APRIL 2007
Dear beloved in the Lord!
Fairness
As I have been reading through my Bible again this year, I just happen to be at the end of Luke right now as Easter approaches. It is quite tearful and moving for me to re-read what Christ suffered for us, because of His great love for us. It all was truly unreasonable and utterly unfair. As I think of Him, being beaten and mocked and punished for sins He did not commit, I am again sobered. The people He came to save, screamed "crucify him." Although the leaders and judges found no guilt in Him, and offered up a known murderer in His place, still they screamed all the louder for the death of the Innocent One. His friends fled in fear, deserting Him in His time of greatest need. Nothing has ever been as unfair in all of eternity as the death He endured in our stead, out of His great love for His Father, and for us.
This hit home for us recently as we were tempted in a certain situation to complain of a perceived unfairness that confronted us. Then the Lord gently reminded us, that the unfairness we were feeling was nothing compared to the unfairness Christ endured for our sake. When these small unfairnesses come our way, we should actually consider it a privilege to, in a small way, join in the fellowship of His sufferings. (see Phil. 3:10) We confessed to the Lord the bitterness we were feeling, and asked the Lord to take back the ground we gave to our enemy when we allowed bitterness, hurt and unforgiveness to be our response. We asked Christ to fill us with his Spirit and empower us to continue to love and serve, at whatever cost to us, walking in Christ's steps. What credit is it to us, when things are fair and we love? It is no great challenge when people are grateful for our labors, and we continue to serve. That is a natural and fleshly response. But the true test comes when things are not fair, or people are not grateful, and we, by the power of the Holy Spirit, continue to serve. We ask Christ to give us the power of the Holy Spirit to be like Him in our response to being wronged. And we continue to love and serve. All our trials pale compared to what He endured for us. It was not fair, yet because of it we have the honor and privilege to spend eternity with Him. How can we cheapen His grace by holding grudges against others, when He holds none against us? (see Matt. 6:14-15)
We encourage you to take some time to read Luke 22-24 this Easter. If Christ can go to the cross for us, and He now indwells us, we can endure all sorts of unfairnesses through Him who strengthens us. We have His power in us to love sacrificially as He loved and forgive as He so freely forgives us. May we walk in the freedom of His love, forgiveness and grace daily, as we love, forgive, and give grace to others! Amen (“so be it!”).
Fotos
We thought you might like to see a few pictures of things we have been doing!
This is the group of carolers who
helped us take the gospel to our
street this December. Many appreciated
the article we wrote and
festive Christmas carols we sang.
Here are a couple pictures from the
Sweetheart dinner we hosted for our
church in our home. It was a blessing to
hear the couples share the sweet stories
of how the Lord brought them together.
Here is a picture of the Sumralls, a
family back from two years of ministry
in Korea who visited with us recently.
We were so encouraged by
their visit with us, to hear first hand
all that the Lord is doing, and how
the Lord has used their family there.
This is a picture of a few of the men who attended the
men's meeting, where Bernie helped Fathers
(including himself) begin to prepare letters of blessing
for their daughters and sons, to presented to them
at a Father-Daughter dinner and a Father-Son dinner
here sometime later this year. The men went away
encouraged and we were blessed that several sent
very kind thank-you emails to Bernie.
Linda for the Bealls
“When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
~ Luke 23:33-34