Trusting God Day by Day: 365 Daily Devotions (13 page)

As believers in Jesus, we have tender hearts, but we can become hard-hearted if we are not careful in this area. I find that taking the
time to really think about what people are going through in their particular situations helps me to have compassion. Jesus was moved by compassion, and we should also be moved to pray, or help in some way.

Empathy is a beautiful emotion and thankfully one we don’t have to resist! Let’s learn to resist evil emotions that poison our lives and embrace emotions we can enjoy that will bring glory to God. Emotions are a gift from God; in fact, they’re a large part of what makes us human. Without them, life would be dull and we’d be like robots. Because emotions are a vulnerable part of us, Satan seeks to take advantage and make what God intended to be good things into evil things.

We are blessed that Jesus has redeemed every part of us, including our emotions. God’s desire is that you enjoy the life He has provided for you, but that is impossible to do unless you learn how to control your feelings instead of letting them control you. With God’s help, you can do it!

S
in exists whenever a person goes against God and His ways. We tend to live “backward”—exactly opposite of the way we should live. We live for ourselves and yet we never seem to end up with what satisfies us. We should live for others and learn the wonderful secret that what we give away comes back to us multiplied many times over. I like the way a famous doctor named Luke put it: “Give away your life; you’ll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity” (Luke 6:38 The Message).

We don’t have to be taught how to be selfish—we all come by it honestly. It’s programmed into our nature. Everyone wants to be “number one,” which automatically indicates a lot of people will be disappointed, since only one can be number one at any time in any given area. Only one person can be the number one runner in the world; only one can be the president of the company or the best-known actor or actress on stage or screen. Only one can be the top author or the best painter in the world. Although I believe we should all be goal-oriented and do our best, I don’t believe we should want everything for ourselves and care nothing about other people.

Selfishness does not make life work the way it was intended to work and is definitely not God’s will for mankind; it’s ruthless. You can’t play games with it and hope to produce any lasting change. We need to declare war on selfishness.

L
ove must be more than a theory or a word; it has to be action. It has to be demonstrated. God is love, and love has always been His idea. He came to love us to teach us how to love Him, and to teach us how to love ourselves and others.

When we do this, life is beautiful; when we don’t, nothing works properly. Love is the answer to selfishness because love gives while selfishness takes. We must be delivered from ourselves, and Jesus came for that very purpose as we see in 2 Corinthians 5:15: “And He died for all, so that all those who live might live no longer to and for themselves, but to and for Him Who died and was raised again for their sake.”

Recently, as I was pondering all the terrible problems in the world, such as millions of starving children, AIDS, war, oppression, human trafficking, incest, and much more, I asked God,
“How can You stand to see all that goes on in the world and do nothing?”
I heard God say in my spirit,
“I work through people. I am waiting for My people to rise up and do something.”

You may be thinking, as millions of others do,
I know the world has problems, but they are so massive—what can I do that will make a difference?
That is exactly the kind of thinking that has kept us paralyzed while evil continues to triumph. We must stop thinking about what we
cannot
do and begin to do what we
can
do.

Ask yourself:
“Will I continue being part of the problem or will I be part of the answer?”
I have decided to be part of the answer. Will you join me and let love be the central theme of your life?

I
heard a story about a man who went to Russia with good intentions of telling people about the love of Jesus Christ. During his visit, many people were starving. When he found a line of people waiting hopefully to get bread for the day, he approached them with Gospel tracts in hand and began to walk the line telling them that Jesus loves them and handing each of them a tract with the salvation message on it. To be sure, he was trying to help, but one woman looked into his eyes and said bitterly,
“Your words are nice, but they don’t fill my empty stomach.”

I have learned oftentimes people are hurting too badly to hear the good news that God loves them; they must experience it. And one of the best ways for those individuals to experience God’s love is for us to meet their practical needs, in addition to telling them they are loved.

We must beware of thinking that words alone are enough. Jesus certainly preached the good news, but He also went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed (see Acts 10:38). Talking is not expensive, nor does it require much effort, but real love is costly. It cost God His only Son, and allowing real love to flow through us will also cost us. Perhaps we will have to invest some time, money, effort, or possessions—it will cost us something!

What can we do? We can care, we can be informed, we can pray, and we can take action. We can support ministries and organizations that are
helping others, or if God asks us to, we can even choose to work in these arenas. If full-time work is not an option, we can consider doing something on a project basis or taking a short-term mission trip. God loves all people, and He is counting on us to do something about the hurt in the world.

W
hen we look at the needs in the world today they are staggering. You may be thinking,
Joyce, what I can do won’t even make a dent in the problems we have in the world.
I know how you feel, because I once felt the same way. But if we all think that way, nobody will do anything and nothing will change. Although our individual efforts may not solve the problems, together we can make a major difference. God won’t hold us accountable for what we could not do, but He will hold us accountable for the things we could have done.

I had recently returned from a trip to India and was at the gym when a woman I often see there asked me if I really believed that all the effort required for these trips was solving anything since millions would still be starving, no matter how many we fed. I shared with her what God placed in my heart—something that forever settled the issue for me. If you or I were hungry because we hadn’t eaten in three days and someone offered us one meal that would alleviate the pain in our stomachs
for a day, would we take it and be glad to have it? Of course we would. And so are the people we help. We are able to set up ongoing programs for many of them, but there will always be those we can help only once or twice. Still, I know these outreaches are worth doing.

If we can give one hungry child one meal, it is worth doing. If we can help one person go without pain for one day, it is worth doing. I have resolved to always do what I can do and to remember what God said to me:
“If you can only relieve someone’s pain one time for one hour, it is still worth doing.”

I
think it’s safe to say that most of what the world offers is tasteless—and I’m not talking about food. For example, most of the movies Hollywood produces and the way people treat each other in the world today are tasteless. Usually when we see any type of behavior that is in poor taste we are quick to blame “the world.” We might say something like,
“What is the world coming to?”
Yet the phrase “the world” merely means the people who live in the world. If the world has lost its flavor, it is because people have become tasteless in their attitudes and actions.
Jesus said we are the salt of the earth (see Matt. 5:13). He also said we are the light of the world and should not hide our light (see Matt. 5:14).

Think of it this way: Each day as you leave your home, you can add God’s light and flavor to any environment. You can bring joy to your workplace by being determined to consistently have a godly attitude, and through simple things like being thankful, patient, merciful, quick to forgive offenses, kind, and encouraging. Even simply smiling and being friendly is a way to bring flavor into a tasteless society.

Without love and all its magnificent qualities, life is tasteless and not worth living. I want you to try an experiment. Just think:
I am going to go out into the world today and spice things up
. Get your mind set before you ever walk out the door that you are going out as God’s ambassador, and that your goal is to be a giver, to love people, and to add good flavor to their lives. The question each of us must answer is,
“What have I done today to make someone else’s life better?”

W
hen I look back over the forty-five years Dave and I have been married, I am appalled at how selfish I have been, especially in the early years. I can honestly say I did not know any better. In the house where I grew up, all I ever saw was selfishness and I had nobody to teach me
differently. Had I known how to be a giver instead of a taker, I am sure the early years of our marriage would have been much better than they were. Because of God in my life, I have seen things turn around and old wounds have been healed, but I wasted a lot of years that I can’t get back.

In stark contrast to the way I was raised, Dave grew up in a Christian home. His mother was a godly woman who prayed and taught her children to give. As a result of his upbringing, Dave developed qualities I had never seen in my entire life until I met him. His example has been amazingly valuable to me. Had he not been very patient, which is an aspect of love, I am sure our marriage wouldn’t have lasted, but I thank God it did. And after many years of marriage, I can honestly say it gets better all the time. I am happier now than I’ve ever been because I put more into the relationship than I ever have. I really enjoy seeing Dave do things he enjoys, and that’s quite a contrast to all the years I was angry every time I didn’t get “my way.”

I was always on my mind, and nothing changed until I got fed up with my entire life being all about me, me, and more of me. Jesus came to open prison doors and set captives free (see Isa. 61:1). He set me free from many things, the greatest of which was myself. I have been set free from me! I continue to grow daily in this freedom, but I am thankful to realize that real joy is not found in getting my way all the time.