Tag: Motivation

My Lime Tree Is Preaching Better Than Most Christians

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The lime tree in my backyard is ugly.

I don’t mean that cruelly. It’s just an objective observation. It’s short, gangly, and determined to grow in every direction except the one I would prefer. If trees had personalities, this one would be the awkward kid in middle school who never quite figured out what to do with his arms.

And yet every year it produces an absurd amount of fruit. Not just a lot of fruit, but genuinely good fruit. The kind of fruit that actually gets used.

One of my favorite things to do is walk outside, pick a lime, cut it open, and squeeze it into a Diet Coke. It doesn’t matter which lime I grab. They’re all excellent. Every one of them is packed with juice and flavor. Which makes the whole thing even more annoying because if I were judging these trees by appearance alone, this one would finish dead last.

  • Not the orange tree.
  • Not the lemon tree.
  • The lime tree… The ugly one.
  • The one nobody would pick first.

I’ve found myself staring at it a lot lately. Not because I have some strange fascination with citrus trees, but because every time I walk past it, I feel like it’s trying to tell me something.

The problem is I don’t particularly like the lesson.

I’ve spent most of my life trying to become impressive. Not consciously, at least I don’t think so. But when I look back, I can see how much energy I’ve invested in being competent, respected, capable, and successful. I like doing things well. I like seeing results. I like feeling like progress is happening. I suspect most of us do.

Nobody wakes up in the morning hoping to be average. Nobody sets out thinking, “Today I’d like to be completely unnoticed.”

The older I get, the more I realize there’s a difference between the things I claim to value and the things that actually impress me.

  • I say I care about faithfulness.
  • I say I care about character.
  • I say I care about becoming more like Jesus.

But if I’m not paying attention, I’ll still find myself admiring influence more than faithfulness, visibility more than character, and success more than fruit.

That’s why that stupid lime tree keeps bothering me.

Lately, I’ve found myself paying more attention to things that don’t look particularly impressive at all. Patience. Kindness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Love. The kinds of things that rarely make headlines, never trend, and don’t show up on a résumé. Which is probably why they matter so much.

I’ve been preparing a sermon from 1 Thessalonians 4, where Paul says something that is either incredibly comforting or deeply inconvenient, depending on your perspective:

“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.” 1 Thessalonians 4:3

I wish Paul had been a little more specific.

“It is God’s will that you get that promotion.”

“It is God’s will that your kids turn out great.”

“It is God’s will that everything goes according to plan.”

Instead, he talks about sanctification?

It’s one of those church words that sounds much more complicated than it actually is. At its core, it simply means that God is making us more like Jesus.

The trouble is that sanctification seems to happen at about the same pace as citrus trees grow.

Which is to say, annoyingly slow.

You can look at a tree every day and be convinced nothing is happening. Then one day you realize it isn’t the same tree you started with.

Maybe people are like that too.

Maybe that’s why Paul could write with such confidence:

“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6

Maybe that’s why we’re often the worst judges of our own spiritual growth. We’re too close to it. We see every inconsistency, every failure, every unfinished corner of our character. We notice the fruit we don’t have rather than the growth that is already taking place. We focus on what still needs work while God may be seeing something entirely different.

One morning while I was watering those trees, I had a thought that genuinely stopped me in my tracks.

I’m not frustrated with any of them.

I don’t walk out into the backyard disappointed in the lemon tree because it hasn’t produced fruit yet. I don’t get irritated with the orange tree because its fruit is still maturing. And I certainly don’t criticize the lime tree for being awkward-looking.

I understand that growth takes time.

I understand that seasons are different.

I understand that roots matter even when I can’t see them.

Maybe that’s why Scripture so often describes God as patient:

“The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.” Psalm 103:8, NIV

And then came the uncomfortable realization:

If I can be patient with a tree, why do I assume God is impatient with me?

For some reason, that’s harder to believe.

Maybe because I know myself too well.

I know where I’m inconsistent.

I know where I’m immature.

I know the things I thought I would’ve figured out by now.

I know the places where growth still feels painfully slow.

Yet somehow I assume God sees all of that and responds with frustration.

The lime tree has me wondering if that’s true.

Maybe the Gardener is more patient than I imagine. Maybe He understands exactly what season I’m in. Maybe He isn’t discouraged by the pace of growth. Maybe He knew from the beginning this wasn’t going to happen overnight.

That’s good news.

Because I suspect there are a lot of people walking around exhausted from trying to become impressive.

  • Trying to become successful.
  • Trying to become enough.
  • Trying to become whatever they think everyone else already is.

Meanwhile, God may simply be inviting us to stay rooted. To abide. To remain connected to Him. To trust that fruit grows where life is present.

The funny thing is that nobody visits my backyard and comments on the shape of the lime tree.

They comment on the fruit.

Which, when I think about it, sounds a lot like Jesus.

“If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit…” John 15:5,

Maybe there’s a lesson in that.

Maybe a life filled with love, kindness, grace, patience, and faithfulness is far more beautiful than we realize. Maybe fruitfulness and visibility aren’t the same thing after all. Maybe the measure of a life isn’t how impressive it appears from a distance, but what it consistently produces over time.

The lime tree certainly seems to think so.

It will probably never be the prettiest tree in the yard. It doesn’t seem particularly concerned about that. It just keeps growing. Keeps producing. Keeps being what it was created to be.

The funny thing is that when people come to my house, nobody asks about the shape of the lime tree.

Nobody comments on how awkward it looks.

Nobody seems bothered by the fact that it grows in directions I never would’ve chosen.

  • They care about the fruit.
  • That’s all they care about.
  • They want the lime.

They’re interested in what the tree produces, not how impressive it appears. And the more I think about it, the more I wonder if that’s true of us too.

Maybe one day nobody is going to care about how successful we looked.

  • How important we seemed.
  • How many people knew our names.
  • How carefully we curated the image.

Maybe what will matter is whether there was any fruit.

  • Whether we learned to love.
  • Whether we became more like Jesus.
  • Whether the Spirit actually changed us.

Because I’m starting to suspect the ugliest tree in my yard understands something that I often forget:

Fruitfulness and visibility are not the same thing.

And if that’s true, then some of us may need to rethink what success actually means.

Please help me share the good news of Jesus and how He can change your life, and our world!

Like, share, comment, and add your email to receive blog posts, podcasts, and more!

Come back and visit at ListenLearn.Live Ministries

Motives That Matter

bstuetze

Last week we sat with a truth that should take the pressure off every one of us: the outcomes belong to God (1 Thessalonians 1:8). The Thessalonians didn’t try to be impressive. They didn’t try to be influential. They didn’t try to be significant. They simply obeyed. And God took their ordinary obedience and made it ring out across Macedonia and Achaia. Their quiet faith became a loud testimony.

So when Paul opens Chapter 2 with, “You yourselves know… our visit to you was not a failure” (1 Thessalonians 2:1), he’s correcting their perspective. He’s saying, Don’t mislabel what God is doing. Don’t call small things insignificant. Don’t call quiet obedience a failure. Last week was about what God did. This week is about why it mattered.

Motives matter.

Paul takes us under the hood of his ministry and shows us what was driving him. And what he reveals is both inspiring and uncomfortable—because it forces us to ask what’s driving us.

He writes, “We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts” (1 Thessalonians 2:4). That’s a hard sentence. It’s honest. It’s direct. And it’s the kind of truth that doesn’t let us slip past it. Paul is saying, If you want a life that matters, you have to pay attention to what’s happening inside you.

Before Paul ever talks about courage, strategy, or impact, he talks about motives.

He reminds the Thessalonians of what happened in Philippi—the beatings, the humiliation, the public shaming (Acts 16:22–24). Everything in their circumstances said, Protect yourself. Stay quiet. Don’t risk this again. But Paul says, “With the help of our God we dared to tell you His gospel…” (1 Thessalonians 2:2). They didn’t speak because it was safe. They spoke because the Thessalonians needed truth.

Courage is one thing. But courage without clean motives can still go sideways.

So Paul goes deeper: “Our appeal does not spring from error or impure motives” (2:3). “We are not trying to please people but God” (2:4). “We never used flattery… nor were we looking for praise” (2:5–6).

Paul and Timothy lived for one audience. And that shaped everything.

Motives show up in everyday choices. They show up in the moments no one sees. They show up in the decisions we make when we’re tired, stressed, or afraid. They show up in the places where we want to be liked, or safe, or comfortable.

Sometimes the easiest way to see our motives is to ask a simple question: Would you rather…?

  • Would you rather be seen as kind… or obey God when kindness costs you something?
  • Would you rather avoid an awkward moment… or speak truth gently when someone needs it?
  • Would you rather be known as easy to get along with… or hold a boundary God asks you to hold?
  • Would you rather look spiritual… or actually follow Jesus when no one is watching?
  • Would you rather protect your reputation… or confess sin and let God make you whole?

Most of us don’t choose the world’s approval intentionally. We slide into it.

So pause long enough to notice what’s happening inside you. Where have you been living on autopilot? Where has comfort been steering your choices more than conviction? Where is the Spirit nudging you right now?

Paul moves from motives to lifestyle because motives shape how we live.

He describes how he and Timothy lived among the Thessalonians: gentle like a mother (2:7), caring and invested (2:8), hard‑working and honest (2:9), encouraging like a father (2:11–12). Their lives made the message believable.

That’s the question sitting underneath this chapter: What does your life say? Are you living for the world’s approval or God’s? Are you awake or drifting?

Jesus repeatedly says, “Stay awake” (Matthew 24:42; Mark 13:37; Luke 12:35–40). Most people don’t reject God. They drift. They settle into habits. They follow the wide road because it’s familiar. They move through life on autopilot.

When the Spirit nudges your conscience, do you notice? Or do you keep moving toward what’s comfortable?

Living awake is intentional. Living asleep is automatic.

While I was writing this I was reminded of the first car I bought myself. It was a 1980 Mustang hatchback, a 5‑speed manual. I loved that car.

With a manual transmission, you can’t drift off. You have to listen to the engine. You have to watch the RPMs. You have to feel when it’s time to shift. You have to participate in the movement of the car. Driving that Mustang required attention. It required intentionality. It required me to be awake.

My Tiguan today? It’s automatic. I can get in, put it in drive, and go. I don’t have to think. I don’t have to listen. I don’t have to engage. I can be a passive navigator—just along for the ride. (No, it does not drive itself and I’m very diligent…but that’s not the point.)

A lot of us live our spiritual lives like an automatic transmission. We move forward, but we’re not awake. We’re not listening. We’re not shifting when the Spirit prompts. We’re just drifting with the flow of the world. Staying with the smooth flow of traffic.

Paul and Timothy lived like a manual transmission—tuned to the Spirit, responsive, intentional. And because they lived awake, their lives pointed people to Jesus.

Paul ends the chapter with joy. “What is our hope, our joy, our crown…? It is you” (1 Thessalonians 2:19–20). They didn’t come to be liked. They came to please God. But they rejoiced when people came to Jesus.

This is the pattern Scripture gives us: Live for God’s approval → God draws people → their transformation becomes our joy.

So take inventory. Are you drifting or awake? Automatic or intentional? Tuned to the Spirit or tuned to the crowd?

When we live for God’s approval, people notice. God draws them. Our lives become Scripture in motion. And the outcomes belong to Him.

Last week we learned that God takes our obedience and creates significance (1 Thessalonians 1:8). This week Paul shows how that obedience becomes significant in God’s hands: when our motives aim at God, our lives become the kind of lives God uses. God takes ordinary obedience and turns it into extraordinary impact.

Motives shape direction. Direction shapes impact.

And the closest thing some people will ever get to reading the Bible is watching how we live.

Please help me share the good news of Jesus and how He can change your life, and our world!

Like, share, comment, and add your email to receive blog posts, podcasts, and more!

Come back and visit at ListenLearn.Live Ministries

When You Obey the Small, God Writes the Big

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Last week, we as a church confronted a truth most of us resist: significance isn’t measured by size, visibility, or outcomes. Significance is measured by obedience. Not impressive obedience. Not platform‑building obedience. Just the simple, quiet kind that says, “Lord, I’ll do what You’ve put in front of me today.”

Paul shows us what that looks like in real people in 1 Thessalonians 1. And it’s not glamorous. It’s not strategic. It’s not the stuff of leadership podcasts. It’s small. It’s ordinary. And it’s exactly the kind of obedience God loves to multiply.

I want to share a recent experience with you.

I work in a field where training and technical skill matter. A few months ago, I was in a very detailed training session. For the first time with a specific program, I felt genuinely confident. We were doing a listen–do–teach model, and I finally felt like I owned it.

Then came the next step: a procedure involving a piece of equipment that touched a very raw part of my personal life.

My whole body reacted. My face must have been screaming because one of the instructors — a seasoned leader with a background in patient care — noticed. She had been watching me go from confident to undone. She didn’t call attention to it. She didn’t correct me. She simply caught my eye, smiled gently, and motioned for me to come over.

She put her arm around my shoulder and said, “What’s going on, friend?”

I started tearing up. My hands shook. My voice cracked.

“I just can’t do that part. I’m sorry. I just can’t.”

She didn’t shame me. She didn’t push me. She didn’t make it a moment. She simply said, “You don’t have to.”

I told her a little about my daughter — about her lungs collapsing as a newborn, about the ventilator, about how that memory still lives in my body. And how I didn’t feel capable of doing that procedure, especially in front of a room full of peers. Frankly speaking, admitting that was hard.

She nodded and said, “I’m so glad you told me. Sometimes we forget that people carry stories into these rooms.”

She took me to a quiet station and walked me through everything. I completed the training. I explained the process, the purpose, the outcomes — without having to perform the part that caused me to struggle.

It was such a small thing for her… It was significant for me.

She might not know it, but it changed how I teach. I pay more attention now. I listen better. I notice people.

She wasn’t trying to be significant. She wasn’t thinking about her title or her expertise. She wasn’t trying to be a hero. She simply noticed what was right in front of her — a colleague who was struggling. And God multiplied it.

Paul saw this same pattern in the Thessalonians.

When he writes to them in 1 Thessalonians 1, he doesn’t praise their size, their strategy, or their outcomes. He praises their obedience — their faithful work, their loving deeds, their enduring hope. Small things. Everyday things. Things that don’t look significant until God gets involved.

Paul says their work was produced by faith — the kind of faith Galatians 5:6 describes as “faith expressing itself through love.” Their labor was prompted by love — the kind Jesus says will mark His disciples in John 13:35. Their endurance was inspired by hope — the kind Jesus speaks of in John 16:33 when He says, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

And then Paul says something astonishing: their faith “rang out” everywhere. Their quiet obedience became a global testimony.

They didn’t plan that.

They didn’t intend that.

They didn’t strategize that.

They didn’t imagine that.

God amplified it.

I saw that same pattern again this past week.

At a company gathering, one of the speakers — look him up, he’s amazing: Shola Richards — introduced a new concept: kossip. It’s kind of the opposite of gossip. Instead of tearing people down behind their backs, you hype them up with the truth of their love in action.

During the session, someone at my table shared a story about a young man on our support team. He had gone out of his way to help her. I was surprised — it was the same person I was planning to kossip about. See how that works!

He had helped me the week before with a complex technical setup. He researched everything, sent me instructions, prepared what I needed, and made sure everything was ready on time. And then, after I told him I was nervous about messing something up, he created a little “Betsy phone‑a‑friend” chat with two technicians who were on call and available during each of my meetings. And yes — I needed them. When one of the devices wasn’t working, someone calmly asked, “Betsy, did you hit start?” It’s ok to laugh…it’s funny. At least he didn’t have to ask if I had plugged it in, right?

Later I learned he had volunteered to stay behind during the event where we were all kossiping about him, to keep things running smoothly with his department. During our kossip session, we decided to nominate him for a quarterly recognition — something no one in his role had yet received.

He wasn’t trying to be significant.

He wasn’t trying to be recognized.

He was simply doing his job — right where he was — the best way he knew how.

And God multiplied it.

Just like the Thessalonians.

The Thessalonians didn’t begin with the end in mind. They didn’t chase influence or visibility. They simply obeyed what was right in front of them — faithful work, loving deeds, enduring hope. And God wrote the ending. God amplified what they offered. God carried their witness farther than they ever could have imagined. That is the pattern of the Kingdom: small obedience in human hands becomes significant in God’s hands.

Obedience is your part. Significance is God’s part.

May we be a church known not for our size, but for our obedience.

Our obedience is all we own. The outcomes belong to God.

And in that truth, friends, there is real freedom — because Jesus carries what we cannot.

So walk in the small things with faithful work, loving deeds, and enduring hope.

Trust God with the outcomes.

Stay rooted in Christ, and be who you’re called to be — then watch what He does with that.

He can take what feels small and make it known to the ends of the earth.

Please help me share the good news of Jesus and how He can change your life, and our world!

Like, share, comment, and add your email to receive blog posts, podcasts, and more!

Come back and visit at ListenLearn.Live Ministries

Following Christ isn’t Convenient

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It’s Saturday morning, you have a laundry list of ‘need to do’ items, right behind that is your list of ‘want to do’ items, then of course, there is the actual laundry to do…the phone rings. You’re in the middle of sorting dirty laundry and you grab your phone, you recognize the number and you have just a moment to decide if you answer or if you let it go to voice mail. Do I have time today to take the call, do I have time to talk or visit, or fulfill whatever request may come from the other end of the phone. In a split second you can think of 101 different legitimate reasons to swipe down, and just one to swipe up. 

“We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions. We may pass them by, preoccupied with our more important tasks, as the priest passed by the man who had fallen among thieves, perhaps – reading the Bible.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together)

Christianity, being a Christ follower will always be inconvenient. It will be rare for the Lord to bring someone across your path where it will be easy, convenient, comfortable, and timely to serve as Christ to that person.  Christ calls us to step out and step up and be him in a broken and weary world. 

He sent his disciples out into the world to share the gospel under resourced, with little direction, to share the Gospel, “As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The Kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. ‘Do not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts – no bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is worth his keep…I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.” Matthew 10:7-16

He is going to send us out where we don’t want to go, with little in hand, to places unfriendly. Jesus said a great deal about what it will cost us to be his disciple. He didn’t mince words, and he didn’t sweeten it up, he told us it would be hard and take everything, and yet, we keep making excuses. 

“As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” He said to another man, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say goodbye to my family.” Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Luke 9:57-62

“Large crowds were traveling with Jesus and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:25-27

You swipe up, answer the call, stop what you are doing to lend a prayerful hand to someone in need. Then something incredible happens – from the depth of your weariness you receive the grace needed – to provide more than requested,  and demonstrate Christs love to someone who desperately needed it. You miraculously had the right words to say, the needed resources to provide, and the time required to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

The laundry is still there, your list of ‘to dos’ still needs to be done, but God allowed you to enter into the midst of the beautiful, the graceful, and the merciful. There will always be more to do in our lives, laundry, dishes, work, school, family obligations, shopping, and cleaning. Once we can accept that the endless list is endless, and there will always be more to do, we can let ourselves off the hook and focus on doing that which will make the most difference in God’s kingdom…spoiler alert…it’s not laundry. 

God cares about people and while Jesus told us that he knows what we need and that our Father in Heaven will provide for those needs, he is calling us to care about people like he does. When we do that, when we love his people the way he loves us, we get to enter into his kingdom, here on earth and our inheritance in heaven.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink: When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for on of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'” Matthew 25:34-40

I get it, it’s challenging to weigh the needs of our lives and our family’s needs in this world against what we’re called to do and be as part of Christ’s kingdom. At the beginning of the article, I stated that we’ll have 101 reasons to swipe down and only one to swipe up. Well, I was wrong there are two reasons to swipe up the first is easy, WWJD (What Would Jesus Do), the second, well…if it were you on the other end of the phone, in need, weary, distraught, in need of assistance – wouldn’t you pray that someone answered?

Please help me share the good news of Jesus and how He can change your life, and our world!

Like, share, comment, and add your email to receive blog posts, podcasts, and more!

Come back and visit at ListenLearn.Live Ministries

Conditionless Promises

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This summer has been littered with challenges. I have no doubt that many of you are nodding your head in agreement. Outside of dealing with pandemics, economic stressors, and global political unrest, families still struggle with the day-to-day challenges of life. Our family is no different, as we navigate through health problems (the big C), graduations, unexpected deaths, career moves, etc., I keep going back to my favorite scripture.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” Romans 8:28-29

I find comfort in this passage, in God’s promises, in knowing that nothing that is happening in our lives right now, in our communities, in our country, and in the world is a surprise to Him. He knew (knows) about all of it. Not only does He know, but He has also sovereignly worked through every situation for the best interest of every person who knows and loves Him. For each of our best interest. I’m not saying that He has worked out everything the way we think it should, or might want with all our heart, He has worked it out for our good, which He knows better than we do.

I have been confronted by this promise many times, when what I wanted was not in God’s plan, but somehow, He worked it out for my good. It didn’t feel good at the time, but when I look back it is so easy to see God’s hand in all of it. Often it looks nothing like anything we’d choose, but always turns out better than we could imagine.

In the book of Deuteronomy God, through Moses, prepares His people to go into the land He promised. Over and over God assures them that there is nothing that can stand in their way, He has delivered their enemies into their hands. He has already done it.  In the midst of this book, I found a similar passage to the one I cherish in Romans.

“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.” Deuteronomy 7:9

God is God and He is faithful, He keeps His promises…always. Sometimes I feel that because we so often don’t keep our word, or others don’t keep their word, that we expect God to be as fickle as we are. Someone hurts us or makes us angry and that is all the excuse we need to break our promises. Thankfully God is not that way. His promises are not dependent on us…THANK YOU LORD!

I think about how often I put conditions on my promises with my children, “yes I will do this, or we can do that, if you behave”. God doesn’t put conditions on His promises to us, but He does tell us that there will be consequences when we chose to live outside of His will. All throughout the Old Testament, you can see that when God’s people aren’t where they are supposed to be, bad things happen.

In Romans God promises to work all things for good for those who love Him, who He called and created to be conformed to the image of Jesus. If we love Him, we’ll live as Jesus did, following His commands (love God, love others), and trust that no matter what, He will work ALL things out for our good.

This is a BIG promise, and one that takes faith to follow. It goes hand in hand with James’ statement that we should, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

God doesn’t put conditions on His promises, they are absolute. We need to trust that He is who He says He is, and that He’ll do what He says He’ll do. I heard a preacher on the radio today say, “God doesn’t want to be first on a list of ten, He wants to be first on a list of one.” We need to put all our faith, all our energy, all our heart, mind, and soul into God with complete assurance that He will work all things for our good. No matter how big or how small the problem, challenge, obstacle, frustration, or pain may be, we need to, “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”

Please help me share the good news of Jesus and how He can change your life, and our world!

Like, share, comment, and add your email to receive blog posts, podcasts, and more!

Come back and visit at ListenLearn.Live Ministries

Receiving and Giving, and Giving and Receiving

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How is it possible for God to keep loving us? We fall short, break every rule, willfully disobey Him at every turn and yet His love for us never changes. Remember the saying “love makes the world go round”. If you think about it, really think about it, there is nothing more true. Not the mushy romantic or brotherly feel-good kind of love, but God’s unconditional, completely consuming love. A love so great that God created the world just for us, so His love literally makes the world go round. “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day.” Genesis 1:31

I feel like we are running around trying to love others as best we can, unfortunately when we’re just trying to do it all on our own, we’re kind of terrible at it. We’re following the examples and experiences of our own lives which may or may not be healthy. We demonstrate love how we feel and accept love, for some of us it may be that we don’t feel lovely or loveable, we don’t love ourselves, or we believe we only deserve a certain kind of love…the conditional kind that stays at arm’s length. If we are unable to get to a place where we can realize and accept God’s love, and love ourselves as He does, we will never be able to love others as God intends. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10

For all those who grew up not feeling loved. Those who grew up feeling less than, too little, not enough, unworthy, unlovely, or unwanted, we all need a Holy Spirit intervention. As Christians we know we are all called to love others as Christ loved us, we can’t do that until we can accept that He loved us first. Not because we deserve it, or have earned it, but because we are His. It’s a humbling and comforting thought when it finally sinks in. God loves me. Not because of anything I did, but despite of everything I’ve done. He loves me. More than that, it’s the same for everyone. Regardless of what others may say or think…we’re all int he same place, “This righteousness is given through faith in[h] Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ” Romans 3:22-24. So, we don’t even have to measure up to anyone else’s expectations because we’re all equally sinful and in need of God’s healing, restorative love.

God’s love is so immense that we can’t comprehend it’s depths “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, 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.” Ephesians 3:17-19

So… if we can’t earn it, don’t deserve it and can’t fathom its vastness…how then can we possibly share it with others? Simple answer, we can’t. Not on our own anyway. We are only able to love out of the love that God pours into us. “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”. Ephesians 3:20 We are imperfect images of the original, without His help, without His first loving us, without our cups overflowing from Him onto to others we would not be capable of truly loving anyone…including ourselves.

Each of us spend much of our lives seeking to fill an emptiness within us. We want to be accepted by someone, anyone, for who we are. We are afraid that will never happen, who could love the real us? So, we craft images of ourselves, either a superhero persona or mild-mannered alter ego, anything to be what others will love and accept. However, it doesn’t work, because we know that isn’t really us, they are loving (liking and validating) something else, something other than who we are. So, we keep longing, we keep finding ways to feel loved, lovely, and valued. Nothing works, nothing will ever work. There is nothing in this world that can fill the need within us besides God.

Why is it so hard for us to accept this love, freely given, and without condition? A love that sees us for who we really are and fully embraces us as a beloved child regardless of our behavior? It seems so unlikely, too fantastical, that kind of love doesn’t even happen in the movies. If it doesn’t really exist, why do we crave it? How would we be aware of it, if indeed, it never existed? At some level we’re aware of that love, sitting there waiting for us to claim it. The only thing standing in our way is us, and the power we give to the voices we hear telling us we are not worthy.

There is nothing God loves more than His creation, there is nothing He wouldn’t do to bring us closer to Him to experience that love, not even sacrificing Himself to close the gap that separates us. Dear ones, give yourself permission to be loved. Let Christ’s love begin to permeate your heart, flow into your life and impact those around you. I promise you will not be disappointed; your spirit will be renewed, and hope will fill your heart. “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:  While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:5-8

Please help me share the good news of Jesus and how He can change your life, and our world!

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Come back and visit at ListenLearn.Live Ministries

No word from God will ever fail!

No word from God will ever fail!

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my ways are not your way

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31

If God is for us, who can be against us…Powerful words, words full of promise and commitment. Words to encourage and assure us, words that fully express God’s passion for His children. Just a few verses later it states, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril or sword? – Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Romans 8:35-37

So, if God is for us and nothing can separate His children from Him, then why are we so fearful? Why do we doubt His love and His care? Why do we think and act if things are either out of His reach, to big for Him to handle or too small for Him to care?

Is it a lack of faith? I believe that, at least in my life, it’s a lack of understanding. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9

I don’t understand why I had to struggle so much in life; death, loss, more death, trials and tribulations…why? I asked that a lot. What I have experienced recently however, is a growing sense of who God is, through my relationship with Jesus Christ, and through that, a better knowledge of how little I know, or as Socrates put it, “True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.”

Isaiah 41:10 – “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

I can’t comprehend the passion and fullness of God’s love, or of Jesus’s sacrifice for me. I can only understand through the lenses of my life’s experiences, without the Holy Spirit. And there it is…with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in my life I can begin to experience and understand God’s ways, who Jesus is, and through that the unthinkable grace that’s been given to me.

Cory Asbury expresses this so well in his song Reckless Love. “Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. Oh, it chases me down, fights ’til I’m found, leaves the ninety-nine. I couldn’t earn it, and I don’t deserve it, still, You give Yourself away Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.”

God is sovereign. Nothing gets by Him, nothing is beyond Him, nothing surprises Him, and He can and will work ALL things for His Glory and our good. More than that, there is nothing that will surprise Him, shock Him or rock Him.

Jeremiah 32:27 – “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?

So, back to my point, if God is with us who can be against us? Knowing that there is nothing God can’t do, nothing is too big or too small for His attention and that He will always provide for our needs, then why do we still doubt and fear? I believe it is because we have a very hard time, without the help of the Holy Spirit, fully comprehending who He is.

The remedy is easy, get to know Him better. Ask the Holy Spirit for wisdom to discern His ways, pray for understanding, read His words. None of us would attempt to write a biography on a famous individual without spending considerable time with that person, reading about them, studying their actions and decisions. Why then do we throw our hands up in the air and yell, “why Lord”, when we haven’t been intentional in our efforts to know him better?

The key is being intentional, you can’t read a scripture, pray Sunday morning then throw your hands up that it’s not working. It takes time, effort and commitment…the fruits of which however, will be immeasurable; thirty, fifty and a hundred-fold more than you could ever imagine.

Let God surprise and bless you in 2021 as we walk in the path He created for us!

Please help me share the good news of Jesus and how He can change your life, and our world!

Like, share, comment, and add your email to receive blog posts, podcasts, and more!

come back and visit at ListenLearn.Live Ministries

 

What’s inside your Tupperware?

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green tupperwareYes I just asked you what is inside your Tupperware. Spoiler alert, I am old enough to still own some of the old 1970’s green and gold classic Tupperware, photo shown left. Although I am not old enough to have bought it myself.

 

I still remember being asked by my mom, “Betsy, what is in that Tupperware container in the back of the fridge?”

The only way to find out…the only way, was to pull it out, open it and see.

Yup, you guessed it, if I was lucky it was a few days old left overs. No big deal, dump in the trash, no harm done. However, I’m thinking more about the container that’s been in there since, well who knows how long. Everyone in the family keeps hoping that someone else will deal with it so they won’t have to. Days have gone by, weeks, dare I say a month. There is now a serious science project growing, a 20th century bio-hazard to say the worst.

Everyone gets into the fridge, everyone sees that container, we push it aside to get what we’re looking for. We move it from the top shelf to the middle to the back, hoping it will miraculously not be there the next time we go searching. Then it happens… “Betsy, what’s in that Tupperware container in the back of the fridge?” Oh no, not me, why is it always me?

You walk to the fridge and slowly move some things around, praying miraculously that it won’t be there. Maybe Dad already took it out and dealt with it? Maybe the boys got tired of seeing it and just threw the whole thing in the trash…yea, they’d totally do something like that. Then, you see it, still there, carefully hidden in the back, starring at you. Nope it wasn’t dealt with, now it’s up to you.

How often have we had this conversation with ourselves? How about with God? We know it’s there, the green Tupperware container. It’s hidden in the way back of the fridge. We see it but we just continue to move it around from shelf to shelf. “We’ll deal with that tomorrow, I don’t have time to take care of that today, it’s just going to make a mess and I have things to do…places to go…people to see.” We come up with so many reasons not to deal with it, all the while we’re hoping that one day we’ll open the fridge and the green Tupperware will be gone. Not just gone but emptied, cleaned, put through the dishwasher and sitting on the counter just waiting for us to use it again…it could happen…right?

Here’s the funny thing about green Tupperware, you can’t see through it like a Ziploc bag or a clear plastic container. It’s not a glass jar or plate with Saran wrap. It’s full of toxic sludge that has been there for so long, longer than we’d care to admit, however no one would ever know. There are day’s it’s hidden so far in the back of the fridge, we forget it’s there. When our friends come over all they see is a clean fridge that has some Tupperware in it. Probably last night’s dinner or leftovers from the lunch you had a few days ago. They’d never know what’s really inside.

Green Tupperware can hide a multitude of sins…and no I’m not using that word flippantly. We can often hide it in the deep recesses of who we are, keeping the sludge from being seen by our friends, co-workers, family. The funny thing is, God can see it. He wants to help us deal with it. He wants to take that container of sludge, empty it into the trash, put the Tupperware (yup that’s us) through a holy dishwasher and make us clean. That is the only way He can fill us up with all that He has in store for us. If we’re full of sin, we can’t be full of Him.

My pastor often quotes Jeremiah 29:11, it has become one of my favorite verses from the Bible, “For I know the plans I have for you, “declares the Lord”, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

God doesn’t want you to remain full of the old ‘stuff’ that you carry around inside. He is passionate about you and your life and your happiness. He doesn’t want to condemn, embarrass or humiliate you, He wants to clean you out and set you free.

Next time He asks you what’s in the Tupperware, ask Him to help you open it, you might be surprised by what happens.

I’d love to hear from you. Come back and visit at “Connectthedotblog”.

 

Language of 2021

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Could you imagine just 12 months ago that some of the words so commonplace today would commandeer so much of our daily conversation?

As a child of the 80’s when someone made the comment, “they tested positive”, it held an entirely different meaning. You may have a preconceived idea, HIV, Ebola, Bird Flu, but inevitably you’d ask, “positive for what?” However, in January of 2021 you wouldn’t have to ask that question because the answer is so well known.

Terms like, testing positive, shelter in place, virtual classroom, socially distanced, lockdown, quarantine, and vaccine, all bring to mind very similar meaning and images. We don’t really need to ask what anyone means when these words are mentioned because the entire planet is embroiled in a global pandemic. We’re all facing similar challenges, though in varying degrees. Can you imagine any time in world history where the entire human population had so much in common? Unfortunately, it seems, in this unprecedented time of commonality we are more divided than ever.

I’ve struggled this year with the disconnection between what we are capable of doing when we work together and what we are capable of doing when we’re driven by our differences. On the one hand we show extravagant generosity by reaching out and supporting one another in unprecedented ways and numbers. Demonstrating our ability to love, support, uplift, and help one another. On the other hand, we continue to demean, divide, and devise ways to debase, and destroy those who think differently than we do. People we don’t even know become our enemies because of something we read, or heard, or saw on the internet or TV. How can we be at once so capable of love and at the same time capable of such hatred?

We read in scripture that when we build our lives on the truth of Jesus, “The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” Matthew 7:24-27

When we choose to build our lives, live our lives on the foundation of Jesus Christ, our hearts full of love can change the world. When we choose to build our lives and live our lives on a foundation created by this world, created by our own hearts and hands, it will come crashing down around our ears. We’ve all witnessed it this year.

Right now, our commonality is based on a common enemy. That enemy is not other people, it’s an infection. Our common enemy is not a politician, political party, or policy, it’s an infection. Instead of fighting over who is right or wrong and creating greater division amongst people who are equally affected, lets decide that we are not each other’s enemy and allow God to work in our lives through these trying times.

Let’s decide to make our common language with words and actions guided by the Holy Spirit, not by words derived from this world.

“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” Galatians 5:19-26

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, if these were to become the words that we all have in common and all understand, without question or confusion, what would our world be like? What could we accomplish, what would our conversations be? Even during a global pandemic our world be a better place than it is now because we’d work together as a united family to overcome and grow through the trials placed before us. No longer as enemies, but as friends and beloved family.

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.  Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? “ Romans 8:31-35

Let God surprise and bless you in this new year as we walk in the path He created for us!

Please help me share the good news of Jesus and how He can change your life, and our world!

Like, share, comment, and add your email to receive blog posts, podcasts, and more!

come back and visit at ListenLearn.Live Ministries