August 2, Like a Nursing Mother or a Loving Father

Back from vacation:


I Thessalonians 2: 1-12, 1 For you yourselves know, brethren, that our coming to you was not in vain, v. 4 but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men but God....7 But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her own children....11 exhorting and encouraging and imploring each one of you as a father would his own children 12 so that you may walk in a manner worth of the God who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

As I read this I was reminded of the standard Paul set and how far from it I fall. He bent himself into the form needed to minister, gave up some things, worked at whatever was needed to help his friends know how to live out their faith. I was further reminded of how our culture has made us so self-centered, guarding our rights, our comfort levels, putting our own needs and desires first.

God did not do that. Jesus Christ did not do that. Paul did not do that, nor did Phoebe or Priscilla or...well, you get the point. It is so easy in life to fall into a rut, a pattern of busyness, even doing good things, that we miss the beauty all around us. This last week we spent a few days in a log cabin at the end of a dirt road. We sat in the stillness on our front porch, definitely not a deck, and watched and listened to the rain fall, the sun shine, and the sun set. We listened for the voice of God, and I have to tell you, it was easier to hear there, with no internet or phone service. I heartily recommend it to all.

Anyway, it reminded me of how much more beauty and joy and peace of heart is available to us when we stop thinking about ourselves, when we loosen the grip of the world and its entertainments and distractions to just love on people. That is what God does, loves on people, and what He calls us to do. And it is far more satisfying than anything else there is to do.