The Christ Quarter

Love Like Mom, Ministering Without Saying A Word

• Boris Kirk • Season 6 • Episode 87

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What if peace looked like streets full of laughter, elders swapping stories on corners, and neighbors who speak truth with kindness? We turn to Zechariah 8 and find a vision of God’s jealous love.  Today we might say zealous love, a love that's not petty but restorative.

We walk through three movements in the text. First, God promises to dwell with His people so their city becomes a place of truth and holiness. Then comes the reassurance that fear gives way to fruitfulness: seed, vine, and soil flourish as a byproduct of God’s good will. Finally, the call tightens into daily practice; tell the truth to your neighbor, make just decisions that bind truth to peace, refuse harm in your heart, and reject false oaths. It’s a blueprint for public discipleship that reshapes speech, actions, and the secret motives that drive both.

Along the way, we hold this promise up to our pandemic memories and admit why it hits so hard. When streets go silent, the Bible’s vision of a lively, safe city becomes more than poetry; it becomes a prayer. We also spotlight the quiet genius of mothers who love without speeches; quietly feeding, protecting, and defending as a way of life. Strong hands serve. Peace isn’t passive.  Peace is something we build with God by practicing integrity, resisting gossip, and meeting people’s real needs.

If this conversation helps you breathe a little easier and act a little braver, share it with a friend who needs steady hope.

Subscribe, leave a review, and tell us one way you will practice truth and peace this week.

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Zechariah 8:1 - 8 and 11 - 17  -  King James Version

1 Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying,

2 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury.

3 Thus saith the Lord; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth; and the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy mountain.

4 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; There shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age.

5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof.

6 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts.

7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;

8 And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.

11 But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the Lord of hosts.

12 For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.

13 And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong.

14 For thus saith the Lord of hosts; As I thought to punish you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of hosts, and I repented not:

15 So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah: fear ye not.

16 These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:

17 And

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Today on the Christ Quarter, we're going to discuss God's promises of peace in our lives, what God expects from us, what that means for our day-to-day lives, and I'll be giving you some examples of how to love without saying a word. On the Christ Quarter, we stop what we're doing and spend fifteen minutes discussing a section of Scripture, what it means and how it applies to our lives. It is my hope that God will use this time to work on us and within us to bring us closer to Him. I'm very grateful to have this time with you, and thank you for being here with me today. Today's scripture selection is Zechariah eight, verses one through eight, and verses eleven through seventeen. The King James Version reads as follows. Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. Thus saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, there shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts. If it be marvelous in the eyes of the Renn of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous in mine eyes, saith the Lord of Hosts? Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Behold, I will save my people from the East Country and from the West Country, and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness. But now I will not be unto the residue of this people as in the former days, saith the Lord of Hosts, for the seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their due, and I will cause a remnant of this people to possess all these things. And it shall come to pass that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel, so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong. For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, as I thought to punish you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I repented not, so again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Fear ye not. These are the things that ye shall do. Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor, execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates, and let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath, for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord. Let us pray. Lord, we thank you for this day. We thank you for the freedom and the ability to discuss your word and enjoy your presence. Help us to understand your word and your will for our daily lives more fully. We ask that you bless this discussion of your word and that it will speak to someone who needs to hear from you. We ask that you will use these words to bring someone closer to you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The verses for today are encouraging, motivating, and inspiring. As people and as Christians, we are all going to go through trials and difficulties. As Christians we have an assurance that we will make it through any trial and that we will be better off for having gone through it. The scriptures today point out that not only is this true, but once we are through, we should help others, Christians and non Christians alike, not only to get through their individual trials, but to live better in their day-to-day lives. We are to love each other, and love is an action word. One example of how to love indeed as well as in word is to watch the good mothers out there. Those good mothers who not only smile lovingly at us and embrace us, but also feed us, clothe us, bandage our wounds, and defend us. It is not an exaggeration to say that mothers are angels, actively showing us how to love each other without saying a word. We can all learn from them. Let's get right to it. The first section of today's text, verses one through eight, reads Again, the word of the Lord of hosts came to me saying, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, I was jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I was jealous for her with great fury. Thus saith the Lord, I am returned unto Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, there shall yet old men and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age, and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts. If it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous in mine eyes, saith the Lord of Hosts? Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, behold, I will save my people from the East Country and from the West Country, and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness. Here God is saying that he is jealous over Zion. This was confusing to me for a long time. How can God be jealous? Isn't jealousy a bad thing? Isn't that a sin? Jealousy in the way that we commonly use it may be a sin, but it is not how it's being used in the scripture here. Jealousy is more along the lines of being zealous. God is indicating a sense of commitment and caring. I think of this as being similar to being jealous or zealous over your significant other. You're committed to them, you care for them and about them, and you're protective of them. This is how I look at the meaning of God being jealous over us. God has the right to be protective of us and the right to be angry at those who would harm us. As I speak here today, we are going through the pandemic of COVID 19, the coronavirus. This experience has given these verses a different perspective for me. Many of us are stuck in our homes, and when we do go out, we are risking our lives to do so. The thought of the day when the streets, stores, and restaurants will be once again filled with children playing and older people sitting and talking seems very far away. It gives me a stronger feeling of empathy with the people of these verses and how they must have felt when listening to Zechariah's prophecy. The second section of today's text, verses eleven through fifteen, reads, But now I will not be unto the residue of this people, as in the former days, saith the Lord of Hosts, for the seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heaven shall give their due, and I will cause a remnant of this people to possess all these things. And it shall come to pass that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel, so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong. For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, as I thought to punish you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I repented not. So again have I thought in these days to do well unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Fear ye not. Here God is saying that this remnant, who remained faithful to God throughout their trials and have come through, will now receive the fruit of their seeds, the fruit of their faith. They will prosper in this new stability. To me, their true fruit and blessings are the peace and stability that they now have. The prospering is, again, to me a side effect of this. God wants us to prosper, but he wants us to put him first and to enjoy the peace and joy of his presence. Whether rich or poor, the peace of God and the joy of God is more important than any material situation. Prosperity seems to be a bad word in many Christian circles. While being Christian does not guarantee prosperity, it does not ban it either. Regardless, put God first in all situations, and you will have stability, joy, and peace. The verses here also refer to not being afraid, but to have strong hands. I believe this is saying that we should not just sit back in our stability, joy, and peace, but we should use it to help others. We are to have strong hands to help, that lift, and that support others. Remember the example given earlier of mothers and how they love. Many mothers are mothers to not only their own children, but also to others. Love your neighbor with actions as well as love, being sure to go to them where they are to the extent that the Lord provides, and help them with what they need, and not what you want them to have. The last section of today's text, verses sixteen and seventeen, reads, These are the things that ye shall do. Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbor, execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates, and let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath, for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord. To me, this is the most important part of our scriptures today. The Lord gives us peace, he provides for us, but we are to first seek him and do as he would have us to do. The people here and we today are being told specifically and directly to speak truthfully, to be true in rendering judgments in court, to not treat each other badly, and to not lie. God is directly saying that he hates this. We want the peace of God, we want the joy of God, and all that goes along with this, but how can we expect to receive these things from God when we do things that he hates? Have any of us lied today, treated someone badly, gossiped, shared a little negative tidbit about somebody? Then how can we go to God and ask that he keep his part of the bargain when we've willfully not kept ours? Let's follow the word, the will of God. Not only because we will benefit from it, but also because it is what God wants us to do. That concludes our scripture discussion for today. Thank you for spending this time with me talking about, learning about, and enjoying Christ. It is my hope that God has used these words to touch you today and has brought you closer to Him. Please contact me if you wish to have further information about Christ. Let us pray. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Before closing out today's discussion, I would like to wish a happy mother's day to all the mothers out there. There are too many good mothers in my life to mention all of them, but I want to mention just a few here. My own mother, Barbara, my aunt, Marie, also known as Doris, Lucia, Bernadette, Talia, Lisa, and of course, Rupert. Also, Guillermo sends his message out to Juanita, and I quote, Juanita, my woman, my rock, twenty-seven years and counting, love you. Happy Mother's Day. There are many more mothers that could be spotlighting here, but time does not remain. Happy Mother's Day, I'm not going to be able to do that.