Tag Archives: character

A Window To Our Heart

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - A Window To Our Heart

God sees our hearts (1 Samuel 16:7).

We can’t (Jeremiah 17:9).

Our circumstances are often a means God uses to show us [our hearts] (Deuteronomy 8:2).

If we humble ourselves, admit our blindness, and ask God for sight (wisdom), our responses to life will show us our heart—who we really are.

But that’s not the end of the story. Seeing who we really are in the mirror reveals where we’re not clean and what’s out of place so that it may be corrected (James 1:25).

No one looks in a mirror if there is no hope for improvement.

But God.

His purposes are to make us into His image (Genesis 1:26), conformed to the image of His dear Son (Romans 8:29)—glorious.

He will make us to shine like the sun (Matthew 13:43).

To be clear, it’s a work God does with a life submitted to Him—when in humility we see our sin in the mirror and confess it (1 John 1:9).

So I strive to be sensitive to when God holds up a mirror, including through my circumstances and my response to them. Though I often don’t like what I see, I should not hide, but in humility, confront, confess and let God do what only He can do.

He will not fail to make me beautiful (Philippians 1:6).

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
— 2 Corinthians 3:18

From Judge To Father

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - From Judge To Father

God is just.

So why not just convict us of our crime and condemn us?

Jesus reveals the heart of God.

Through Jesus, God’s relationship to us changes from Judge to Father.

This is indescribably awesome and wonderful.

From before the beginning, this was God’s aim.

But to be just He must maintain justice and righteousness, to right the wrong, to exact payment for the debt, to balance the scale.

Jesus is the way He prepared to achieve righteousness and love.

Righteousness and Love.

Love.

He didn’t have to do it.

God could have utterly destroyed mankind and it would have been perfectly fitting to do so.

But not only did He prepare The Way to save us but to change our status from criminal to His child!

He didn’t have to do it.

So, what should it mean to us that He did, with such extensive planning, perfect painstaking execution and such extravagant expense to Himself?!

He didn’t have to do it.

But, He did.

I praise His holy name for it!

When we receive Him, The Way, we are given the right to be called children of God, never to be considered criminals again!

We, therefore should not reject His labor of Love but honor and respect it by accepting it and consider God as Father and never as Judge again.

Jesus said call Him, Abba, Father.

Hallelujah.

This shift from Judge to Father is huge.

God’s desire is not to punish us but to prepare us.

Like a good Father, He wants us to learn, so His work is not about letting us off the hook but putting us in a position with Himself where He can help us grow healthy and strong.

Things that happen in life can feel like punishment from a mean, angry God but that is never true for His children.

There’s discipline, but not punishment – correction but not condemnation.

Enjoy the peace of the shift Jesus achieves from Judge to Father.

Believe what Jesus reveals about God.

Know Him as Father, as His child.

Then face life with the joy, peace, confidence and resolve that affords.

‘But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.’ – John 1:12-13

‘For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” ‘ -Romans 8:15

#perfectourlove

52 Weeks of Gratefulness #6 – Lessons From My Father About Work

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com Thankful For Lessons From My Father About Work

In 6 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks for lessons from my father about work.

No one in the world works harder than my father, Rev. Paul Luckett. No one.

I remember when my Dad was a student in seminary, he was a full time student, paying his way through school as a custodian for our apartment building in Atlanta, Georgia, pastoring two churches and driving between school in Atlanta and the churches in Jackson, Mississippi every weekend.

I remember spending countless summer days with him and my little brother Nehemiah Luckett, cutting yards, painting houses, buffing floors, hanging shingles, etc.

My youngest brother James recently told my Dad, “Whew, you’re a hard worker, Daddy. That’s a good thing to be. But, don’t you think it’s time to go home now?”

With my Dad having such a strong work ethic, naturally he had lessons to pass along to us. Here are a few I hope to pay forward:

A want is something you work for. A gift is something you’re given.

No one is obliged to give you what you want –or anything for that matter.

If there’s something you want that you feel you’re owed, it’s no longer a gift but wages.

Wages require that you be hired. To be hired requires at least an informal contract that’s been expressed for work in exchange for wages.

Are you feeling like someone owes you something? Well, were you hired for the task that you think you’re owed for?

No one owes you for work you weren’t hired to do.

And, no one owes you for being a ‘good’ person. If your goodness is contingent on being compensated for it, you’re not a good person but a faker-for-hire.

Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. If anyone gives you anything, be grateful -you don’t get to place demands on a gift. If you have demands, if you want something, work as hard as it takes to get it. Wants aren’t owed but earned.

This is treasured wisdom from my father that is still ministering to me today. Thanks, Dad. I’m grateful. #52WoG