Friend of Sinners by Rich Wilkerson Jr

Author:Rich Wilkerson Jr.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2018-02-15T05:00:00+00:00

Sharing Our Feelings

I’ve met a lot of people—typically men, of course—who don’t want to show emotion. They prefer to stay locked up, impassive, impervious, as if showing their feelings were a sign of weakness.

Not God. God has no problem expressing what he feels. He is an expressive, emotional, demonstrative God. He laughs. He gets jealous. He gets angry. His heart breaks. He feels compassion. He experiences grief.

Most of all, he loves. He expresses his love continually, not just with words, but with actions.

When I was a kid, we had a Christmas-morning tradition called the Santa Circle. My dad would dress up like Santa, and my three brothers and I would sit around the Christmas tree. One at a time, he would pass out presents to us. We would take turns opening them, everyone would clap, and the next brother would take his turn.

I remember one Christmas when I was about twelve years old. We were opening presents, but I wasn’t getting what I wanted. So I developed a bit of an attitude, as only twelve-yearolds can. I would say “thank you” after each present, but my voice was dripping with sarcasm. There’s nothing more annoying than a sarcastic preadolescent.

Keep in mind that when it came to respect and obedience, my parents didn’t play. They would be like, “Rich, we will kill you, bury you in the backyard, and make another one, and no one will ever know you existed.” They never said that, but when you’re a kid, that’s how you understand things.

My dad was trying to keep up the Santa façade, even though we all knew it was him. But finally he couldn’t take it. He had this crooked finger that he would point at us when we were in trouble, and he pointed it at me. “Rich, change your attitude.” Then he turned back to the family and said, “Ho, ho, ho!” And he was Santa again. It was a little hard to take him seriously in the suit and beard, I’m not gonna lie.

The circle came back around to me. I opened my present. Not what I wanted. So I said, even more sarcastically, “Gee. Wow. Thanks.”

When I said that, it was on like Donkey Kong.

I remember attempting to convince him discipline was unjust. “Dad, I said thank you. Why am I in trouble?”

My dad replied, “Rich, you said thank you, but you didn’t show gratitude.”

What was he saying? That there is a big difference between saying something and showing it. Talk is easy. But talk is cheap. I love that God isn’t just a talker; he’s a doer.

John 3:16 is easily the most famous verse in the Bible. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (ESV). God didn’t just tell us how much he loves us; he proved it with his actions, his sacrifice, and his generosity.

Giving is an action that expresses love. A relationship ends when giving dries up.

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