Stinky Feet – Turn Your Cheek

“Dear Children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” 1 John 3:18

A few months ago, I borrowed an idea from a Proverbs 31 devotional email I had received. The idea was serving dinner to a child on a “family honor plate” when that child showed an extraordinary example of the Fruit of the Spirit. While I didn’t purchase the kit, my husband and I did institute this idea into our home when one of our children would demonstrate an extraordinary quality of the fruit of the spirit.

I remember a special occasion in which my daughter, Delena, was awarded dinner on the family honor plate. I had just picked her up from her first day of Vacation Bible School at our new church. We had only been attending a couple of weeks and she was so excited to begin meeting new friends. On the drive home, she was jumping from one subject to the next telling me every detail of her first day at VBS. Somewhere in the midst of her tales, she was talking about a boy who said she had “stinky feet.” She said that he refused to apologize, even after a teacher told him to, and eventually received a time-out for being mean and not apologizing. Delena was telling me how she did not say anything to him because that was not the way Jesus would want her to act. She said that she didn’t even tattle on this boy. She told me that this was something she chose to let God handle.

Stop. Rewind. Someone said that my child had stinky feet?

Here I was, ready to jump into mommy defense mode and defend my child who did not deserve to be treated so rudely by a boy. The funny thing was she genuinely wasn’t even mad at this little boy. I was amazed at how mature she acted and how lovingly she handled the battle. She made a wise choice in allowing God to take care of this one.

Her situation made me think of battles in my own life. I examined situations I was facing at the time and asked God, “what battles am I fighting uselessly? Which ones do I just need to let go of and hand over to You?”

A disagreement with my neighbor came to mind. Months later this is not resolved and I realized that I am still angry and bitter about what happened. I still longed for the opportunity to tell her how I feel about her and the whole situation, and not in a nice way. I could see that this was a battle that I needed to hand over to God and leave it at the cross. There are plenty more battles I needed to turn over to God too.

I am having all four of my wisdom teeth pulled on Wednesday. I am afraid, especially at the risk of permanent nerve damage because of my age. However, all the fretting and worrying and constant thinking about it cannot change the outcome. Again, this is a battle the Lord has to handle. I cannot in anyway win this one, without Him. I’m learning to trust Him to take care of me and protect me during the surgery.

Jesus wants to be our defender and our savior. He wants us to let Him fight some of our battles for us. There are some battles on this earth we just simply cannot win. And some in which we will not see the victories this side of heaven. Those fights are best handed over to the Lord. Psalms 24:8 says:

“Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord might in battle.”

Now don’t get me wrong, there will be times God calls us into the battle. We will be expected to fight, to defend truth, to defend His word. We go to battle against the enemy every single day. That is why God’s word and His armor is so important for us to walk in victory daily. But there are also those times that we have to lay our battles at the cross. We will be required to love our enemies. Jesus said in Luke 6:29:

“If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also…”

He will call on us to show the Fruit of the Spirit in the most difficult circumstances and to some of the most difficult people. I always hope to remember my daughter’s Christ-like heart and attitude she showed to that little boy who made fun of her. My prayer is for that childlike innocence in seeing the battles for me to fight through Him and the battles that the Lord wants for Himself.

For the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. Galatians 5:22

Heavenly Father, I pray for discernment through your Word on which battles I need to fight and which ones I can hand over to you. You word says that You are strong and mighty in battle and thank you that you defend me. Thank you that I can boldly approach your throne and stand in the promise of your word – handing over struggles that I cannot fight or win. I pray that it would all be for your Glory and that you use me to show your love to others. In your precious and holy name, Amen.

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