Christians who are passionate for God can be unaware of the critical need for people to be understood. Many of our brothers and sisters in Christ have deep emotional roots that go ignored.

Jesus took the time to listen and understand. He looked below the surface to the heart.

People pay counselors thousands of dollars just to be heard in hopes of being understood. I believe the new explosion in blogging is a portrait of people needing to be heard, to be understood.

We all have a need to come to grips with the scars from our past, to be honest about our brokenness and become vulnerable and learn to grow through pain. We do this by being heard and being understood.

Bearing Fruit and Growing: Are We Really Loving One Another?

All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. (Col 1:6)

Are we bearing fruit and growing? Do we really understand God’s grace? Are we loving one another with extensive kindness, in spite of points of difference, and weaknesses? Do we take the time to listen and understand one another?

The Pain from Judgmental Christians

In my previous Fruit of the Spirit writings I came to the conclusion that prayer and Bible study are the answer to producing fruit of the Spirit.

Today I want to question how the lack of fruit of the Spirit in our lives can result from emotional brokenness due to a lack of love and a lack of being understood.

It is said the Christian army is the only one to shoot its wounded. Instead of trying to understand we condemn and criticize. What love is this? I have witnessed more condemnation inside the church than outside. There is a history of Christians seeing specks in others eyes and ignoring the logs in their own eyes.

Recently, I received a letter from a misguided woman calling me an adulteress according to Mark 10 and signed the letter “in love.” She explained she could no longer associate with me because I am an adulterer in sexual immorality because my former husband is alive. It hurts. I’ve received similar emails for over ten years and it still hurts. Some people just don’t understand that I received a full pardon because of Christ’s sacrifice. (I received a Biblical divorce. A lack of basic Bible hermeneutics is the reason for the faulty Scripture interpretation and consequential judgmental attitude.)

At first each stone throwing incident was painful to me personally. But now they cause me to grieve for the body of Christ, for all the broken souls in need of love that are receiving condemnation. How is it we forget Christ came not to condemn, but to save sinners?

The results of the superior and judgmental attitudes I have experienced are evident in my current church relationships. My wounds from the regular throwing of stones are still open. They begin to heal and then more stones are thrown. I attend church guarded. Fellowship is difficult because of my wall of protection.

God knows our deepest hurts and secret shame and accepts us because of His Son. Shouldn’t Christians do likewise?

Jesus Understood and Loved

The Samaritan woman felt worthless, abandoned, and unloved after five husbands. Jesus knew and understood. He offered her forgiveness and love in a nonjudgmental way. Jesus understood what she needed—to feel loved, valued, and accepted. And He knew a relationship with Him would fulfill that need.

Mary’s act of love anointing Christ with perfume was not understood and criticized by the disciples, But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste? …

But Jesus understood! When Jesus understood it, he said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. Jesus demonstrated a beautiful, wonderful, faith, hope, and love.

Only through Jesus and God’s Spirit can we have the faith to change a selfish heart into a heart of love that gives a blessed hope for the future.

As a tree bears fruit and grows in size, so the gospel produces spiritual “fruit” in believers. When we take the time to listen and understand we can help bring healing and restoration to others and fulfill the second greatest command, love one another.

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:7

Someone you know has a need to feel loved, valued, and accepted. Listen to them this week. Be the one to listen, hear, understand and love.

Related Fruit of the Spirit Posts:

• Diligently Teach Them to Your Children
• The Secret to Producing Spiritual Fruit
• Fruit of the Spirit Friday: Love
• Fruit of the Spirit: Faithfulness
• Patiently Waiting for Patience

I began the Fruit of the Spirit Friday Meme to bring myself to study this topic each Friday. I encourage you to join me. You can write on any of the fruits listed in Galatians 5:22: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

If you have a Fruit of the Spirit blog entry add your name to Mr. Linky and comment. If you don’t have a blog, enter your post in the comments below.

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Every curriculum has a worldview or philosophy. Are you prepared to recognize the philosophies when curriculum shopping? Can you see beyond the secular vs. Christian worldview?

What about your students? Are they prepared to distinguish worldviews taught in a college class or resources? Are you prepared to teach your child philosophy? Did you learn philosophy from a Christian worldview?

Not to worry, we have an exciting solution!

Tim Hegg is offering a free course titled Understanding Differing Worldviews: An Introduction to Philosophy beginning Mar 18 .

If you have a high school age student or want to understand worldviews, you need this course.

Philosophy simply means a thought-out way of looking at our experience in the world-a seemingly logical explanation for “the way things are.” The way we live in the world, the sense we make of our experiences in it, and the way we teach our children are all very dependent on our worldview.

This course will help prepare young people who might be heading off to college or university, to ground them in a scriptural understanding of things, especially in regard to the whole world of philosophy.

Understanding the differences in worldviews will make a profound impact on your Christian walk. Don’t miss this vital opportunity to learn from an expert. Registrations are now being accepted for this Spring Semester Class,
Click here to read more about this course and to register.

This course will give a general overview of the major philosophical systems, beginning with the Greek philosophers and continuing on through the history of philosophy up to the present post-modern era. The purpose of the course will be to show how the various philosophical systems or worldviews have affected societies throughout the ages, and how they differ from the biblical worldview.

Required Textbook

The Consequences of Ideas: Understanding the Concepts that Shaped Our World– R. C. Sproul (Crossway Books, 2000). A reading schedule will be provided at the first class. Students are required to obtain their own copy of the textbook.

My copy arrived yesterday. R. C. Sproul explains how the ideas of ancient Greek thinkers like Plato and Aristotle to Christian philosophers Augustine and Aquinas impact our everyday lives–for better or for worse–and challenges us to respond from a Christian perspective.

Additional Readings: Collateral reading for the course will be provided by the Instructor. These will be actual excerpts from the writings of the various philosophers being studied. These additional readings will be available via download (pdf format) from the Class Page online.

“Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”
Jeremiah 9:23-24

Worldview resources at discount prices

Related:

• Understanding Worldviews
• Should Homeschoolers Teach Logic?
• Questioning Classical Education

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Are you excited on Mondays to get started on a new homeschool week!? No? Well…sometimes we need a little boost. Mason Monday is my way of giving you that boost. I’ll be sharing details about Mason’s methods, quoting her wisdom, answering questions, and providing links to Mason users.

The Heart of Wisdom teaching approach is a combination of several teaching methods including some of Charlotte Mason’s methods (we embrace some and reject others). Mason was an innovative educator in England in the 1800s. Her unique methods are motivating. If you have a post or a question about Charlotte Mason’s methods please share in the comments.

• FREE Charlotte Mason E-book
  Education Is an Atmosphere, a Discipline, a Life, is a free ebook offered by SimplyCharlotteMason.com in the hope that it will encourage and equip homeschoolers. This book presents just three of Mason’s key ideas and gives real-life examples and applications so you can see what those ideas might look like in your home.
• Charlotte Mason’s Methods Organized into Four Steps
  It took six large volumes to contain Mason’s writings. This post gives you a good overview and explains how the Heart of Wisdom approach combines the best of Mason’s methods with four steps that teach to the four learning styles.
• Why I Like Charlotte Mason
  One homeschool mother’s reasoning behind using Mason’s approaches.
• What Do Charlotte Mason and Spurgeon Have in Common?
  Mother at Home’s blog brings up an important question about Mason. Mason was not perfect and bought into some worldly philosophies of her time. It’s important to understand her worldview and the mistakes she made. I have questioned some of choices about literature myself and came to the conclusion her outside discovery learning, copywork, book of the centuries, and other teaching methods are worth pursuing while at the same time her mistakes are something we can all learn from. I’ll be addressing this more on another Monday.
• How to Use the Handbook of Nature Study
  One family’s ideas on using Anna Comstock’s book Handbook of Nature Study as the textbook and the great outdoors as the classroom.
• Charlotte Mason Resources
  Books on the Charlotte Mason approach at discount prices from Homeschool-Books.com

Pop over to visit Heart at Home, my homemaking blog. Home organization tips, ideas, contests, and more.

Disclaimer: If I recommend a blog post it is because I was encouraged by that post. It does not mean I agree with the author’s beliefs or other blog posts.

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The Super Simple Spiritual Sunday Meme is simply a list of my favorite finds this week (also called link love or Speedlinking).

• Wordfilled ~ John 5:19 @ Extravagant Grace
  What exactly was it like for Jesus to be fully man and fully God? Why did Jesus have to “see” what the Father was doing? Didn’t He already know what His Father was up to? …We need to follow Jesus’ example by keeping our eyes focused on God to watch for His work in our lives, and then join Him in that work…
• Preparing for Passover @ Messianic Jewish Musings
  Passover is no simple holiday. It is like a tree of life, with branches going in many directions. Slavery and freedom go off into one set of limbs and shoots while redemption, remembrance, atonement, death, life, law, worship, judgment, grace, story, miracle, history, and many more branches go off in other directions…
• The Woman at the Well @ The P.M.S.Club
  Keeping her eyes down as she hurried to the well. This was one job she dreaded every day. She knew people talked about her and hated how they stared, but more than this she hated the mask she was forced to wear…
• Who is this Jesus? @ Dappled Things
  Genesis: He is the “Seed of Woman,” Exodus: He is the “Passover Lamb,” Leviticus: He is our Great “High Priest”…
• Falling Down @ Laced with Grace
  Have you ever thought of what you will do when you come face to face with Jesus someday? …
• A New Perspective on Jesus @ Emerging Pensees
  When I think about discovering the “historical Jesus,” I naturally think about putting Jesus into his proper context by looking at the events and ideas that both preceded and followed him. However…

Have you visited Heart at Home, my homemaking blog?
If you’d like to join in this meme, share a few links on your blog and sign Mr. Linky below. It’s a great way to pass on encouragement to others.

Disclaimer: If I recommend a blog post it is because I was encouraged by that post. It does not mean I agree with the author’s beliefs or other blog posts.

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Faith is exhibited by submitting to the will of God. The greatest illustration of this submission is Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Remember Jesus wasn’t all-knowing while He was on earth. His omniscience was voluntary and temporarily put aside.

Who, being in very nature  God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself. (Phil 2:6-8)

In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus asked God to remove the cup from Him (taking the guilt for all of our sins and death) but only if it was God’s will. “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me.”

Jesus’ betrayal and arrest are close at hand. He wrestles with what is going on in Him and around Him. He seeks the comfort, and the will, of his Father. We usually think of prayer as a means to get something but Jesus did not pray to change God’s will but to submit to it. This way of praying turns us away from self-centeredness.

“And being in agony He was praying very fervently; and His sweat became like drops of blood, falling down upon the ground” (Luke 22:41–42, 44). In Matthew Jesus petitioned God three times (Mat 26:36–46). That was one fervent, prolonged prayer experience, so much so that during it the disciples fell asleep several times.

The Greek for “be done,” in the Gethsemane story (and in the Lord’s Prayer) is literally “happen.” Jesus was in absolute obedience, absolute submission to the Will of God.

Imagine the torturous wrestling to accept God’s will. It was probably more painful than actually doing His will. Coming to that place of complete surrender is evidence of real faith.

Faith in God means being faithful to Him and relying on Him without reserve to the point of being in “union with” with him (Gal 2:17). Having faith means abiding in Him–now–not “once this is finished” or “when so and so happens.”

Oswald Chambers speaks of continual abiding,

“In the initial stages it is a continual effort until it becomes so much the law of life that you abide in Him unconsciously. Determine to abide in Jesus wherever you are placed.”

I John 2:3-11 sheds important light on knowing we are in Him:

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in himd to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. 1 (John 2:3-11)

Having faith in God, being in union with Him, abiding in Christ will produce the fruit of obedience. This is how we are sure that we are united with him through obedience as Christ was obedient as unto death.

Faith–>Knowledge–>Obedience=Love

Faith in God is a belief in Him and His Word and getting to know Him. This leads to a love of God and love of others which is the law wrapped up in two commands. This love is obedience as well as the evidence of our faith in Him.

Jesus’ prayers reveal God as our faithful Promiser. God’s Spirit motivates and activates us to study and know God’s will.
As we learn about the faithfulness of God though His provisions and His love we grow in our faith and there will be evidence of more spiritual fruits in our lives.

What is God’s Will for Me?

Often we ask “How can I know God’s will for me?” You may not know His specific will in all circumstances but you can be ready to surrender to His will, whatever it is, because He promises “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.” (Psalm 32:8). The ongoing daily submission and surrender to His will through dying to self is the way we grow spiritually and abide in His presence. Who could ask for anything more?

“The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust.” Psalm 18:2

Questions

Is there a cup you have asked God to remove? Can you share a time you submitted in faith and the outcome? Take a moment to encourage someone. Answer in the comments or on your blog and link back.

Those who encourage others will themselves be encouraged. Proverbs 11:25

I began the Fruit of the Spirit Friday Meme, to bring myself to study this topic each Friday. I encourage you to join me. Write a post focusing on one of the fruits and add your link to Mr. Linky below.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Related Posts:

• Be the Branch
• Are You Seeking Religion or Relationship? (emunah)
• Sowing and Reaping
• Patiently Waiting for Patience
  
• Five Sure-Fire Ways to Spiritual Growth

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