A little bit of kindness goes a long way. Which, on the one hand, is kind of sad. Because we are so used to the opposite that it's like we're starving for it. Desperate for it. But, on the other hand, it means we can really affect each other on a deep level by simply being kind. By doing things heartily--to the best of our ability, and because it's in our heart to do it. We don't have to be world changers and history makers. We can live simple lives and still preach the gospel with our actions. We can be who we are and still spread the love of God. That's why I write these Rants every day--I want to do what I can do, even if it seems like a small thing. And if what I do helps someone... then I AM a world changer. Because while I may not have changed everything in the world... I may have changed something in YOUR world. And that matters. That's important. Because YOU matter. YOU'RE important. So, as it is written in Zechariah 4:10, "For who hath despised the day of small things?..." Or Job 8:7, "Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase." Just start where you are. The past is the past and it's over and you can't do anything about it. Let go of it. Stop letting it hold you back. Let God and let God. Start where you are and do what you can do. Don't let your past harden your heart. Don't let what has come before dictate what comes next. Learn and grow. Take the lesson and the blessin' and keep moving forward. There is a straight and narrow way that leads to life. That is Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And He is love. Love is the only way to live. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. They aren't just connected, they are the same thing! You can't do one without the other and you can't have one without the other. So embrace love. Guard your heart by keeping it open to love. Let God love you--whether you feel like you deserve it or not--and love Him back by loving people with that same love. Receive it and release it. Breathe it in and breathe it out. Don't let the world make you hard-hearted. Strive to stay tenderhearted. Don't let the world beat you down into it's image. In the beginning you were created in the image and likeness of God. On the cross you were conformed to the image of His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. You have what you need, and you are who you're supposed to be. So give what you've got and be who you are! Let what's inside come out. Naturally. By knowing and believing that it's in there. By letting God love you and loving Him back by loving the people you come into contact with. It doesn't have to be big things either. That's my point. Sometimes all it takes is a smile. An ear to hear when someone needs to talk. A shoulder to cry on, or lean on. Just those little things (that are really big things) that let people know you care about them. Those little things that mean the world to people. You don't have to be someone you're not. You don't have to do things you're not called to do, or capable of doing. You can just be who you are. You can just love people. It comes from the heart. From the tenderheart that is GOD'S heart beating with love in your chest!

Let's look at our key memory verse again, because there's really only one thing I want to say today: "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Ephesians 4:32). Here's what I want to say: Be kind, please rewind. Some of you might not be old enough to remember that Blockbuster Video slogan, but it was pretty simple. Rewind your VHS tapes so the next person who rents them won't have to. Leave things better than you found them. Or at least not worse than you found them. And, to me, that's what it means to be tenderhearted. Just be kind. Forgive people. Not because they "deserve" it, and not even because they apologized, but simply because God (for Christ's sake, not for your sake) forgave you. When Jesus was on the cross He prayed to His Father. And He said, "...Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Now I completely believe that He was praying for the people who were literally, physically beating on Him and humiliating Him and nailing Him to a cross in order to try to kill Him. I can see that. They were whipped up into a self-righteous, religious frenzy and really didn't know what they were doing. They chose to have Barabbas freed instead of the King of kings. It's safe to say they missed what was happening. But I also believe Jesus was praying for everybody who had ever been or would ever be. I believe He was praying for humanity. We didn't know what we were doing. We were stumbling around in the dark, doing the best we could with what we had, but not even really knowing that we couldn't do anything because we didn't have anything. That's why the light needed to shine. That's why, when we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He brought us out of where we were (in Adam) and into where He wanted us to be (HIM). And we had nothing to do with it. So, point being, you forgiving someone has nothing to do with them and everything to do with you. It's what's in YOUR heart that matters. And, by the way, forgiveness is like unlocking a jail cell and then realizing that YOU were the one in prison. You free yourself more than anything or anybody else. But I want to say this as clearly as I can today: Being tenderhearted is being kind. Period. Being nice to people out of the goodness that God has placed inside your heart. Letting what's inside come out, by knowing and believing that it is in there. So be kind. Please rewind. What's that old saying? "Everybody is fighting battles that you know nothing about, so be kind." So much of the time people are focused only on themselves. Their problems. What they are going through. If they do something to you or against you, chances are you are simply collateral damage. So don't take it personally. Even if it is. Don't retaliate. Turn the other cheek. Understand that not everything is about you. Let people be who they are, and go through what they are going through. And love them anyway. Don't love people in spite of their flaws and struggles. Love them in the midst of their flaws and struggles. Because of their flaws and struggles. Let the love that is inside your soft, kind, tender heart come out!

I like the chapter in 2 Peter where it talks about adding things. Add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge... like that. But the part I really like about it is 2 Peter 1:4, "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." Because, as always, God doesn't expect anything from us that He doesn't first provide to us and for us. He gave us exceeding great and precious promises. He gave us everything we need. That's why the first thing we add to is our faith. Faith is what makes everything else happen. You can't add anything to the foundation if you don't know what the foundation is. Faith is knowing and believing that we are who God says we are and we have what God says we have. Now. I said all that to say this: In our key verse we see "...forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (Ephesians 4:32). All we can do is receive and release what God has given us. We do, because He has done. We add, because He has given us things to add. We don't do in order to be, we do because we be. We're not trying to earn anything from our heavenly Father, we're simply sharing what He has freely given us. That, to me, is the key to being tenderhearted. The key to having compassion. Because, for the most part, people are self-centered. It's very hard for people to see past themselves. When you're focused on your own needs, you can't really help anybody else with theirs. And, listen, I know that when you ride an airplane they tell you to put on your own oxygen mask before trying to help someone else with theirs. I get that. You can't always do more than just getting through the day. Sometimes that's literally all you can do. And overextending yourself doesn't help. It doesn't help you, or them, or anybody. What I'm saying is what I always say: Do what you can do. And let that be enough. Be tenderhearted enough to see those needs in others. Compassionate enough. Sympathetic enough. Don't kick people when they're down. And this is a big lesson I think we need to learn: You can say no to someone without crushing them. You can (at least try) to let them understand that you have limits and boundaries. That doesn't mean you don't love them. Saying no is not saying "I don't love you." Saying no means, "I can't do that right now." Or it means, "I love you, but I'm not going to enable you." That doesn't make you mean. It doesn't make you a bad person. Self-care IS important. The trick is to make sure you don't become hard-hearted. Because... in all honesty... you can't do everything for everyone. And you're not supposed to. So do what you CAN do, and don't feel bad about what you can't. Do what you CAN do and let that be enough. Take what God has given you (fight the good fight of faith... know and believe He has given it, and you have it) and share it. Give what you've got. Be who you are. Love when and where you can. But don't feel bad about it when and where you can't. Shrug your shoulders and move on. Keep a soft heart. Do what you can do. Be who you are. Love who and where and when you can!

I don't like to fight. You might have picked that up by now. There's a TV show in which the main character is hiding in the bathroom, and her best friend asks her what she's doing. She says, "Eating cookies and avoiding confrontation." For the most part... that's me. If I can avoid a confrontation, I will. I know my family has heard this from me more times than they want to: "I'm not arguing with you." I'm just not interested in it. I don't think it helps at all. Ever. So let's make that Biblicial. Ephesians 4:32, "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." In other words, be cool. Remember that love doesn't demand its (HIS) own way. Loving people is about letting them be who they are. Tenderhearted is number 2155 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "Well compassioned, that is sympathetic: - pitiful." And when I think of the word pitiful, I think of someone who is just completely over and out. Someone who literally just can't do it. Whatever it is. I guess I kind of associate "pitiful" with "pathetic." But, as always, there's a more excellent way. Instead of looking down on people and judging them harshly... we should only ever look down on someone in order to reach down and help them up. We should absolutely have pity for people. In the sense of compassion. In the sense of being sympathetic. "Pity" according to dictionary.com is "sympathetic or kindly sorrow evoked by the suffering, distress, or misfortune of another, often leading one to give relief or aid or to show mercy." And to me that's the important part: leading one to give relief or aid. Showing mercy. Seeing someone down and out... and helping them. That's where the rubber meets the road. That's where we get to the place of charity. Love in action. That's where we do things heartily--to the best of our ability, and because it is in our heart to do it. Our tender heart. Our soft heart. One of my favorite things about my son is that his whole life people have always described him as a sweet heart. One time I picked him up from school, and we were walking out with another dad who had picked up his son too. And the kids were chatting as we walked. Then we went separate ways, and I could tell Logan wanted to say one last thing, but he didn't really know what to say to end the conversation. And he came up with, "Ok! Love you!" And the other kid pause for a second but then said, "Love you too, Logan!" And I couldn't stop smiling. My kid is the "I love you kid." And even though it was unexpected, it got the same response back. Because it's hard to hear that and NOT respond to it. The deep calls out to the deep. The light in me is really kind of desperate to connect to the light in you. Heart strings. The ties that bind. The connection and relationship that comes from love. From building instead of tearing down. That comes from having sympathy and compassion and pity... and love... for other people. Seeing a need and meeting it. Seeing someone in distress and helping them instead of piling on. It's such a good thing. It's a God thing. It's a love thing!

Here's where I want to end this Rant series: "And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake." Some things need not be resisted. Evil, for example. Simply overcome it with good. The lie. Which can be ignored when you know the truth. And some things need to be resisted simply by not giving place to them. The devil. Sin. Those are "resisted" simply by submitting ourselves to God. Focusing on what is good and true. Focusing on love. If you are filled with love, there is no room for anything else. If you are filled with light there is no darkness in you at all. And some things can't be resisted. The wisdom and the Spirit of God. It is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance, right? Not the fear of God. Not God saying, "Do what I say or off to hell you go." That kind of "doing," in order to be... or in order to get something... never works. Works and labor don't work. Because God's abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love is a gift. And you can't earn a gift. You can only receive it. And then experience it by sharing it. By giving it away. Receive it and release it. Breathe it in and breathe it out. So while we tend to think of resistance as something we should do against something bad... a lot of times we end up resisting the love of God by looking for love in all the wrong places. Or by trying to earn something that can't be earned. Something that has already been given to us. Something that has already been made available to us. Something that we already have. If you're trying to earn something you already have, that's being a robber. Because the robber tries to get into the sheepfold any other way but the door. Jesus is the door. And the door is open. So stop robbing yourself of what you already have. Just trust in Jesus. Let Him show you what He has already filled you up with, and then you can fill yourself to overflowing with it. Then it can come out of you. Naturally. If you're trying to get what you think you haven't got, but what you in truth already have, you will never be anything but frustrated. You will always come at things from that place of lack. And that's such a hard thing to do. Such a hopeless place to be. So don't resist God's love. That's the point I want to make today. Don't resist. Don't resist evil. Turn the other cheek. Don't fight back. Don't get all worked up. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called (identified as) the Son(s) of God. People are going to do what they are going to do. All you can do is love them. And sometimes from a distance. But don't resist GOD either. Don't think you're not worthy of His love. Don't think you have to earn it. Or that some day, somehow, maybe He'll be able to love you if you do this, this, and this. Love is unconditional. It's either there... or it isn't. From God, to us, it's there. Period. Always has been, always will be. Don't resist it. Just let it happen. Fill yourself to overflowing with what you've already been filled with... and experience it in a very real way by giving what you've got. Let God love you, and then love Him back by loving people. That's the secret of life. It's all about love. God and people. Loving God and loving people. Loving God BY loving people. The love is there. Don't resist it!

Yesterday we talked about "resisting" by not resisting. Knowing the truth and ignoring the lie. Turning the other cheek, shrugging our shoulders, and walking away. You don't have to fight when you understand that Jesus won the war to end all wars. He fought so that we don't have to. So finished the work so that we could enjoy the fruit of His labor. He worked so that we could rest. And I heard a preacher once say it like this, "When you work God will rest. But when you rest, God will work." When we try to do it ourselves I think, for the most part, God will let us. I've long said He is too much of a gentleman to force His will on us. That's that measure of free will that we have. And I say "measure" because when Jesus was lifted up from the earth on the cross, and He drew all men into Himself, He did that without consulting us. Without our "permission," if I can say it that way. He simply did that because it needed doing. He made His glorious eternal, abundant, everlasting, Resurrection Life available to us. He gave it to us, for the plain and simple reason that He wanted us to have it. Because He loves us. God wanted the best for us, so He gave the best to us. He gave us His only begotten Son. So that we might know who we really are by knowing who HE really is. By knowing who (and what) LOVE really is! That's how we overcome evil with good; we love the hell out of people. You don't have to try to squash their behavior, or force them to change. You can simply love them. Submit yourself to God and resist the devil, right? Resist BY submission. Look at Ephesians 4:26-27, "Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil." If you know the truth you can ignore the lie. You don't have to fight the lie. Or prove it wrong. It will prove itself wrong. You can simply ignore it and keep living your best life. "Resist" the devil. Not by focusing on him or fighting him... but by simply not giving place to him. I know there are people who are locked into combat with the devil from the moment they wake up until the moment they fall asleep. And probably in their dreams as well. That takes a lot of time and energy. So why are we giving power to something that is powerless? Why are we spending (wasting) our Three T's (Time, Talent, Treasure) on something that doesn't deserve it? I don't think about the devil pretty much ever. Or sin, for that matter. Because I'm too busy thinking about love. Too busy trying to help people. Too busy focusing on what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Because what you feed is what will grow. What you magnify in your life is what will manifest in your life. What you empower is what will have power. So don't focus on the devil--even in order to resist him. Simply give no place to him. Jesus crushed his head with His heel, right? Put him under our feet? So it's not something we need to concern ourselves with. LOVE is what we need to concern ourselves with. Letting God love us and loving Him back by loving each other. Filling ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. Letting what's inside come out by knowing and believing it's in there. And not worrying about anything else!

So. In Matthew 5:39 Jesus says, "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Don't resist evil. That's the point of this Rant series. You don't have to fight. If someone slaps you, you don't have to slap back. You don't have to retaliate. And you don't have to stand there and keep getting slapped either. You can shrug your shoulders and walk away. But here's the interesting thing: in James 4:7 we see, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." Almost seems like there's a contradiction there, no? Don't resist evil, but resist the devil. Hmm. Well, read the whole verse again. Submit yourself to God. That's HOW you resist the devil. You don't have to fight him. You don't have to wage "spiritual warfare." You don't have to fight fire with fire. You overcome evil... with good. You resist... by submitting. What is important is what you submit yourself TO. I think a lot of the time we get so stuck on what's WRONG that we lose sight of what's RIGHT. And, listen, what you feed is what will grow. What you magnify in your life is what will manifest in your life. So instead of focusing on what you think you need to resist... focus on what you want. If you're always fighting... you're not resting. Let me say it like this: "Don't tell your God how big the storm is. Tell the storm how big your God is." Right? Focus on the solution, not on the problem. Don't let anything drag you down. Know (and believe) that Jesus is holding you up. LET Jesus--love--hold you up. You don't have to defend yourself. You can let God defend you. This was the cry of David's heart over and over again. Psalm 59:1, for example. "Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me." And, to be sure, David was a warrior. Yet he knew where his strength came from. He knew what the real power was. God is all-powerful, right? LOVE is all-powerful. Which doesn't mean MOST powerful. It means ALL of the power. Nothing else has any power unless we give it power. And think about this: When you're resisting something--by submitting to the right thing--that takes strength. The strength to not fight back. The strength to let things be what they are even if you don't like them. People are going to do stuff you don't like. That's just part of life. And a big part, if we're being real about it. You can't force people to be or do anything. The goodness of God leads men to repentance. Showing people a more excellent way is the best thing that we can do. Because if people see a better option, they can choose it. But if we only ever smack people down (or smack them back) we're just perpetuating the cycle. Continuing things instead of making things better. You don't have to defeat the devil. Jesus already did that. You don't have to fight everything and everybody. Or anything. Anybody. You can be a peacemaker. You can "resist" by submitting. You can resist by resisting not. By simply focusing on those good and perfect things that flow from the God who is love. "Resist" the lie by ignoring it. "Resist" the darkness by shining your light. That's what this life is for, and that's how we experience the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God!

You don't have to fight. Anything. Ever. Except for the good fight of faith. Which is laying hold of the gift you've already been given. Knowing and believing that you have what you need. That you have what God says He has already given you. Look at Zechariah 9:15 in the Message Bible, "GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies will protect them-- all-out war, The war to end all wars, no holds barred." That's the cross. That happened over 2,000 years ago. The war to end all wars. Which means there are no more wars. Again--the good fight of faith is simply knowing and believing that there are no more wars. That we are who we need to be and that we have what we need to have. We don't have to fight each other in order to try to force people to be what our idea of a "good Christian" is. If "Christian" means "Christ-like" then there really aren't any "good" or "bad" Christians anyway, right? If He became sin so that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him... that means we are the righteousness of God in Christ. Period. No matter what. On our best days... and on our worst days... and on every day in between. Because what you are (WHO YOU ARE) is what you are. What you do flows from what you believe. Behavior modification is not real, or true, or effective. Behavior problems come from belief problems. Right believing produces right actions. Because right believing is faith. And right actions are charity--love in action. If you're loving your neighbor you can't also be fighting your neighbor. Because, think about this: Love does not demand its (HIS) own way. When we are trying to force people into our idea of what and who they should be... we aren't loving them for who they are. And while people say love is blind--I don't think that's true, I think lust is blind. I think when you want someone you look past a lot of... stuff--I believe love sees clearly. Love loves people not in spite of their stuff... but because of it. We need to stop thinking "If you're not a cookie cutter ideal "Christian" then I can't love you." And we need to start embracing people for who they are. We need to start letting people BE who they are. And when you love someone no matter what, when you don't resist them being who they are, that's when they can start to be who they REALLY are. I've heard the phrase, "God loves you just the way you are, but He loves you too much to leave you that way." I disagree. EITHER He loves you just the way you are OR He needs to change you. It can't be both. What I believe is true is that God loves you just the way you are. Period. Which is why He shows you how you REALLY are by showing you how HE really is. Jesus is our true identity. When God looks at us He sees Jesus, and when God looks at Jesus He sees us. When we look in the mirror we see Jesus and when we look at each we can (and should) see Jesus. So stop resisting. Stop fighting. Stop trying to make square pegs fit into round holes. Let it be. Let go and let God. The Holy Spirit is the only thing that can convict us of our righteousness. And our righteousness is the only thing that can keep us on that straight and narrow path that leads unto life. Because life is love. Righteousness is loving people. That's why we're here and that's who we are!

We always seem like we are ready to fight at the drop of a hat. Like we LOOK for reasons to fight. And, in religious circles, we use phrases like "Prayer Warrior" or "Tough Love." We--for some ungodly reason--talk about "getting the sin out of the camp." As if that is our job or our responsibility. Listen: If the Holy Spirit can't convict someone about their behavior you surely won't be able to. It's not your job to. It's not your responsibility. You can't change people. And you're not supposed to. Look at Matthew 5:39, "But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." I think it's easy to say, "This means don't retaliate." And that's true. I say that a lot. You shouldn't retaliate. All retaliation will do is escalate the situation. And that shouldn't be our motivation. Blessed are the peacemakers, right? That's always been my philosophy. I just want peace. I'm not concerned with punishing people. I just want things to be good. So today, and in this Rant series, I want to focus on the phrase "resist not evil." And I think that's important because we think we have to fight fire with fire. But, in reality, Romans 12:21 says, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Seems a little bit contradictory, but it's really not. There's a difference between resisting and overcoming. And it all comes down to turning the other cheek. People are going to do what they're going to do. You can't really stop them. Most of the time the best you can do is remove yourself from a bad situation. Shrug your shoulders and walk away. Give it everything you've got and then let that either be enough... or not. Because all you've got is all you've got. If someone expects you to, or wants you to, give more than what you're capable of giving... that's an unhealthy relationship. That's toxic behavior. You literally cannot give more than what you have. How could you? But here's the key: You can't make toxic people not be toxic. People are who they are and people are going to do what they're going to do. Someone, somewhere, sometime might slap you in the face. And it might be because you deserve it... but it might not. It might have nothing to do with you. Either way, all you can do--ALL you can do--is control yourself and your reaction. You can make things better by not retalitating, not trying to change them, not resisting evil... and turning the other cheek. You can make things better by overcoming evil with good. Look at Proverbs 15:1, "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up strife." So the question is: Helping or hurting? What's your goal in this (and any... and every...) situation? Do you want to turn away wrath or stir up strife? Do you want to make war or peace? Jesus fought (and won) the war to end all wars on the cross. We don't have to fight anymore. We don't have to lash out when someone hits us. We can, instead, love it or leave it. If they don't want what we have to offer... we can shrug our shoulders and move on. Not everybody WILL pick up what you're laying down. And that's ok. Sometimes all you can do is turn the other. But don't stand there and let people keep slapping you. Move on. Resist not. Fight back not. Love always. Even if it's from a distance.

We've been talking about seeing a need in someone and meeting it, right? Here's what I want to say to end this Rant series, "And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:3). I think this is important. Because doing good is, well, good. Right? That's seems logical. Makes a lot of sense. Better than the alternative, right? But the point is--WHY you do something is every bit as important as WHAT you do. That's why I've never really liked the idea of "fake it 'til you make it." And, like I just said, it's better than the alternative. It's better than not doing the right thing at all. But if you're faking it... it's not real. If you're doing something because you think you're "supposed" to, or because you're afraid you'll get in trouble if you don't... well, let's just say there's a more excellent way. And His name is Jesus. His name is love. Doing things heartily: to the best of your ability, because they are in your heart to do them. That's when things are real. That's when you're fulfilling your purpose. Your calling. Your destiny. That's when you're truly alive. Not when you're focused on getting... but when you're focused on giving what you've got. Sharing the love that is inside you. Your heavenly Father has filled you up with Himself--His Spirit, His Son, His nature, His life and His love. And because He has filled you up... you can fill yourself up to overflowing with what you've been filled with. You can give what you've got... because you've got something. And you know what you've got. You believe that you're got it. Everything in life comes down the heart. "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23). I like it even better in the Amplified Bible, "Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flows the springs of life." Jesus is that living water, right? HE is what flows out of our hearts. And He is love. Love is what flows out of our hearts. What else possibly could? What else is the heart concerned with? What else COULD the heart be concerned with? Love, love, and only love. So it's a heart issue. It's a love issue. Charity is love in action. Charity is WHAT we do... and why we do it. The love feast--the six course meal that is the Six Steps to the Throne--that Jesus prepared for us in the presence of our enemies. That's what we have. So that's what we have to offer. We get to chow down on that feast... but it's better when we eat with people. When we share that feast. When, like it says in Revelation 22:17, "...the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." The Spirit and the bride say, "Come and get it!" They don't say, "Come, or else." And then we hear that invitation and we turn around and give that invitation. We see how good it is and then we tell people how good it is. We receive and release the gift of God. The love that He has given to us. The love that we have. We give that love by putting what we believe into action. By actively, physically, literally loving people. Not the idea of love, but the act of love!