Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

This week’s theme is shows! I am looking forward to what the Holy Spirit will show us spiritually about the theme. Let’s begin with how God shows Himself to what people show Him.

In Today’s scripture, Psalms 18:24‭-‬26 (NLT) says…
The Lord rewarded me for doing right. He has seen my innocence. To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity. To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.

Consider…
Today’s scripture makes me want to write a song using the melody of Dottie Peoples’ popular song titled ‘He’s an On Time God’. I would title the new song, ‘He’s an In Kind God’.

It’s easy to be enamored with God unconditional love and unmerited favor. However, there are scriptures, like today’s, that reveal God also deals with us ‘in kind’ with how we deal with Him and others.

For example, do you remember what Jesus taught inline with the Lord’s Prayer? He said…
“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins. – Matthew 6:14‭-‬15 NLT

God’s an ‘in kind’ God, yes He is
Oh oh oh, He’s an ‘in kind’ God, yes He is
He sees how you treat others
And He’ll treat you ‘in kind’
He’s an ‘in kind’ God, yes He is.

This new chorus makes me wrestle with God’s mercy expressed in Psalms 103:10 (NLT)…
He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.

In response to the tug of war between God’s justice and mercy, the Holy Spirit reminded me of Jesus’ parable of the unforgiving debtor. Jesus told this parable in response to the question on how much we should forgive. Matthew 18:21‭-‬22 (NLT) shared…
Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?” “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!

In the parable, recall the Master had pity on a servant who old millions, but asked for time (Matthew 18:24-26). I just noticed, the Master’s response to the servant’s request for mercy, was grace! Verse 27 says…
Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.

That’s what God did for us with Jesus, By His Grace He forgave our sin debt in the nick of time, rather than extend our time to repay it over time. Praise God, because there’s not enough time in the world to payback the compounding interest of sin we keep incurring.

Most believers are familiar with Romans 5:6‭-‬8 (NLT) which testifies…
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

However, have you ever stopped to consider Christ’s response to your sin against Him, before responding to someone who just offended you? Imagine, dying to your pride and instead responding ‘in kind’ to Jesus in response to your enemy’s offense. That would look like Romans 12:20‭-‬21 (NLT), which exhorts…
“If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

Notice Paul is saying we should look beyond our enemy’s deed and respond to their need. And in Matthew 25:37‭-‬40 (NLT) Jesus said…
“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’

Responding to those who can’t help you, and may even hurt you (enemies) could be responding to one of the least of these that Jesus is referring to.

Romans 5:10-11 says Jesus died to make us, His enemies, His friends. Shouldn’t we be willing to love our enemies, whom He also wants to be friends with Him?

Paul retweet wisdom of Proverbs 25:21-22, wisdom, makes me expand my thinking of Psalms 23:5 (ERV), which reads…
You prepared a meal for me in front of my enemies. You welcomed me as an honored guest. My cup is full and spilling over.

I don’t think God prepares a meal for us to hoard over our enemies, rather I believe it’s for us to share His goodness with them.

Jesus wasn’t singling you out when He said…
“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. – John 6:35 (NLT)

When Paul says respond to your enemy’s need, He’s saying share Jesus. Afterall there’s plenty of Him to go around. It says it right there in Psalms 23:5…
my cup is full and spilling over.

Therefore, what if we replaced the vomit of hate spued by our enemies, with the bread of life that has filled us up and His Spirit that has satisfied our thirst? Said another way, what if we responded to the devil we see with the Jesus we know?

Unfortunately, more often than not, we respond like the unforgiving debtor in Jesus’ parable. Jesus continued…
“But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment. “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full. – Matthew 18:28‭-‬30 NLT

As a believer, no one should have an unpaid debt with you. Not because they’ve paid it back, but because you paid God’s grace forward.

Well, let’s see how the parable ends. Jesus said…
“When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”
Matthew 18:31‭-‬35 NLT

Now if that doesn’t epitomize an ‘in kind’ God, then I don’t know what does.

Today’s scripture shows us the positives of serving an ‘in kind’ God. The Psalmist said…

• To the faithful you show yourself faithful;
• To those with integrity you show integrity.
• To the pure you show yourself pure

Be whatever you want God to be to you, to Him by way of others.

Think about this… If God the Father sees Jesus when He’s looking at us, then why won’t we look through Jesus when we see others?

Today, in your responses to others remember that…

You serve an ‘in kind’ God, yes you do
Oh oh oh, you serve an ‘in kind’ God, yes you do
You may not be treated like you want to
Remember you mistreated Jesus too
You serve an ‘in kind’ God, yes you do

Remember…

• You’ve been loved to love
• You’ve been forgiven to forgive
• You’ve been given grace, to extend grace

Don’t let your response to others, change the Master’s response to you.

Today’s song is…
Less Like Me

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)