy, peace in this context, now compels the family of God to the industry of sharing their intimacy with each other—sharing with one another the peace that has been received from their bond with Christ that now has become the bond between them. Being reconciled with God results in possessing a bond with our brothers and sisters in Christ, as those whom have been reconciled through Christ to God. Being at peace with Him is now what people of faith have in common. It is our bond—the shared uniqueness that is therefore shared between us.

Insight Journal
1. Based on my behavior, do I value keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace?
2. Does my life demonstrate oneness with Jesus and unity with my Christian siblings?
3. Do I possess the bond of peace with Christ and in my relationships with others?


(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

Bearing with One Another in Love

“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love…” (Eph. 4:1-2 ESV).

Paul continues unfolding the process of spiritual development for one who is walking worthy of his call. He now urges the Ephesians to combine patience with the process. A worthy example of what Paul is admonishing is found in the words of Jesus.

“You have heard that it was said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, do not resist [to set one’s self against, to withstand, to oppose; Strong’s Concordance] the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.” (Matt. 5:38 – 42 ESV)

Many have looked upon this passage thinking that Jesus is being very unreasonable to demand such a resolve in the face of abuse. Yet their understanding of His teaching misses the sentiment of what Jesus is actually challenging us to do. Jesus is admonishing His children to realize that patience is a trait unique to God. But patience is greatly misunderstood as being something more akin to passivity, or being passively compliant, or simply resigning to the desire of another. Yet patience, as an evidence of the fruit of the Spirit, possesses qualities directly from God’s own DNA.

Patience is the fruit of the Holy Spirit that enables us to persevere under pressure. Patience maintains the virtues of love, joy, and peace when faced with the pressures of wrong, mistreatment, or taxation. When pressed, patience does not retaliate but rather addresses the underlying motivations of the soul. By His fruit of patience, the Holy Spirit moves us to look to Jesus for strength, giving the ability to forbear in circumstances that would otherwise deplete our resolve. Therefore it is not surprising that the child of patience is forbearance. Bearing with one another in love evidences the life that patience prompts us to live within the Spirit. As humility brings forth gentleness, so patience produces forbearance.

Delusional, would be the characterization of anyone who thought they could exemplify the virtue of patient forbearance apart from God’s divine enabling. As a virtue of the Spirit of God, we must receive patience from God as opposed to attempting to manufacture it from within ourselves. In our own efforts we simply suppress our frustration while over compensating with continued availability in view of gaining status with man or God. Therefore forbearance must arise from Christ who is working to accomplish His good pleasure within the lives of those yielded to Him.

Patient forbearance is the process of being personally empowered by God’s divine enabling to regard as sacred the relational pathways that allow us to journey among our spiritual kin, while on mission for God. We are to remain ever faithful to God in regards to what He wants us to accomplish in another's life. Not allowing any discontinuance within the relational connection between our spiritual siblings and us. We are to be a vigilant source of God's grace to each other within the body of Christ. Therefore we should not to allow issues to emerge as obstacles to God's love flowing through us to each other.

We must be careful to remain dead to sin while not allowing our interpersonal issues to animate the flesh, whereby we are once again empowered by the nature of sin within us, giving way to selfish-ambition and vain conceit. Forbearance is an example of godly enablement.

The difference that separates godly enabling from ungodly enabling is whether one is moved towards personal empowerment through obedience to God's Word, or rather being encouraged to continue traversing and travailing within their sinfulness while using attention and influence to escape their consequences. At the point where enabling does not yield the fruit of righteousness, we are to move to exhortation with truth confronting sinfulness while asking the probing question, “What does your behavior say about your relationship with Christ?” All the while continuing to forbear with them through their choosing Christ’s Redemptive Process over Self's Redemptive Process.

We are to hold others accountable to godliness, allowing others to bear the weight of their sin's consequence, while exposing, exhorting, enlightening, enriching, establishing, and encouraging with truth.

Seeking to please over ministering to each other is a sure means to breaking the unity of the faith used to undermine the patient forbearing process. The process of pleasing others works only to establish expectations of one gaining some reward for their labors. When disappointment arises, the prospect of pleasing another turns to contempt for the other. We are to forbear in love and not in a pathological waltz of manipulative interaction with each other, so as to gain some semblance of worth for ourselves.

“For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Gal. 1:10 ESV).

Insight Journal
Am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? How can I be a better servant of Christ?


(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

Gentleness: The Living Out of Christ Within

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness… (Eph. 4:1 – 2 ESV).

How do I conduct my life with gentleness?

Gentleness is given expression through humility. The conjunction "and" tying gentleness with humility is a logical connective emphasizing that gentleness is that which humility produced. One therefore cannot conceptualize gentleness apart from casting it from the mold of selflessness. Whatever can be said of gentleness is brought forth from a selfless soul and lived out within the confluence of Christ likeness and death to self.

Gentleness is therefore the fruit of the Holy Spirit that enables us to reflect God’s grace to the world. Grace is God's power to live that enables us to fulfill His will and be complete. The transforming presence of Christ establishes the order of our souls so we can convey God’s grace through gentleness. As God’s Spirit produces gentleness in our lives, He establishes our attitude, fashions our approach, and directs our actions with others. When we are blessed with the fruit of gentleness, His abundant supply must overflow into the lives of others. With humble selflessness we are compelled to transmit His power to live. We cannot be content with merely possessing the attitude of gentleness, but as representatives of God to others, we must display His fruit through our actions. “Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom” (James 3:13 NASB).

Gentleness draws it's essence from living within the confines of brokenness, where one has given up their willfulness in order to be ruled by God's benevolent authority. The gentle live to accomplish God's good pleasure as the Spirit of Christ guides their way into being bearers of His grace to others.

Gentleness promotes God's position yet does not participate in any selfish ambition hidden within the carnality of the flesh's agenda. Selfish ambition stands opposed to the soul of gentleness, and with vain conceit propagates self's redemptive process. Without God’s grace, selfish ambition would assert, “I must be served”; “My way must be followed”; and “I am right.” According to selfish ambition, having control over life’s resources is seen as the priority and must be the object of life’s pursuit. Selfish ambition is not concerned with the welfare of others but with the power we have over our domain. It is through this perception of strength that we derive our sense of self-sufficiency. With continuous resolve we persist in our selfish ambition.

Conversely gentleness recognizes the power which one possesses as present to serve God's purpose, and utilizes such influence to accomplish God's plan within the lives of those in need. Jesus exemplified gentleness when He asserted, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matt. 11:28 – 29 ESV).

Jesus emphasized, "I am gentle and lowly in heart." The dative case noun literally means "in relationship to the heart I am gentle and lowly." The virtue of gentleness is not merely a good deed that is given God's blessings as it is being committed. Rather gentleness is derived from a heart that has been given to Christ, bearing fruit created and formed in His image which engages people in a redemptive manner prompting rest for their souls.

Gentleness is therefore characterological in nature and does not exist in deed if it first does not rule in the heart. Gentleness expresses the heart of Jesus in the glory of grace so that others may experience Christ's excellence through our relationship with Him.

We can exemplify the fruit of gentleness when we relinquish our selfish ambition. Enabled by the Spirit, I can reflect God’s grace. “Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth” (2 Tim. 2:25 NLT).

(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)


Insight Journal
I fail to evidence the Fruit of the Spirit of gentleness when ...