I John 4:7-12, 18-21 (Message)
20-21 If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister,
thinking nothing of it, he is a liar.
If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see?
The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people.
You've got to love both.
20-21 If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister,
thinking nothing of it, he is a liar.
If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see?
The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people.
You've got to love both.
Most of us folks reading this blog today would claim that we love God.
But how do we do with other people?
That's tougher, huh?
People cut us off in traffic. They backstab and backbite and say rude things. People can be inconsiderate and self-serving. They try to get ahead of us....in line, in our jobs, in our relationships.
And just look what Jesus says....
If you say you love God...and then carry hatred for that person who's done you wrong....then maybe the whole thing is in question.
All of us fall short. All of us have tempers, and we feel pain and we sense injustice. We have good reasons for being mad sometimes.
And yet...there it is. The question: "If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see?"
Good question. Let's pray about the answer. May God show us folks to love today. They'll be there...at the store, the stoplight, the office, at church, school, home.
"You've got to love both."
Prayer: Thank you for the reminder that the nature of God is love. We see that love in Jesus, and we seek to follow in his steps. God, we pray in all humility that you could make us more loving today. Thank you for first loving us so that we can be a force for your love in the world.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.
Tomrrow's Scripture: Matthew 6:9-13
3 comments:
Speaking to me again, Adam. Thank you for this gentle reminder to let go of past anger and hurt and focus on portraying Jesus in our every action.
SW
Man, SW, it brings up even more anguish for me to think of all the people in my past that I still harbor hatred for on top of those in my now that I struggle with.
What's interesting as well, is to say we forgive, but falling short on the forgetting part. If we aren't willing to forget about things, then we certainly can't fully forgive them. It's all about letting it go. That's the hardest pill to swallow as simple human beings.
AV
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