Scripture What is desirable in a man is his kindness…. Proverbs 19:22
Observation
What do people want most out of me? Is it my money, my wisdom or my good looks? Hardly. What people want most is kindness.
Kindness feels good. It is a cool drink on a hot day. It is a warm blanket on a cold night. It is a soft pillow on a hard bed. It is a firm place to stand in shaky times.
Kindness is surprising, rarely asked for, never expected but sorely needed. That is why kindness is as enjoyable to give as it is to receive.
Kindness has a cost, however. It demands that I am prepared to do what I don’t feel like doing. I may be tired, grouchy or out of sorts but kindness is acting not as people deserve but as they need.
Application
When I think of some of the kind people that I’ve known, my own kindness falls far short. I need to up the kindness delivery in my life, not just when I feel like it but when it is needed most.
Prayer Father, make me kind and kinder than I want to be. Amen.
Press the arrow to listen to Hillsong sing “Halleujah” as you read today’s devotion.
Scripture For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. 1 Corinthians 9:10-11
Observation
A truly great leader is not known by how much money he keeps but by his generosity in giving away. The word “generous” has its origin in a Latin word that means someone of noble birth. The idea is that the truly noble person is a giver, for he has a combination of power and tenderness.
When God calls us to be generous he is inviting us to act regally and royally, for to give is truly a noble thing. We think of royalty reflected in possessions, while God considers true nobility in an open heart.
There is a harvest with all of God’s financial development in our lives. When exactly does that harvest come? Does it come when we receive more financially? The answer is, no. The harvest comes when we show generosity. The produce God is looking for in what he invests into us is that characteristic of kings and queens: the ability to be generous. The money is inconsequential; the generosity that is created in us is what matters most to him.
An open, sharing heart is one of the greatest gifts we can give to the Lord, for it is then that we are most like him. When funds flow into our lives we are not to think that we have come to the finish line and arrived. The harvest has yet to come. There is no harvest until we give, then we have become like the Lord.
Prayer Father, with or without money, I want to have an open heart of generosity. In each gift I give, make my heart like your own. Amen.
Scripture Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” Acts 3:2-4
Observation
Eye contact with people in need is a risky thing for a busy leader to do. The day is streamlined when problem people are kept in peripheral vision. A leader knows that those people are on the edges, but he glances at his watch and keeps moving. A busy pastor knows that the time needed to cross a crowded room is not measured by the distance to be walked but by the people to be met. Each person is “just a minute” and can turn a walk from the front of the church to the back of the church into an hour long slow crawl.
Peter and John set for leaders a very different approach to time management. They made eye contact and took time to be involved in human need. The result was more than a miracle; they stepped into a divine moment. God had scheduled a preaching appointment for them that day that would spark a revival. Had they whisked past the man they would have missed the appointment and lived a day never recorded in the Bible. Instead they risked involvement and stepped into history.
Jesus had modeled for these men a very different perspective of time management. Time managers advise that busy leaders should focus on accomplishing written daily tasks and to screen people to avoid interruptions. Jesus, however, never rejected anyone who came to him for help. Occasionally he delayed for a few days or posed a challenging question, but he always took time to be involved in human need. He demonstrated that human problems are a portal into God’s purposes.
Eye contact with people in need requires faith in God that he is in control of interruptions and ultimately of our day. Often we trust a watch, Daytimer, or Blackberry more than the Lord.
Eye contact with people in need requires confidence that there is enough time to help. Somehow if we put the need first the Lord will sort out the rest of our day.
Eye contact with people in need requires humility that God’s agenda is more significant than our own. The Bible is strewn with examples of God interrupting good people doing good things to get his will done.
Application
I’ll admit it. I don’t like making eye contact with people in need. That’s probably because I take my own importance too highly. Marginalizing people is exactly that: fencing people with problems into the margins of my life. A fully checked “to-do list” is not an evidence that I have done the will of God.
Prayer Father, okay here I go. I open my life today to people in need. I am interruptible. Amen.
Observation
God gave Joseph overwhelming privileges. He was on the top floor of the pyramids, so to speak. How he used the power God gave him tells us everything about the stages of his heart.
Forgiving family who had sold him to slave traders was not a snap decision. In some way it is comforting to read Joseph’s struggle to forgive because it gives us elbow room to work through our own forgiveness challenges.
Joseph went through three stages until he was ready to reconcile.
First, Joseph used the platform of success to become a bully.
Genesis 42:8-9 Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they didn’t recognize him. And he remembered the dreams he’d had about them many years before. He said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see how vulnerable our land has become.â€
Under the Egyptian headdress and makeup he was still just Joey, but he would never let his brothers know that vulnerable information. He stared them down with steely resentment. He would make them do jail time just like he did. At the Bully Stage we can use the grace of God to get back at others who have harmed us. Of course we will not be forgiven if we do not forgive, but thankfully the Lord does not rush but gives us time to come to a better frame of mind.
Second, Joseph became a police man.
Genesis 42:17-18 So Joseph put them all in prison for three days. On the third day Joseph said to them, “I am a God-fearing man. If you do as I say, you will live.
Evidently God had spoken to Joseph over the three days and touched his heart. His words were not prickling with revenge now. There was a softness about him. But still he was not ready to reconcile with his brothers. That would take more time. At the Policeman Stage, we may not want to harm people, but we do want to teach them a lesson. Instead of entrusting God to deal with our enemies we speed things up a little.
Finally, Joseph became a counselor.
Genesis 45:1-5 selected Joseph could stand it no longer. There were many people in the room, and he said to his attendants, “Out, all of you!†So he was alone with his brothers when he told them who he was. Then he broke down and wept. “I am Joseph!†he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive? Please, come closer,†he said to them. But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.
Instead of confronting his brothers, he consoled them. What a dramatic change from the bully just a few months before. Joseph was now comforting those who had harmed him.
Application
It is easy to relate to the stages of Bully and Policeman, but to think that we could one day console those who had harmed us may be too much to contemplate. But such is the grace of Jesus. If I am to be a Christ follower, then I must be prepared for unusual changes God will bring to my heart. Such is the miracle of forgiveness. I will pass through stages of forgiveness, but I am not to remain paralyzed in any of them.
Prayer Father, there are times I find it comfortable to be a bully and a policeman, but I open my heart to be surprised to find myself one day being a counselor to console those who have harmed me. Amen.
Scripture But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! But this is in your favor: You hate the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans, just as I do. Revelation 2:4 & 6
Observation
I saw a newspaper once that advertised with bold headlines the word “ANTI” three times with three separate things they were against. I only remember abortion from the list they gave, but they were anti two other things as well. I thought it strange for a church to market itself by what it is against. Certainly it was not attractive.The church at Ephesus was a church that was known by what it stood against but not for whom it stood beside. Their love tank was dry, but their venom against their enemies was full to the brim.In every church Jesus is looking for enough love and hate to keep it going. Every church needs some hate in it. For love to be authentic there must be something that we hate because it is a threat to what we value most. Otherwise our love is tolerance and compromise. Some churches pride themselves in their ability to love, but in the process tolerate what Jesus hates. To love him we must dislike some things.
But a church filled with hate without authentic love is a spiteful thing. It’s interesting that the first and most memorable of the churches chastised by Jesus was not reprimanded because of false doctrine but because of their coldness. The atmosphere of love is so significant to Jesus that he is willing to downgrade even a mega-church like Ephesus if people are indifferent toward one another.
Application
Of all the things pastors need to develop and redevelop in their congregations is an authentic and inclusive acceptance of one another and devotion to one another’s need. Love matters most to Jesus because God is love. In the end our churches will not be judged by seamless transitions, lack of technical glitches or a sermon that finished in the alloted time, but by the way we treated each other in the process.
Prayer Father, let your love envelop my heart. What is in me will be in the people that I serve. Give me a heart filled with love and just enough hate to make it authentic. Amen.
Scripture Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.†John 4:6-7
Application
I’ve spent some time with a pastor who never lets a name tag go unnoticed. Every time we’ve gone out to lunch he has taken time to use the name that is there to read. It is a magical charm that creates instant rapport. As he explained to me, “People who work with the public have so much to put up with. I don’t want to make their day any more difficult. I want to lighten their load.”
Sometimes I’m there but oftentimes I’m not. Like the other day when checking into a motel I was more interested in the bed in the room and the sleep it offered to me than I was with the human being checking me in. I remember standing there thinking, “I’m tired so will you hurry up!” I didn’t voice my frustration as she methodically filled in every blank box (hey I don’t trash rooms or steal towels and I always pay for my phone calls so would you hurry!). I didn’t speak my thoughts but I’m sure she could feel them. Was that really the impression Jesus wanted me to give?
Jesus was tired enough that he did not want to go shopping. He just wanted to sit on a bench. Any man with a wife at Christmas in a mall can relate. Yet he had time to initiate a long conversation for the benefit of another. Kindness such as this is a small thing that does not seem theologically significant. But it was to Jesus.
Application
Kindness matters. People thrive on it. Jesus wants me to offer it, even when I’m tired.
Prayer Father, help me to remember the human being under every franchise uniform. Help me to see the value of people as you do. Amen.
I'm Phil McCallum, a husband, father and most of all one of the people Jesus loves. I'm privileged to serve Evergreen Community Church in Bothell, Washington as Senior Pastor where people love enough to believe "it's all about relationships." In 1982 I made a vow to read God's word daily and apply it to life. Each day I write out my reflections. Some days I post those on my blog. It's a little personal but it's my hope it will stir you to go deeper still. Learn how I do my devotions. These are my thoughts and not necessarily those of the ministry I serve. By the way check out the computer study Bible Glo. I highly recommend it.
