May 26--When You Live Like This, Life Is Never Boring

What makes life exciting varies from person to person, but I think we'd all agree that what I found in these passages is exciting enough for anybody.  See what you think of 2 Samuel 9-10, John 15, Psalm 119:49-64, Proverbs 16:1-2.  See if you agree:

Click here for the written post of today's episode.

Eve reads her Bible journal aloud on this episode.

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Transcript

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May twenty sixth. When you live like this, life is never boring. I won't be reading the scripture references. For those, please check the written post. Our first daughter is an entirely different person than I am, of course, but it took me twenty two years not only to understand that fact, but to feel glad about it. Until Sadie was grown, I thought I'd failed her somehow. Everything I tried to pass along that made my life work seemed lost on her. I was scheduled and got my work done, but Sadie wasn't and didn't. I was tidy, but she was not. I suppressed how I felt, but she was a whirlwind. I tried my hardest to turn her into myself, but my tactics didn't work. It's not that Sadie didn't try hard. She slogged through long lists of chores and schoolwork. She helped take care of her two younger siblings when I needed time off. She did everything I asked of her, but rarely was her heart in it. When she had time to herself, she drew a lot, journaled a lot, and napped a lot. Sadie wasn't happy as my daughter, and I knew it, but what to do about it? I had no idea. I think it was when she graduated from UGA with a double major and a higher GPA than her two elder brothers who went on to law school that I realized that Sadie's way just might be okay. However she pulled off college, she got the work done despite her whirlwind, and she had a heck of a lot more fun doing it and more friends than I ever did. At her graduation I had to wrestle with the astonishing thought that there might be more than one ideal female prototype. In stark contrast to my way that was short-sighted and controlling, today's passages say that living God's way actually benefits us from gifts to guidance to very great love, and these are never boring. By the way, now age thirty six, Sadie keeps blooming in ways unique to herself, as the forgiving, free spirited artist God made her to

2 Samuel 9-10

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be. The Old Testament chapters are Second Samuel nine to ten. The man after God's own heart keeps racking up kudos as the second king of Israel, but it's not his military might that grabs me, though he's got plenty to brag about. What's extraordinary is his kindness that reaches out to those who suffer who he wouldn't have been expected as sovereign to acknowledge. For one, David wanted to show kindness to Saul's family since he promised Saul and his son Jonathan that he'd honor them throughout his lifetime. For another, he wanted to show kindness to Nahash's family in the event of Nahash's death, who was king of the Ammonites, Israel's enemies. Jonathan's son and Saul's grandson, Mephibosheth, humbly received David's kindness, but Hanan, Nahash's son, flatly refused it. In fact, Hanan's refusal was so outrageous that David had to go to war just to settle the hub that popped up because of it. Hanan rejected the ambassadors who brought David's sympathies by cutting off their clothes so their privates were exposed. But Mephibosheth's acceptance of David's kindness gave him a closer relationship with the king and an improved lifestyle. He ate all his meals at the king's table with David's family ever afterward, and he was given all his grandfather's property and his servants to attend him. The result of Hanan's rejection of David's friendship was war with Israel, not peace, and despite having mustered soldiers from other nations to help him, Hanan was soundly defeated. This is what kindness does. It either brings us into closer relationship or it makes the dividing line of hostility more hostile. And this is surprising because we tend to think of kindness as gentle and tender, and it is. But gentle and tender, kindness requires a response from those to whom it's offered, either of humility to accept it or of suspicion to send it packing. And camouflage like this, kindness is actually a weapon of peace because it requires the receiver to submit to it in its natural condition. The human heart doesn't want any part of submission or peace. It would rather refuse these and hunker down, hold grudges, grow bitter, forgiving and serving others, making friends, keeping love turned on like a faucet and refusing to turn it off. These are other weapons of peace that won't be tolerated by an enemy unless he or she's willing to join up to make peace. I've been on both the receiving and giving ends of kindness as a weapon of peace. It's a powerful thing to witness and a giddy thing to experience. And this must be why Jesus said to love your enemies because it either turns enemies into friends or scares them away. Either way, it's a win win, and while winning isn't the reason to do it, you come out on top without any of their mud slinging sticking. I can't help but notice how Mephibosheth is embraced wholeheartedly by David who could have been wary of him and kept him at a distance. As potentially the closest relative to Saul that there is, once Saul's son Ishbosheth has died, Mephibosheth could have plotted with Saul's military commander to take the throne back on the grounds of rightful inheritance. But David would rather trust God with this potential threat and keep his promise to Saul and Jonathan than break it, and Mephibosheth would rather be David's friend, welcomed in his home, enjoying the food and fellowship of his table daily than let his pride keep him away. God's way is always the high road, it's doing good to others, regardless of how they treat you or whether or not they deserve it. It's living humbly like Mephibosheth, generously like David, sacrificially like Jesus, and kindly like you can when filled by Jesus' spirit. After all, quote, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, end quote, and there's no law against it. If you do the hard work to travel God's way, it's paved with perks you didn't see coming, like watching your enemies turn into friends, like watching some refuse and suffer God's judgment, like watching yourself becoming a person you respect. When you live like this, life is never boring because kindness wins the day and you find yourself rewarded. The New Testament chapter is John 15. Jesus is talking to his disciples the night he's arrested and convicted, which is just before he's crucified, which is the last time he'll speak with them before he's resurrected. So what he says to them carries quite a lot of weight. I'm all ears. And what he says is this, quote, love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends, end quote. Jesus had just said this very same thing while they were still in the upper room after he washed their feet just some time before, so it's got to be on his mind because it's so incredibly important. But I'm pulling up short. Wait, put myself out there for someone else, regardless of whether or not I'm loved back by them in the same way? Even if they don't get it that I'm loving them like this, even if they throw it in my face? Evidently Jesus hadn't heard about boundaries in thirty three AD. But yes, love like this, because you have been loved like this, Jesus said, quote, I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. If you keep my commands, you remain intimately at home in my love. That's what I've done, kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in his love, end quote. Jesus died to pay what your sin cost before you were born, before you could love him in return, before you thought you needed him. He loves you like this at the right hand of the Father today, listening to your prayers and telling the Father what they are, even prayers you haven't prayed yet. But what if you've tried and you just can't love like Jesus does? Funny you should ask, because here's the power source Jesus told them just a few verses earlier. When you stay connected to Him the way a branch stays connected to its vine, his life flows through you, and so does his love. Jesus has your back. He's also got your branches. You don't love others because they're worth it, you love them because Jesus is worth it, and when you connect and abide with him, his love flows through you, and your joy will be so full you're overflowing like he is. He promises. When you live like this, life is never boring because you'll find yourself slap full of joy.

John 15

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From Psalm one nineteen forty nine to sixty four. The Psalmist is all about God's words. He hangs on to them for dear life. They help him in hard times and encourage him. There's signposts that let him know he's on the right track. Despite the taunting he suffers from haters because God's word guides him. There's no following God without knowing what he wants, and what he wants he tells us in his words in the Bible. This presupposes a familiarity with his word, a faithfulness to read, listen, and ponder it, and an enjoyment of it like a meal you just can't get enough of. I didn't read the Bible much until I got in a tight spot and needed it. Suffering will do this if you let it send you straight to the throne room for your own private sesh with God Himself. Time after time God gave me just the words I needed. In fact, it happened so often, eventually I didn't always have to be suffering just to pick up my Bible. God wants connection with the people He's created. He wants hearts that are open to Him and paying attention. He gives us everything we need so our response can be like the one hundred nineteenth Psalmist, quote, your love, God fills the earth. Train me to live by your counsel, end quote. If you don't experience an exuberance for God's word like the psalmist, try focusing on his love that fills the earth. God's love is what moves us to love him in return. The satisfaction he gives is what prompts our obedience, quote, because you have satisfied me, God, I promise to do everything you say, end quote. Jesus said that the way to love God is to do what he says too, and the key for doing it, the Psalmist writes, is to focus on his love. Self-help plans flounder because they focus on oneself, focus instead on the love of the Savior, of the Father, of the Holy Spirit, who never stop reaching out in love. It's this love that empowers us to quote, run in the path of your commands because you have set my heart free, end quote. We don't run to obey God because he cracks his whip. We can lay our oddas down, we can let go of our bootstraps, we can abandon self-help schemes that wear us out because obedience will pour out of us when our hearts feel safe and free. Real love does this. Seek it till you find it. When you live like this, life is never boring because it means forgetting your mess ups and focusing on how much you're loved.

Psalm 119:49-64, Prayer, Proverbs 16:1-2

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Prayer. God, the best news for me today is also the hardest, which is to forget myself. How will I ever do it? Thank you that you are the savior I can never be. Let your love warm me so that I run to obey you. In Jesus' name, so be it. Proverbs 16, 1 to 2. We make plans, but God decides what happens. We're happy with what looks good, but God wants what is good. Passages in 2 Samuel, John, Psalms, and Proverbs are selected for today in the yearly Bible. This is Eve de Bartelevin Roebuck.