So, I'm so sorry that I've been so late in getting up a post for you guys! I didn't mean to take a mini-hiatus, but...

One word. Math.

Again: Please, don't comment on the title of this post. Just don't. XD

The focus of today's post is:

Goodness? Are we not saved by grace and therefore not beholden to works?

Yes, yes we are. And yet we must do good things anyway.

Allow me to explain.

Your parents tell you that they'll get you ice cream if you can wash all the dishes and babysit your younger siblings. You agree because you want the reward. However, you don't have to do this in order for them to give you dinner, a roof over your head, and a good education (hopefully. If you do, something is seriously wrong with your family.) That's just built in because you know that your parents love you.

But you (again, hopefully) don't just do what you're told to because you want a reward. You do it because you love your parents and you want them to be happy.

This is why we obey God- why we are good, if you will.

It's because he saved you and me and he did everything to get us here and he does not require us to keep working to be saved but to trust that his grace is enough. (Wow, that last sentence was controversial. Unintentionally so. O_O) There's nothing more we can do to save ourselves. All we can do is trust that we are saved and keep growing in the knowledge of Christ.

But the response to this is that we now have a duty and privilege of obeying our Father. We are called to do the right thing, and we do it because he loved us first and gave us the capacity to obey in the first place.

Goodness is a gift we give to our Father. It's like a four-year-old scribbling something with crayons as a gift for his father who provides everything for him. It's worth next to nothing; it's no work of art. But to his daddy it is priceless. That's how we should view our gifts to our Father.

Worth nothing on their own... but through Jesus, worth everything.

When I sat down to try to come up with something about this, I initially had nothing. After all, aren't kindness and love kind of the same thing? What more could I say about this?

But the more I reflected on it, I realized how different they are. And that there is quite a bit more to say about kindness.

Because, see, kindness isn't just love. It requires love in order to happen, just like love requires kindness. But it's not the same thing at all.

Kindness, in short, is this: doing unto others as you would have them do to you.

While love is looking at someone and doing for them what you know they can never hope to repay, kindness can and often does look at what you'll get out of it. Not because of selfishness, but because you would want, one day, to be fed by the people in the soup kitchen to whom you volunteered your Saturday morning, if you were homeless. You would want someone to come visit you in the hospital. You want someone to really think about what they're going to get you for Christmas and show you how much they care when they give it to you.

Understand, there's no room for selfishness in kindness. You don't do it and think only of the reward. You do it for the sake of serving the person to whom you are being kind.

But at the same time, it's not so bad to think, afterward, of the fact that you've impacted more than one person. Yourself and another. Countless others, depending on who you've helped. If you talk to a girl sitting by herself and are a friend to her, you have no idea how many people you'll impact if she was, say, contemplating suicide or something and the fact that you were there convinced her not to. If you feed someone who's starving, their family won't lose them in the near future.

And if you do the ultimate act of kindness and invest your time and emotions in sharing the gospel with someone...

Well, the impact is eternal. For both you and them. Even if someone doesn't drop to their knees and profess the name of Christ the second you witness to him, the word of God does not return void.




No matter how long it takes, something will come of that witness.

Kindness gives you the ability to change someone's life. Kindness is not overrated, nor does it make you weak and foolish. It has the power to change lives, to make a difference for the kingdom of God, to gain you treasure in Heaven.

And that's what you have to remember in all of these fruits of the Spirit:

If you do them, it is for God's glory. Not yours. Don't do it so that you can hear the people around you saying, "Man, she's such a nice person!" or "That boy spends so much time helping people! Why can't my kids be more like that?" It's a struggle. I feel it all the time. It's so easy to do the right thing so that you can earn praise for yourself.

But don't fall prey to that temptation.

To God alone be the glory.

I'm back!
I'm now going to do a post on patience. The patience that you had to endure as you waited with bated breath for me to return from my hiatus. Post on the reason for it coming soon!





(Note: this is my first time attempting to use Canva, so this is almost certainly terrible. If you have any advice for how to make it better, by all means, tell me!)


We usually refer to patience as the practice that allows you to sit in the waiting room at the dentist and not complain, or maybe what you have to exhibit as you wait for Marissa Meyer's new book (hint, hint...) Unlike the common usage of the words belonging to most of the fruits of the Spirit, this one is actually quite true. We all need to get better at our patience when we have to wait for something we want to do (or not do.)
What is longsuffering?

It's when you are dying inside and you press on. It's when the cause that keeps you up late at night is burning you out and you need a break, but you have to keep going. It's when everything in life is crashing around you and you just sit there remembering the Lord's promise that he will never leave you or forsake you.

You will never be alone. 


We all need to work on this. Putting our heads down and standing in the rain when we know that there's not much by way of hope, and our umbrellas do nothing for us. I know that I struggle with this. The last couple of years for me have been full of trial and difficulty, both at home and out in the world, and every time it happens I have to remind myself every day that Jesus is enough. That I must just carry on and wait for the moment when I'm aware of the fact that he's picked me up in his arms.

Believe me, I know how it feels.

But it's a necessary trait to have.

And when you have it, and can carry on even through the worst of the trials...

Well, there's no telling what God will do. And that will bring him the glory. Which is where it needs to be. Longsuffering, like all the other fruits of the Spirit, is an exercise that we must learn to bring glory to God. When his people can stand up under the storm and give him the credit, he is glorified.

And that's why it's so important.

How are you guys doing? Chat with me! I promise I'll reply as soon as I can!

~Faith

Peace and joy, in my opinion are the two very hardest of the Fruits of the Spirit to incorporate into our daily lives, and also- the hardest to define. Peace isn't being calm and zen-like, walking around in a daze, or being pessimistic and saying something like "I've made my peace with it." No, peace is a truly supernatural thing, but how do you define it?

Well, apart from the fact that it's about as hard to define this as it is to define love (aka, nigh on impossible), we can take a shot at it.

If peace is just a feeling, it's a good one. We can all relate to that need for comfort, no matter how independent we tell ourselves we are. Because comfort is a need, and we can't live without it.


So we speak of comfort food. We talk about our "comfort blankies," teach our kids habits that will help them feel better when they're sad, and try to make our lives "self-sustaining."

Enough with it already, Christians!

It's okay to have an idea of what you'll do when there's trouble. To have a routine that helps you. But the thing is that if we lean too hard on those, they become idols and we don't care about Jesus anymore. And when the routine falls apart- as it inevitably will- we do too. Because what will we do without our routine and our set schedule?

Just so you know, I'm being very pointed and talking to myself here. Because I personally struggle with this, over and over and over. Every day.

Jesus is our only true source of peace. When the sky gets black. When five small children are screaming in your house simultaneously. When everything is crashing around you. When you walk through the valley of the shadow.

He's been through it all, and he will never leave or forsake you.


And he has overcome the world. (John 16:33)

Rest in him. He will never let you go.

~Faith

Not that Joy...

Joy. So elusive, so... hard to define. It's not just happiness, so what is it?

Joy is the second fruit of the Spirit. While we all know how love works, joy can be harder to figure out, and for good reason. After all, when you've got so much on your chest, is it ever easy to find the "Joy of the Lord"?

Joy, it turns out, is just as much an action as love. But more than that, it's a choice you have to make. It's not just singing in the rain, although it's that too.

No, joy is standing in the wall of the hurricane, tears streaming down your face and your heart slowly shattering inside you, while you stand there and whisper, "Not my will but yours, and I will be glad of it."

Joy is taking the bread and the wine and worshipping.

Joy is when you remember, no matter what, that Jesus loves you. You were a child of wrath, destined for hell, but he gave his life to pay the ransom for your sins. You will live eternally.

In this book called Uneclipsing the Son, the author makes an interesting statement on John 3:16: [paraphrased] "What if when the Bible mentions eternal life, it means it starts right now? What if the eternal life is not just the fact that we will literally live forever in Heaven, but starts at the moment of salvation and continues throughout our lives in our relationship with Jesus?"

Consider this: If eternal life is being with God forever, than we should be overflowing with joy. When God is not in our lives, there is an infinite abyss that cannot be filled, and all the pleasures of the world can't fill it. We must let him fill us. No matter how little we realize it (contrary to popular belief, the average atheist doesn't sit around twiddling his thumbs like "Why do I feel like I'm so empty? I must need God!") we are empty without him, hollow shells of men and women who cannot exist on our own. We are zombies, lurching around in search of the next meal that never satisfies.
That's why we need joy.

The joy that we receive from God is, more than anything, I think, contentment. It is knowing that he is with us and we will never be shaken (more on that next week when I get to peace.) It is the story of our lives as defined by Jesus. If we delight ourselves in the Lord, joy and contentment will just bubble out of us like a fountain. We should always aspire to find our joy in Jesus and Jesus alone.


Shorter post today, but I hope you enjoyed. Stay tuned for Thursday, because I have another blog tour set to happen then about a book that I'm thrilled to tell all of y'all about!

Where do you find your joy? Are you so proud of me for being able to get into another blog tour? (Hint: It's Marissa Meyer's newest book. [Hahahaha I wish]). Chat with me!

I am embarking on a new challenge for the rest of this summer. Each week, I am going to be focusing on incorporating one of the Fruits of the Spirit (Galations 5:22-23) into my daily life, adding one a week. One post a week will be focused on that trait here on my blog. If you want to join me, feel free, and let me know in the comments :)