“What is desired in a man is steadfast love, and a poor man is better than a liar.”
– Proverbs 19:22

Let’s each look around us for a second and think about the couple of people in our lives who are generous, not necessarily financially so much as with their hearts. They give their time and whole selves to listening to others, encouraging them, spending time with those God has placed in their lives and doing so generously.

If there is one thing my generation of 30 somethings is crying out for it is authenticity. God calls us to up the plan from there to love and from there to steadfast love.

Maybe today we are each being challenged to see the Gospel of Jesus Christ showing up in the small decisions we make today. We are called to live lives of order and discipline, but that isn’t so that we can build our little kingdoms of ideals met. We are here to serve with joy, love our families and friends and even those we don’t feel comfortable showing love to because we haven’t always been nor always are easy to love.

What would it look like if we applied the love Christ is described as showing in Philippians. That kind is a a love of turning to the other. Showing inner, voluntary self-denial. Making room in one’s heart more every day to receive and embrace with genuine godly affection the other to whom one turns.

This is New Testament disciplined living, being a disciple of Jesus Christ.

May God’s grace grow richly in our hearts as we get out and do this, and may we hand those we encounter today this fruit-bearing grace more and more every day. As we do this we will encounter our Savior along the way in even more sweet and refreshing ways than we ever could have imagined possible.

Let’s do this, friends!