02.16.10

Posted in Bible at 10:14 am by Administrator


Now that we have received the love of God and have been reconciled to Him through Jesus Christ, the first thing many of us want to do is show God how much we love Him. But do we really love Him? I know we say it with words because we feel that throbbing in our hearts & that swell in our spirits when we think of His love for us, but do we really love Him? Brethren, the love of God is more than words alone.

1 John 4:20-21 says “ If anyone says ‘ I love God’ , yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. He has given us this command : Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
Are we walking in discord amongst our brethren and still professing to have this burning love for God. Do we stir discord amongst our brethren? Do we keep malice, get easily angered, gossip? Do we defame others, slander? Are we discourteous, haughty, conceited, vengeful? Do we lie to each other, say hurtful things to each other, steal from each other? If we still engage in any of these, then we are not walking in the true love of God.

The question probably arises that- we are human, so how is it possible to not, at any time or another, do or feel even one thing that may not be pleasing to God? The answer is that it is not possible. However, we can ask ourselves this: how comfortable are we with these “transgressions” that we are committing? Are we giving ourselves allowances of maybe, say – 1 sin a day- or something like that, that’s not so bad right? When we find making excuses for sin- that is when a problem has risen. When we justify doing the things that are not pleasing to God- that is when we have allowed the sinful nature to have the upper hand.

Romans 12: 9 says “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good.” Loving God means hating anything that is contrary to His will and loving the things that please Him, such as obeying His commandments and loving our brethren as we love ourselves. Verse 10 of Romans 12 says “ Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.” Verses 13-21 of the same chapter gives suggestions on exactly how to do this.

There is a common saying- actions speak louder than words. We cannot just talk about being empathic, patient, hospitable, polite, generous, charitable, selfless, kind, compassionate and peace-loving, we have to actually do these things. We have to be these things. Because we are ambassadors of Christ and we are His representatives here on earth, we have to be diligent in making sure that we are reflecting Him not just in our speech, but in our actions at all times. Every day, every moment that we are in the company of others is an opportunity to win souls for Christ, and many of those opportunities will occur without us even saying one word. We will be merely observed on some occasions, and on others, it is the recipients of our actions that will take note, but no matter what it is that we do on the outside, it is the sincerity of our actions that God sees.

Colossians 3:12-14 says “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

May the Lord give us the ability to yield to His spirit that enables us to walk in the way that our Lord Jesus Christ mapped out for us so that our lives serve as a testament of our love for Him.

Share your thoughts that you might encourage your brethren.

In Christ,
The handmaid at His feet.

02.03.10

A True Love Story

Posted in Bible at 1:35 am by Administrator

As we enter into the month of February, love is in the air. Valentine’s day is approaching and people are scrambling around buying things and doing things to show their significant other or the special people in their lives how much they care. I’m sure that most of us have a story of love to tell- either past or present, and others are believing God for that special someone so that they too can have their own love story to tell.

I’d like to tell you about a very special love story. It’s about a man who was born for one purpose, to bear a gift of love from His father to all mankind. Somewhere along the line, mankind had slipped and fallen off the course that the Father had put them on and they began to do many terrible things in His sight. Things that were contrary to His rules for life. Now, because it was already established that if mankind committed sin the punishment would be death, and the Father, because He cannot go back on His word had to punish mankind. This bothered the Father because He had so much love for mankind, and He also knew that there was an evil force in play that made it his sole purpose to cause mankind to sin. So the Father thought, how could He save mankind from their deserved punishment, but at the same time, keep his word as far as the consequence of sin. So He came up with a plan. He would send His only Son, in human form, to receive the punishment of death in place of mankind. The only way that this could happen though was that the son would have to be sin free- completely undeserving of this punishment, and that way he would bear the sins of mankind, that they might have another chance at life. 1 John 4:9-10 says “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love- not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

Imagine for a moment the person that is dearest to your heart. Then imagine that you have to send them away on a mission, and while on this mission, they are ridiculed, threatened, accosted, degraded, spat on, beaten, tortured, forced to carry a wooden cross at least five times their weight, have their hands nailed to that cross and then are left there to die. Now imagine that the sole purpose of going through this is to save someone else.

This is what God did for us. This is what Jesus endured for us. God did it out of love so that we could have a fair chance. John 3:16-17 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send His son to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”
The way to benefit from this gift of God is to acknowledge that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and then, make an effort to sin no more. Jesus’ life on earth, His teachings and His examples are meant to serve as a blueprint of life for those of us who believe in Him. Then once we have accepted Him into our hearts we can now continue to grow in Him- completely immersed in God’s love, and Christ, by the Holy Spirit, lead us out of a life of sin and into a life that is pleasing to God. Galatians 2:20 says” And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

If we think about God and the only thing that comes to mind is an authoritative, power wielding ruler, then we have surely missed the entire point. God is a loving, fair, compassionate and gracious Father who sacrificed His only, blameless son for us. 1 John 3 says” See what kind of love the father has given to us that we should be called the children of God, and so we are.” God’s love for us is immense that He would consider us so worthy of such a sacrifice.

The Lord may not be our first love, because we are all called into Christianity at different points in our lives but when we really get to know God and start to have an intimate relationship with God, then, every Christian should be able to say that God is their first true love.

Share your thoughts that you might encourage your brethren.

In Christ,
The handmaid at His feet.