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- Written by: Don Goulding
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. (Romans 15:7) (NIV)
I visited my friend, Seru, in Fiji the other day. I caught him in a foul mood. At first he wouldn’t talk. I picked up one of his trinkets, and he snatched it out of my hand. Then he lay down and ignored me. When I pestered him to play a game, he changed the rules and cheated. Still, I was thrilled to have him near.
I overlook Seru’s behavior, because he’s three years old. I love him as a one of a kind feat of God’s creation. He has a sharp mind, a munchkin voice, and dimples on his hands behind each of his ten little fingers.
Seru is a work in progress. I don’t rush him toward adulthood, but relish each stage along the way. I rejoice in what Seru is, and disregard everything he’s not.
The acceptance I have for Seru is far exceeded by the acceptance God has for me. Love for me soaks into his heart like rain in the desert. He cherishes the me he created, while he moves my sin to Jesus. God keeps the good, redeems the bad, and looks forward to what I’ll become.
I’m patient with Seru because I know God will grow him over the years. Just so, God peers into the future and sees me completed in heaven. That’s why he’s forbearing—he knows what’s coming, and that I’ll eventually get there. He doesn’t force me to skip ahead, but rejoices over each stage of my development.
The grace I have for Peru, the grace God has for me, I can have that grace for all people. There is no room for me to refuse others the same acceptance I have so undeservedly received. No, I can never again be that infantile.
Prayer: Savior, thank you for accepting me. Help me accept others.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
Instead I subdue my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified. (1 Corinthians 9:27)
Our family paddled a canoe in the Canadian wilderness. The lonely call of loons passed a primal connection to nature through our chests. Glaciers in the Caribou Mountains peeked over conifers to view their reflection in the Bowron Lakes. Best of all, coho salmon raced through the liquid universe beneath our boat.
After living three years in the Pacific Ocean, a drive for perpetuating life overtakes the coho. From the tidal Strait of Georgia, the silver heroes swim a thousand miles into mountain tributaries. By the time they passed under us, they were transformed into red for mating, and their bodies were battered from jumping up cascades. After releasing eggs and sperm in the shallows of their birth, the valiant cohos die, giving everything for the great exchange.
I want the attitude of a salmon. My body has a far greater purpose than comfort or temporary thrills. It was not given to me to spend on whatever feels good. It is to be nourished, but not idolized with obsessive fashions, or desperate healthcare. Using my body for earthly gain is sacrilege, akin to a salmon refusing to spawn so it won’t be injured.
The purpose of my body is to carry my spirit to the stream of eternal life, where I can make the great exchange. The sacrifice requires swimming against the world’s current. It’s a suicide mission, but what a glorious spending, and what a noble purpose, freely given for the praise of Jesus, only to share in his reward.
Prayer: Lord, I choose to exchange my body for life in you.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
For the kingdom of God does not consist of food and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17)
After preaching in Ivory Coast, I was invited to the pastor’s house for the Sunday meal. He led me into a Liberian refugee settlement. We ducked through the doorway into his shack made from scraps of wood and tin. The impoverished people of the earth are often the most generous.
The pastor’s wife served the West African staple of garri. It’s made of cassava roots that are ground, dried, and later boiled into a mush thick as Play-Doh. Garri is tasteless and hard to swallow unless there’s something to dip it into.
My hosts also served a stew of greens with morsels of meat. We pinched off each bite of garri, dipped it in the delicious sauce, and gulp, down it went.
The kingdom of God is about righteousness, peace, and joy, but these staples must be dipped in an anointing of the Holy Spirit. Righteousness is never satisfied with my performance, it sticks in my throat and won’t go down. The peace and joy I generate are so tasteless they never touch me inside. Without the Holy Spirit, the Christian life is impossible.
The reason Jesus cleansed us by his sacrifice was to fill us with the Holy Spirit. We get tangled up over the signs and gifts of the Spirit, but the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—can’t be counterfeited. They are living proof that Spirit filling isn’t an optional Christian add-on, it is Christianity.
When I dip righteousness under the Spirit’s leading, doing good tastes marvelous. I crave helping others and practicing honesty. I grow insatiable for truth and self-sacrifice. Without warning, peace and joy fill my mouth.
The kingdom of God is not about food and drink, but it is about staples that taste delicious with the Holy Spirit.
Prayer: Spirit of God, flood my heart with your righteousness, peace, and joy.