"Hilled Up" by His Parents' Words of Truth!

Read: Genesis 1:26-27; Psalm 139:13-16; Romans 12:21; Ephesians 4:1-6

Earlier this morning, I was watering the tomatoes before the day got hot. It is supposed to be 101 today. As I was doing the task, I noticed that one of the plants was really drooping down. Time to hill it up; so, I worked the dirt around the plant, packing it nicely for support so the fruit will have a good chance of growing and ripening. I'll need to keep checking and perhaps do some more hilling up to ensure the best crop possible.

As I thought about that, my mind went back to an interview I heard this week. The twenty something man telling his story was Chris Singleton. On June 17, 2015, Chris's mother along with eight other people was killed at a Bible study in their church in Charleston, South Carolina. The perpetrator was Dylann Roof, a White supremacist who sat quietly in the study prior to carrying out his wicked plan. Mr. Singleton was not in the study. He was playing baseball when the tragic news was brought to him. What happened the day after the crime is where I really want to land for the remainder of this little devotion. Because on that day, Chris Singleton publicly forgave the man who had killed his mother and the other eight people. All whom he knew. He said that it was the Holy Spirit Who prompted him to do it. Where did this strength and enabling to forgive come from? We know, in Chris' case, its source. It was his mother and his father who had "had hilled him up." When Chris was growing up, he faced discrimination because of the color of his skin. He never went into a great detail concerning the words that were spoken; instead, he related his parents’ reaction to what was said. They told him he didn't have to pay any attention to what was said because what God said about him was what counted. It was the Lord's definition of Chris that mattered. What did God say?

He was fearfully and wonderfully made, and he was made in the image of God, Psalm 139:13-16; Genesis 1:26-27. Mr. Singleton didn't hear these truths spoken over him once or twice during his life; rather he heard them multiple times throughout his growing up years. I can almost feel the "Plant" getting stronger and stronger as the truth was buoying up Singleton's life.

Let me stop for a bit to say that Chris' buoyancy and resilience doesn't absolve the one whose evil deed effected so many lives. Mr. Roof needs a Savior in order to receive God's forgiveness just as I did, Romans 3:10; Romans 3:23. Chris's forgiveness has opened a door so that his life to be a life that yields God's fruit rather than a life where bitterness poisons many, Hebrews 12:15. Chris Singleton's life is vastly different today than it was in 2015. His dream of a baseball career came to an end. Changed to something no one could have imagined. He now travels all over sharing a message of reconciliation, forgiveness and unity. Not a unity based on superficial outward things but one based on the truths his parents sowed so carefully into his life. Rock solid truths. Not given to merely make for a better day but truth to stand on because its source lies in the words spoken by the Living LORD Who cannot lie. Not merely little catch phrases, but the words of God that are pure without flaw or error, Psalm 12:6. Chris is a billboard for Romans 12:21. He was surely not overcome by evil, but with God's enabling and for God's honor, he continues to overcome evil with good.

As it was in Joseph's life, what a person meant for evil, God meant for good, Genesis 50:20. Yet, so many do not know the truths that anchored Chris' life. The truths that can tear down walls that divide and replace them with the true unity that the apostle Paul said was so important, Ephesians 4:1-6.

What about us? Sometimes we see someone who needs a bit of "hilling up."

Perhaps they need to be gently reminded of God's truth so they don't become sidetracked and fall down under their load.

Lord, help us to nourish one another with Your word.