Tag Archives: Jennifer Rothschild

Live Justly

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two children sharingLive Justly

Live Justly is the final post in my series centered around Jennifer Rothschild’s Amos study. I began in October with Bitterness. Last month I discussed Remember. For other posts I’ve written from the book of Amos prior to Jennifer’s Amos study, look here, here, here, here, and here. There is quite a lot to learn from the small book of Amos. At least I think so.

The Israelites Did Not Live Justly

At this time in Israel’s history, the people did not live justly. Instead, they were unrighteous and despised God’s truth. They trampled and oppressed the poor. Those with power and wealth abused and dealt dishonestly with the powerless. They withheld justice from the helpless.

Care About What God Cares About

In speaking about how we are to live justly, Jennifer mentioned several things about social justice. First, she said social justice means we care about what God cares about. Our heart breaks for what breaks God’s heart. She went further to explain social justice is not activism. It is righteous action. It is public action where we seek good, not evil. Jennifer stated social justice is something we actively pursue as we have opportunity.

Do For One What We Wish We Could Do For Everyone

Jennifer admitted we cannot do everything we might wish to alleviate suffering and wrong. Her suggestion is we do for one person what we wish we could do for everyone.

Righteous Is Not Just Who We Are

We’ve heard the phrase, actions speak louder than words. As Christ followers, we are made righteous through our relationship with Christ. According to Jennifer, being righteous is not a position, it is a practice. It is what we do. Living righteously is putting our righteous words into righteous acts for God. It is investing in what matters most to God.

In Conclusion

Jennifer challenges us with the following. We may not be able to eradicate evil on this earth, but we can avoid contributing to it, and we can seek to do good to offset it. Assigning the strong emotion of hate or disdain to human suffering can heighten our awareness, and sensitize our hearts to view sin and suffering as God does. Which often prompts a strong response to act.

As followers of Christ, we are given the high privilege to seek good, promote good, and become an active force against evil so justice prevails. That means we do something.

Your Turn

The book of Amos reinforces the fact that people matter to God. It tells us if we exploit or oppress the poor in any way, we insult God. If we care for the needy in any way, we honor God. With that in mind, how should we live out our faith? Not just at this time of year, but all year long?

Leave a comment below to share your thoughts on the subject. If you think others would appreciate reading this, please share it through the social media buttons.

Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed. Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people. Amos 5:14-15

You can find my December Inspire a Fire post here. Please stop by and read it.

I wish you well.

Sandy

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Remember

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Remember What God Has Done for Us

Last month I mentioned bitterness as it related to Jennifer Rothschild’s Bible Study, Amos An Invitation to the Good Life. Today, I’m talking about our need to remember what God has done for us, also taken from Jennifer’s study.

In talking about remembering, Jennifer states

Remembering God’s goodness helps us to live faithful because the more we become forgetful, the more we become unfaithful.

Haven’t you seen that true in your life? I know I have.

Remember Through a Thankfulness Journal

I’ve mentioned before that I keep a thankfulness journal where each morning I write one thing I’m thankful to God for. Only, it can’t be the obvious … Christ’s sacrifice, my salvation, God’s faithfulness, etc.

Although I am absolutely grateful and thankful for those things, for my thankfulness journal each day what I am thankful for needs to be something different. And it can’t be something I’ve already mentioned in my multiple years-long journals.

Some days, I find it’s easier for me to remember something to be thankful for than on other days. On those days, I need to sit awhile to remember something to write down.

God Reminded the Israelites What He Did for Them

In the second chapter of Amos, God reminded the Israelites of the many things he did for them in the past. Not the least of which was deliverance from Egyptian slavery.

Just as with my thankfulness journals where I put down the small things, the little mercies and kindnesses God bestows, God wanted the Israelites to remember all the things he did. Both large and small. I believe God wants us to do the same.

Through remembering, God desired his people to see that although they were unfaithful and left him, he was always faithful and never left them.

Several Things To Help Us Remember

Here are several things I received from Jennifer’s lesson on Amos chapter 2 to help us remember. I’m paraphrasing, but this is the general idea.

It’s in the details.

Be specific about who God is to us and what he has done for us.

Intentional remembering can lead to intimate reconnecting.

Forgetting to remember God’s faithfulness to us in the past can make us forget to be faithful to him in our present.

Something Jennifer suggested we do to help us remember God’s faithfulness is to write down whenever a good thing about God comes to mind. Then at those times when we become forgetful about his mercies, look at our list and re-calibrate our feelings. I like that idea.

Your Turn

What do you do to remember the times God showed up in your difficult situations and seasons?

Do you have something special you do to remember what he’s already brought you through, that help enable you to trust him with your future?

Leave a comment below to share your thoughts on the subject. If you think others would appreciate reading this, please share it through the social media buttons.

“Yet think of all I did for them! I cleared the land of the Amorites before them—the Amorites, as tall as cedar trees, and strong as oaks! But I lopped off their fruit and cut their roots. And I brought you out from Egypt and led you through the desert forty years, to possess the land of the Amorites. And I chose your sons to be Nazirites and prophets—can you deny this, Israel?” asks the Lord. Amos 2:9-11 TLB

You can find my November Inspire a Fire post here. Please stop by and read it.

I wish you well.

Sandy

Please enter your email address on the form located on the right sidebar to sign up to receive posts every Tuesday and Thursday. Thanks!

Bitterness

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pouting boyBitterness does more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than the vessel on which it is poured. Unknown

Last month I began Jennifer Rothschild’s Bible study, Amos An Invitation to the Good Life at church. Through the coming weeks, I’ll mention thoughts gained from the study. Today I’d like us to consider what the study said about bitterness.

In the first chapter of Amos, the prophet announced God’s judgement on Israel’s surrounding nations. Edom was one of those nations.

The Edomites descended from Jacob’s brother, Esau. If we remember these brothers’ story from the book of Genesis, there was a lot of bitterness between the two. So much so, Jacob went to a foreign land to get away from his brother’s anger.

Things weren’t resolved once the two men died, either. Nope. Bitterness continued for generations. Over 430 years actually. The Edomites still brooded when they refused to grant the Israelites permission to pass through their land on the way out of Egypt.

The Edomites fought against King Solomon. They opposed King Jehoshaphat. Even Psalm 83 asks God to destroy them.

In the book of Obadiah, the Edomites rejoiced over their brothers, the Israelites’, hardship. Instead of offering help, they did a happy dance.

In the book of Amos, the Edomites are mentioned as a nation that will face God’s wrath for their unbrotherly acts.

As we consider the story of Edom, we may feel they deserve punishment for their bitterness, anger, and hate. But what about us? Are we holding onto bitterness, anger, and hate toward someone? Maybe a couple of someones?

Are we holding bitterness toward a family member, a former friend, a co-worker, fellow church member, neighbor? The list could go on, but you get the idea.

If we had an opportunity to assist the one we’re angry with in some way, would we? Or would we respond just like the Edomites, and say no?

Do we sympathize and offer encouragement when someone we hold a grudge against suffers, or do we gloat just like the Edomites did?

In Jennifer’s lesson she made this statement, which she followed with several questions.

Choosing unforgiveness and holding onto hate or bitterness against someone who sinned against me is wrong. It is just as wrong as the sin perpetrated on me. I am like Edom when I choose to hold onto bitterness and withhold sisterly love. How does that hit you?

Here are questions Jennifer asks us to consider.

Am I holding onto hate or bitterness toward someone who has wronged me?

Is it right for me to hold onto that wrong?

How does it hurt me to hold onto bitterness?

Here are scriptures she offered for reflection in relation to the above questions:

  • Mark 11:25
  • Romans 12:10
  • Ephesians 4:32
  • Hebrew 12:15
  • 1 Peter 3:8

As someone said, bitterness is like vinegar. When we hold onto that bitterness and don’t let it go, it harms us more than it harms the person we hold bitterness against.

Let’s determine to keep the root of bitterness from growing, and as much as it depends on us, live at peace. Amen?

Leave a comment below to share your thoughts on the subject. If you think others would appreciate reading this, please share it through the social media buttons.

 Look after each other so that not one of you will fail to find God’s best blessings. Watch out that no bitterness takes root among you, for as it springs up it causes deep trouble, hurting many in their spiritual lives. Hebrews 12:15 (TLB)

You can find my October Inspire a Fire post here. Please stop by and read it.

I wish you well.

Sandy

Please enter your email address on the form located on the right sidebar to sign up to receive posts every Tuesday and Thursday. Thanks!

Fresh Grounded Faith Unshaken Women

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by Sandy Kirby Quandt

The beginning of November I attended Jennifer Rothschild’s Fresh Grounded Faith Women’s Conference that included Sheila Walsh and Laura Story. What a marvelous two days. So much wisdom. So much love. So much truth.

If you are unfamiliar with who Jennifer is, let me share how she introduces herself on her blog:

My name is Jennifer Rothschild – with a silent “s”.  I am an author, speaker, Bible study teacher, wife and Mom.

And, I happen to be blind.

I’m just like you. I just do things a little differently.

I write about real life and share what I’m learning from a real God. My goal is to create inspiring, relevant, and practical content that will empower you to live beyond limits.

Did you catch that? It’s like, “Oh. By the way. I’m blind.” This woman is absolutely incredible, as were Sheila and Laura. They do not speak before crowds to bring praise or glory to themselves. They speak before crowds to bring praise and glory to the One True Living God who loves each and every one of us with an everlasting, endearing love.

Each of these women shared from her heart what a Big God can do in our lives despite our circumstances.

I’ll attempt to share some of what I received from Jennifer, Sheila, and Laura with the understanding what God said to me through them may not be what those seated around me received. Isn’t it funny how that works? Also, my notes are not word for word, but my interpretation of what I heard.

 

Jennifer – We get shaken because we’re not where we’re supposed to be. Or we’re right where we’re supposed to be. God wants to use the things that shake us to shape us. When we’re most shaken, we see God more clearly.

 

Sheila – Until we understand Jesus knows the worst about us, we can’t accept the best about us. Your history doesn’t dictate your destiny. Dorothy dreamed of a rainbow, and got hit with a tornado. Sometimes God will take you to a prison to set you free.

Laura – We weren’t designed to be able to function on our own without God. We were designed to need God. We’re created by God. We’re his poem. His masterpiece. When we get knocked off our path, it’s not a detour. It’s a new road.

With that said, if a Fresh Grounded Faith conference comes to your area — go! You will be glad you did.

 

Have you attended a Fresh Grounded Faith conference? If so, what’d you think?

Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. Psalm 62:6 (NIV)

Leave a comment below to share your thoughts on the subject. If you think others would appreciate reading this, please share it through the social media buttons.

I wish you well.

Sandy

Please enter your email address on the form located on the right sidebar to sign up to receive posts every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Thanks!

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