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Rita Reid

That’s Not Fair, God!

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“When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.  
Romans 5: 12, NLT

Girl_with_Not_Fair_sign
“You can’t do that!”

“Oh, yes I can!”

“Well… you wouldn’t …right?”

“I don’t see why not?”

“Because anyway you slice it, it’s simply not fair!”

“Not fair? Oh grow up! Life’s not fair! Didn’t your mama ever tell you that?”

“Just know that when this thing goes badly (and it will), I’m telling everyone that it’s your fault!”

Can you relate to that conversation? Maybe you’re in the that’s-not-fair camp. Or, if you’re a little rougher around the edges, perhaps you’re in the life’s-not-fair-so-get-over-it camp. Either way, we’ve likely all believed at some point in our lives that something wasn’t fair. And what’s the next natural step that we take? We find someone or something to blame for it, right? This is exactly what has happened since the first sin was committed in The Garden of Eden. Read today’s Dose verse. I know for a fact that I’ve heard more than one woman mention her intentions to have a “talking-to” with Eve once they get up to heaven over her part in this sin-thing that led to pain in childbirth! I suspect that even though the men haven’t vocalized it, some of them likely thought something similar for Adam!Group_with_Mercy_sign

The question might be asked, why should we be penalized for what Adam did? How can that be fair? After all, he started it, didn’t he? We say, “That’s not fair, God, give us something fair!” God should be fair to us and just blame Adam! And that’s how it happens. A lot of us consider it simpler to accuse others for our troubles. We say they are the reason for our mistakes, faults, and sins.

But, demanding fairness from God and calling out the sin of those who sinned before us shouldn’t be our focus at all. Just because our ancestors sinned before us doesn’t negate the fact that we fell right into the same footsteps as Adam and Eve.

We are naturally of a mind to go counter to God and his plan. So perhaps our focus ought to be that we’re sure to face the inevitable result of our sin (death) unless God does something!

The good news is He already has! God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for our sins!

God doesn’t owe us fairness but we do require His mercy! God’s mercy is what He extends to all who believe in Him!

Are you seeking fairness or mercy today?

By grace through faith,

Rita

 

From the Inside Out

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“The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
1 Samuel 16:7b NIV

Dressed-Up_GirlA mother and daughter were riding along in the car when the daughter asked, “Mommy, what part of me do you love the best?”
“Oh baby, that’s an easy question! I love your heart the best”, the mother answered. “I hope it never changes.”

“Hmm”, said the daughter, and sat there with a puzzled look on her little face.

A day or two passed, when the daughter asked, “Mommy, what part of me do you love second best?”

“Well, sweetie”, the mother said, “That’s another easy question! I love your wonderful spirit! I hope it never changes either!”

She sighed, with a look of perplexity on her face.

After a couple more days, the daughter then asked, “Mommy, what part of me do you love third?”

The mother answered, “I’d have to say, your personality. I love your personality third. It’s one of the happiest personalities I’ve ever seen and I expect that it’ll never change!”

Finally, the little daughter asked, with some bewilderment in her expression, “Mommy, don’t you love any parts of me that you can see?”

What the mother had noticed, in all of those instances, was that her daughter had styled her own hair and put on several different flattering outfits, in an attempt to get her mother to focus on how beautiful she looked on the outside.

How often do we do the same thing? We dress ourselves up so that everything looks good on the outside in order for others to value us from that point of view.

But God doesn’t do that. He judges the value of people by what’s in their hearts. In today’s Dose verse, Samuel didn’t expect that God would choose David to succeed Saul as King. David was good looking but he was a smaller, young, man. (1 Samuel 16:11-12) Saul was tall, handsome, and towered over the heads and shoulders of other men. (1 Samuel 9:2) He had all of the outward looks of a leader. But God looks at the heart!

God loves all of our parts, the seen and the unseen; but he values godly hearts! That mother saw her daughter from the inside out. God sees us that way all of the time but we don’t see others or ourselves that way naturally.

When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we receive the Holy Spirit, which allows us to view others and ourselves from the inside out instead of through outward appearances.

How are you viewing yourself and others today?

By grace through faith,

Rita

 

Good Looking Out

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“Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.”
Philippians 2:4, NLT

Girl_in_wheelchair“Oh my goodness, how did I miss seeing her need?”

These were my words after I’d failed to recognize the need of a woman I’d encountered in a store. While reading labels to ensure that I’d get just the right hair products, I was vaguely aware of a woman who’d rolled into the aisle in a motorized wheel chair. I briefly glanced at her, smiled, and said “hello”. She appeared to be waving and was making sounds, which I took as her version of a return greeting. There was another woman standing just behind her wheel chair and I thought the two were together. After a time, I noticed that the wheel-chaired woman was still in the aisle, moving her hand and making the sounds. I glanced up again briefly, and nodded thinking; “she’s waving at me again, how friendly”! Then I returned to looking at product labels as I headed down the aisle in her direction. When I got close to her, I noticed that everyone else was gone. The woman in the wheel chair was moving her hand again, repeating the same sounds and looking intently at me. Just then I heard a voice from behind me ask, “Ma’am do you need something from that shelf? I spun around to notice a woman talking to the woman in the wheelchair. The woman in the chair motioned excitedly now and then it dawned on me! She’d been siting in the aisle all of this time trying to get an item she couldn’t reach from people she couldn’t communicate with! Save for the woman who’d finally asked her if she required assistance, we’d all missed her need! I got the item off of the shelf, put it in the woman’s bag, and apologized to her. Inside, I wanted to cry.

After she wheeled away, I asked the question that opens this Dose to the woman that saw the need. She had some good looking out!

We aren’t meant to be islands unto ourselves but a part of a whole, members of the body of Christ. When we get too preoccupied with what we’re doing, and ourselves, we can easily miss seeing the needs of others around us. We miss opportunities to allow the love of Jesus to show through us to others.

Are you seeing a need today that The Lord can use you to fulfill, or are you too focused on self, like I was that day in the store?

By grace through faith,

Rita