Do Not Depart

Encouragement and Tools to Abide in God's Word

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Recap: Good tidings in modern times

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In the past month we’ve celebrated the Word who became flesh and lived among us. We’ve talked about how to use our gift of words to display God’s glory and to share His truth. It’s all about Good Tidings in Modern Times.Good tidings in modern times

Good tidings tools we’ve shared

Though most ribbons are untied and most gifts are unwrapped, it’s still the right time to use our gift of language to reflect and share about the Word.  In him is life itself!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:1-4)

We’re grateful to have you reading with us at Do Not Depart as we share tools and encouragement to abide in the Word.

 

If your thoughts have already turned to a new year and you just can’t wait for January inspiration, take a look at last year’s theme about Spiritual Disciplines.

How to Grow in Spiritual Disciplines

(from January 2013)

 

Christmas: What to do when it’s over

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Before Christmas, there are designated songs to sing, appropriate decorations to display, and even timely tasks to do. But when it’s suddenly “done,” people sometimes flounder and ask, “What now?”
Good tidings in modern times
Life’s challenges didn’t pause for Christmas, and it doesn’t take long for leftovers and laundry to pile up. So “What now?” What do we do AFTER Christmas? Some of the most humble earthly characters of the incarnation story left a not-so-humble example for us to follow.

“And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” (Luke 2:20)

If our attention and our hearts were truly turned afresh to the coming of Christ as a babe in swaddling clothes as the hope of all men, then it should show on the day after Christmas.

  • The shepherds went back to their regular lives.
  • The shepherds went back as changed people.
  • The shepherds continued to believe what they had heard and seen.
  • The shepherds glorified and praised God.

Most of our readers (and all of our team!) fit more closely into the “shepherds” category than the wise men/kings category. We can take our after Christmas cues from the common folk of old who experienced the not-so-common birth of God’s Son, Jesus.

  • Get back to regular life. What we celebrated changes life today!
  • Get back to work, but be changed because of what you know.
  • Keep on believing in the truth of Christ’s coming.
  • Let your heart be full of praise and overflow in words of praise.

Everyone who heard what the shepherds had to share wondered at the news. As the cultural distractions of the season fade, let’s give our world reason to “wonder” at how Christ’s coming changes every day of our year!

 Other “After Christmas posts” from our team you might enjoy:

5 Tips for Setting Spiritual Growth Goals for the New Year with Kathy Howard

The Most Important Thing to Do This Christmas with Lindsey Bell

After Christmas Instructions with Julie

 

 

 

Good tidings in modern times

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I emerged from the gauntlet of perfume counters and white coated clerks thrusting sample cards under my nose. Pausing in a forest of mitten covered racks, I caught my breath and surveyed the scene, searching for it. A mention of Christmas? Evidence Christ was born? Suggestion of a manger? There was none.

Other than giant-sized posters of happy people dressed in red beneath a single word in large script saying “BELIEVE,” little proof existed to say the day was anything other than a national shopping day. “Believe what?” I wanted to shout. No one would’ve heard me over the din of doorbusters and “Next!” and crying children covered by packages in strollers.

But department store shouldn’t have to tell me what to believe. They exist for shopping days; they know their goal and they stay focused. So who’s the one to declare good tidings in these noisy, modern times?

For Christians, the Christmas season celebrates the incarnation of God’s Son, the earthly birth of the heavenly Savior. Known as “the Word,” even His name promised the giving of a message, news of hope for all mankind. And in the very story of His arrival, words took center stage.

  • announcements were made
  • government decrees were sent out
  • prophecy’s fulfillment was spoken
  • a baby was inspired by a greeting
  • good news of great joy was declared
  • songs were sung by united hosts
  • threats were sent out by Roman rulers
  • rejection was delivered by a busy innkeeper
  • worship was humbly spoken in the night

Good tidings in modern timesAlong with the gift of “The Word,” God gave us the gift of words of our own. He entrusted us with the power of voice, whether spoken, written, signed, painted or played. He gave us the power to convey a message. His message. We have the potential to declare the Good Tidings.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.“ John 1:14

Modern times are noisy times and times with more modes of delivering tidings than ever before.

With all of the words out there, people still want to know, “Believe what?”

And that’s where those entrusted with the power of words join with the shepherds and the angel host and the wise men to declare good tidings. Our modern times count on US to sound out the good news that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Will you join Do Not Depart this month as we explore the gift of words and rediscover the power and the joy of good tidings in modern times?

The Overflow of the Heart

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I like to color-code when I study Scripture. Depending on what book I am studying, I pick a color scheme to make repeated topics and patterns stand out to me more vividly. A few years ago I was working my way through Proverbs, innocently highlighting, when some of the verses began to make their way off of the page and burn into my heart. {Amazing how God speaks to us when we dig into His Word!}

Page after page was brimming with that tell-tale pink highlighting.

The Proverbs have a lot to say about our speech.

The volume of our speech:

When words are many, transgression is not lacking,
  but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. – Proverbs 10:19

The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer,
   but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things. – Proverbs 15:28

The results of our speech:

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing. – Proverbs 12:18

A soft answer turns away wrath,
   but a harsh word stirs up anger. – Proverbs 15:1

The destructiveness of gossip:

The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;
   they go down in the inner parts of the body. – Proverbs 18:8

Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets;
   therefore do not associate with a simple babbler. – Proverbs 20:19

As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,
   so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife. – Proverbs 26:21

As I read through the admonitions about our speech contained in the book of Proverbs, I hear the words of James in my heart:

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. – James 3:5b-6

Serious. Sobering. As a person who finds myself ensnared by my words more frequently than any other aspect of my life, these verses sting and cut. Sometimes I even begin to despair – nothing reveals my fallen humanity like my speech. Like the prophet of Isaiah long ago, my heart cries – “Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips…” (Isaiah 6:5, NKJV)

What is a girl to do? As much as I read what the Proverbs have to say about my speech, why does my tongue trip me up time and time again?

Jesus gives a sobering answer to my question in Luke 6:45: “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

Proverbs, an intensely practical book, describes for us the practical outcomes of our speech. But to control our speech takes more than just knowing what we shouldn’t do. I cannot will myself to be wise and holy. Only Christ can transform me from the inside out – and only being transformed from inside out can transform my speech. If I want the overflow of my heart to be uplifting, encouraging, and healing, my heart must be transformed in His presence.

As you dig into the book of Proverbs on your own, I highly recommend that you pull out your favorite Bible highlighters or colored pencils (I prefer crayola twist-up crayons!) and mark up those pages with the repeated themes that show up time and time again. And if you’re like me, those “speech and tongue” verses will jump right off the page and smack you in the face. But, friends, they are not a call to “try harder” or “bite your tongue.” They are like a mirror to us, revealing the sin lurking in our hearts when we are tempted to be enamored by our own self-righteousness. They call to us to humble ourselves before the throne room of God, asking Him to purify us from the inside out.

Sinful speech is a symptom of sin-sickness in our hearts – a sickness only God can cure.

Walk Worthy

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photo by Teri Lynne Underwood

I watched her walk away … eleven years old and so sure she could do it on her own.  I remembered other times she had walked away – her first day of school, off to spend the night with a neighbor, across the parking lot to meet her friends.   Often I remind her as she’s going someplace, “Don’t forget who you represent.”  I want my daughter to realize that her life reflects on her, on us as her parents, and on Christ.  I want her to walk well … to walk worthy.

Paul wanted the same thing for his spiritual children in Ephesus:

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called.  Ephesians 4:1 ESV

What does this worthy walk entail?  How is it that we pursue this noble task of living lives that reflect the greatness of the sacrifice Christ gave for us?  As I instruct my daughter what I expect of her, so too Paul outlines what it is to walk worthy of this great calling in our lives.

Our Attitudes {Ephesians 4:2, 31-32}

Ultimately, our attitude should be the “same as that of Christ Jesus” … rooted in humility.  Paul instructs us to function “with all humility and gentleness” in Ephesians 4:2.   As believers we are expected to be filled with a humble spirit and called to repent from attitudes such as bitterness, wrath, anger, and slander (Ephesians 4:31)  Rather, our attitudes toward one another should be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving (v. 32).  Why?  Because “God in Christ forgave you” (v. 32).  Walking worthy demands a humble heart that is given to kindness and gentleness toward others.

Our Actions {Ephesians 4:2, 29, 5:21}

Behavior is the result of the attitudes of our heart.   We cannot claim a humble spirit and then live self-seeking lives.  Our actions will reflect what is inside us … what motivates us, what controls us.   If we are controlled by the Spirit, our behavior and actions will show it.   Paul gives specifics about these actions in his letter to Ephesus.  In verse two we find that we are to be patient, bearing with one another.   The idea here is “patient endurance even when others have inflicted pain or suffering” (Women’s Evangelical Commentary, 551).  This isn’t about not complaining when the line at WalMart moves slow, this is about extending grace when someone hurts you, not retaliating in kind.  Paul instructs later in chapter four that our speech must build up, “that it may give grace to those who hear” (v. 29).  Did you catch that?  Our words must give grace not just to whom they are spoken, but also to anyone who hears them.  And we are called to submit to one another (5:1).  This submission is rooted in “voluntarily giving up your own rights and bowing your own will to another (WEC, 561).  Our actions – including our speech – must be others-oriented if we are to walk worthy.

At this point, you may be asking the same question my daughter likes to ask, “Why?”   Why does it matter? 

Again we use Paul’s own words:

[Be] eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.  Ephesians 4:3, 30 ESV

We walk worthy – in attitude and action – because it draws us  together, unifies us in the Spirit of God.   This “bond of peace” is found when we live out the words of Christ from John 13:34, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (ESV).

The best way we walk worthy is to live in unity … treating one another with grace, speaking to each other with kindness, loving each other as we have been greatly loved.

In what ways do you struggle to walk worthy? 

How have you seen your attitudes affect your actions in this area?

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