LISTICLE
I am a “list” person. I have sticky Post-it notes of every color in my notebooks, with my calendar, on my dashboard. Lists. We use them for all sorts of things. There’s the “to-do” list, the list of baby names, menu items and recipes, the list of accomplishments and lists of books. I have my shopping list and I could list a thousand reasons why I’ve been blessed.
A “listicle” is a story or article written in the form of a list or that includes a list. We love to organize, to tick off our list and list the “do’s and don'ts.” The bible is full of lists: plants, names, sins, virtues, genealogies, instruction, prayers and even names of Jesus. The bible even talks about recording the names of His followers in the Book of Life. What a list that will be and what a privilege to have our names included! Luke 10:20 reads:
Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.”
At the end of 2 Samuel Chapter 23, David gives a list of his mighty men, whose deeds were recorded. The list of names is not really inspiring, but reminds us that every passage of the Bible is written for our benefit. What we can know is that these men were dedicated to King David. All Scripture is provided, inspired by God, and given to us so that we might learn from it.
It reminds me of my father’s binders of genealogy and a recent incident that my son shared. My father recorded hundreds and hundreds of names in his research. Each bears significance to our history but we were looking for a common name that a colleague of his shared. After comparing records, we discovered the name that connected us. And we all live in the same community just as our ancestors did at one time! Scripture also has a guiding list as we continue to grow on our spiritual journey.
The qualities of the Fruit of the Spirit serve as a list for how we should act toward one another. Galatians 5:22-23 tell us to focusing on:
love
joy
peace
patience
kindness
goodness
faithfulness
gentleness
self-control
Hopefully, the list above would inspire us to live out our faith in a way that reflects God’s character to the world around us so their names may be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life with us.