for

We will reap what we sow. And God have mercy on us as what has been sown in so many ways this year has been so opposite of God’s view of and heart for people made in His image. What we plant into our lives and our relationships with our words and our actions will bear fruit. If we sow mockery, criticism and disdain, (apart from divine intervention and mercy that we do not deserve) we will reap mockery, criticism and disdain.

This does not mean that just because you are being mocked or disdained currently that it is because you did so to others! Sometimes we are the objects of suffering that is entirely not our fault. What is heavy on my heart today is the mockery and disdain that has run rampant… And the bracing in defense and covering in fear that seems to fuel it and be the fruit of it.

What so often drives us, and drives me, to be defensive and lash out is insecurity. But it just begets more insecurity. When if we rest in the fact that God is for us, that we are blessed and chosen, then we can look on with compassion on others because we are first receiving it ourselves.

“If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31) Who can bring a charge against us that Jesus has not already paid the price for? No one!

If God is for us, what can ultimately really stand against us in the end? If God is for us, we should be “for” us. We should agree and align with God’s view of ourselves and of others. We should be “for” others. 

This doesn’t mean agreement with everything or that change is not needed. But in what spirit do we approach others? What are we known for… What we are against or what we are for? Who we are against or who we are for?