I just don't get the whole screaming damnation at people...when I was in my addiction I knew everyday that my life was horrible, that I was going to die and go to Hell if I didn't change. I desperately wanted to change I just didn't have any idea how to; first of all get sober, second of all stay that way or how to just be normal must less be "righteous". I grew up in church and still didn't have the tools or the ability to change. I know someone screaming at me would not have changed that. As a matter of fact I would have probably screamed back and maybe worse.
What I needed was someone to say, 'come on, let me pray with you, let me walk through this with you"
I think that is one reason Paul say in 1 Corinthians 11:1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. All I could imitate was what I knew at the time and all the people around me were acting just like me. I needed someone to show me the way out of darkness, to love me and encourage me and tell me there is hope.
Here is what Jesus says...“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” in John 13.
This scripture describes God as patient, The Lord isn't really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. 2 Peter 3:9
The only people Jesus ever yelled at were those religious folks that thought they had it all figured out
Lets be patient and loving, offering hope and help to those who don't know Christ.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
they will know us by our Love
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:12
I was so convicted by this today...we all struggle and strive to know God, to find the deep things of God, to find our gifts and figure out where to serve, what is God's Will for my life.
"love God, love others" that's it. How can we say we love God who we haven't seen and not love those whom we see everyday. Granted some people are really hard to love. There are people in my life that make my teeth hurt just being around them and I would imagine there are people who feel that way about me. That doesn't change the rules. In reality those people are in my life to change something in me, in you. They are to help us see how much we need a Savior and that He still has work to do in us. It is like sandpaper knocking off the rough edges.
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4
Is the One in you greater? Is the one in you Him or is it just you...working, striving, trying to make it through another day. We can't love without God because the reality is our perception of love is jacked up, it is all about us. Love has nothing to do with you, it is totally and completely about that person in front of you.
If you are lonely and someone comes along to make you feel better do you thank God for that. Do you realize that it is how God loves you, through people. He has no other arms here to hug you with. Also remember He wants to use you to love others. You may be the hug that someone is praying for. The encouraging word that helps them hold on for another day. Don't pass up an opportunity.
LOVE...BE IT
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:7-12
I was so convicted by this today...we all struggle and strive to know God, to find the deep things of God, to find our gifts and figure out where to serve, what is God's Will for my life.
"love God, love others" that's it. How can we say we love God who we haven't seen and not love those whom we see everyday. Granted some people are really hard to love. There are people in my life that make my teeth hurt just being around them and I would imagine there are people who feel that way about me. That doesn't change the rules. In reality those people are in my life to change something in me, in you. They are to help us see how much we need a Savior and that He still has work to do in us. It is like sandpaper knocking off the rough edges.
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 1 John 4:4
Is the One in you greater? Is the one in you Him or is it just you...working, striving, trying to make it through another day. We can't love without God because the reality is our perception of love is jacked up, it is all about us. Love has nothing to do with you, it is totally and completely about that person in front of you.
If you are lonely and someone comes along to make you feel better do you thank God for that. Do you realize that it is how God loves you, through people. He has no other arms here to hug you with. Also remember He wants to use you to love others. You may be the hug that someone is praying for. The encouraging word that helps them hold on for another day. Don't pass up an opportunity.
LOVE...BE IT
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:7-12
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