Force for Good

Hebrews 10: 24

Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

That is a new thought but worth pondering. How do we encourage others so that their lives become expressions of love and good deeds or goodness? We are meant to be inspirational. Isn’t that something? Our lives are not only about us. They are about the impact we have on others and the effect that impact creates in them for yet other people. But to call it by another name, we are forces for good. We purposefully do good to others and stimulate them to do good to still others. And while I haven’t thought about it exactly in these terms before isn’t this still the story of a seed? 

Jesus asked, “How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it?” (Mark 4: 30). He answered the question by telling the story of the mustard seed. So the kingdom of God is like a seed. This is one of the largest, most profound and yet overlooked messages in the Bible. Let me repeat it, the kingdom of God is like a seed. So, if we wish to participate in the kingdom, then we all must become farmers. If you are not sowing seed then you are not taking part in the kingdom of God. We sow into other people’s lives. That is the first step to stimulating others into acts of love and kindness. But the message of this scripture isn’t necessarily about what we can do to inspire others but rather that we should give consideration to how we may stimulate others. In other words, this is supposed to be a subject of thought and prayer. This would be a good question to put before the Lord so that we can find out his thoughts.

One might also see in here a domino effect. If we do good unto others and motivate them to love and good deeds then it seems reasonable that they will inspire others, and on and on. One seed produces a whole plant which might represent all of the people in your life. The fruit of the plant has many, many seeds within it. So each of the people in your life has an abundant opportunity to sow seeds themselves which ultimately leads to many seeds of love and good deeds being cast abroad. From one seed, a seed as small as a mustard seed comes many thousands of acts of love and goodness. Ponder, consider how we might encourage each other to love and good deeds. Perhaps share your good ideas on our blogsite. If we share a little and encourage a little maybe very soon we can cover the area in a garden like Eden.

The Character of God

Galatians 5: 22

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

We saw yesterday from 1 John 4: 8 and 1 Corinthians 13: 4 – 8 that God’s essential nature is love. Today’s verse reveals the characteristics of God’s personality. As you look at them you can see that first is love but moreover that all the rest flow from love. The best way to get the full revelation of this verse is to put “God is” in front of each word i.e. God is love, God is joy….

These characteristics determine how God behaves and how He interacts with others just the same way as our personality traits predict how we will behave. So, God is always patient with us, always loving, kind and gentle. He exercises great self-control. Most of us can testify to the latter one.

Conversely, we can know what God is not by acknowledging His qualities. For example, we can deduce that God is not unkind or unfaithful. Can we not deduce a great deal more though? He is not cruel, vengeful, harsh, intolerant, hateful, spiteful or mean-spirited. He is all things which are good and none of those traits which are painful to us. He is ultimate goodness and kindness. He is neither over-bearing nor a punitive spirit. His intent, therefore, is not to punish us but rather to guide us with loving hands. And He is not scary. He is beautiful. He is warmth and sunshine.

We can know the Father of all personally, intimately and as we do we perceive greater and greater levels of His great kindness and affection. He is completely predictable in His goodness towards all creation. He loves us.