“Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech. They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 1 Peter 3:8-12
There were two things that I read last week that I want to share with you today. First, you have probably heard me use the phrase “Haitian feeding program director” in my messages and the attached photo reflects that group of Haitians who oversee the feeding of 42,500 children throughout the country of Haiti every day; they are a remarkable group of God’s workers. They need to be in our prayers every day.
Secondly, there was a devotion from Chuck Swindoll recently about maturity in the form of a prayer. I want to share that with you because it really does address each of the people in the photo and you, me, all of those children and of the Trinity HOPE donors and volunteers. I hope that it will touch, convict and move you as it did me.
“Father, thank You for the reminder of character qualities that are such a vital part of our Christian lives. Though we bear very few of the marks of maturity Peter wrote about in the passage above, we always need to be stirred up by way of reminder. How often we have come before You, asking for help in these areas! You have heard our pleas on many occasions. Truth be told, You will hear them again. We yearn to be like Your Son, Jesus, the One who modeled each of these marks of maturity to perfection, though fully man. We long to grow in spiritual maturity; but the uphill journey takes so long. We confess that it often feels unending. Thank You for the promise that Your Holy Spirit will be with us each step of the way. We desperately need His empowerment to keep us going and growing, until we become like Jesus; fully conformed to His image. We ask, Father, that You give us hope beyond our immaturity. Help us in our unbelief. Guard us from discouragement. As we look back over the checklist You gave to Peter, and realize how far we have to go, remind us also how far we've come, by Your grace. Remind us that You will complete the good work You began in us until the day of Christ Jesus. Through His matchless name we pray. Amen.”