Before I started my quiet time one morning, I noticed a news report from an African country whose government had been overthrown again. Army rebels slipped in during the night and took over the country. The one guy’s commentary: “Africa’s democracy in action. The guy with the biggest gun is in charge.” 

That’s not God’s idea. 

A friend of mine wanted to show us the Zimbabwean Ruins. It is quite remarkable how hundreds of years ago the people were able to build those high brick walls that are still standing today.  

My eye fell on the village of Morgenster just 5 kilometres away. Immediately I wanted to visit it, because this was where mom and dad had met. It was quite emotional for me to be able to walk around there and of course, we had to record a sermon there. 

As usual, I flew the drone to get video footage for the sermon. I was amazed at what I saw from above – a school for the deaf and a school for the blind, a primary and a high school, a church and a theological school, a large teaching college and many houses. 

Everything grew from the efforts of a few missionaries in 1891 who could not help but share the love of Jesus with others. Who could not do otherwise but make a difference in people’s lives practically?  

Even today it makes a huge difference in this African country. 

That is God’s idea! 

Another idea from God is that we should be gentle with each other. 4Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. 5The holy women of old were beautiful before God that way, and were good, loyal wives to their husbands. 

As I’ve said before, this applies to men too. God’s idea is for us to behave gently and kindly towards each other. No, not wars and overthrowing governments. Not even a small war in our relationships. 

Just look around you, people shoot holes in each other with their tongues. There are corpses everywhere from marriages where spouses destroyed each other. That’s definitely not God’s idea of relationships. 

If each of us could just apply this one rule to our relationships and act gently and kindly towards each other, the world would look different. Remember, it’s not about how beautiful we look to the world. Our actions speak louder than our looks. 

It’s the living of Jesus’ love by doing good deeds that puts a smile on God’s face. Making the love of Jesus real is the dream that is being pursued and more than a hundred years later, God is still using Christian teachers in an African country who behave gently and kindly towards each other. 

  May we each pursue true beauty in our lives and may our way of life create a world overflowing with peace. 

Scripture
1 Peter 3:1-7 

Reflection
What doesn’t fit into God’s idea for your world?
What fits into God’s idea of your world?
How can you live it? 

Prayer
Father, I know I do things that don’t put a smile on Your face. Help me to do instead what is within Your will for my life. I ask this in Jesus’ Name. Amen.