Thursday, January 9, 2014

Names––Want a good one?


The Tablet of Your Heart

Do you have a word for this year? I chose love for my word––mostly because I always pray that God would let me show His love through me. On the mission field, I encounter cultural things that annoy me. For instance, mañana (tomorrow) is a frustrating word for me. How many times do I hear this? "Tenga paciencia!" Have patience! That phrase has caused me to grow in patience and love over the past 30 some years. As a new missionary, I couldn't accept being told to have patience. After all, it wasn't my fault if things were not done on time. Why couldn't people be on time? And, why couldn't they have something ready when they promised it would be ready? That's what I thought about the whole mañana thing.

Then God began to show me that I had to change in order to show His love. Besides, was I always on time? Did I always deliver on time? I began to react as He would react in those frustrating situations. Oh, I'm not saying it was easy, or is even now, but I am saying that God can change hearts to be more like His. I began to see that my reaction to those situations was a way to show Christ through me. When I didn't, it was a pretty ugly scene, and I didn't want that impression of me––or Christ–-to be the image I projected. And, I wanted a good name. So the change began. The culture here hasn't changed much, but I've changed. Or should I say I'm changing, but still, it's an everyday challenge and process.

Proverbs 3:3-4 says, "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man." (NIV)

How do we win a good name? When we let love and faithfulness never leave us. When we write them on the tablet of our heart.

My writing goal this year–-and all years––writing love and faithfulness on the tablet of my heart.