John 15:9 As the Father loved me, I also have loved you: abide in My love.
An ancient story in Church history tells of the Apostle John. He would constantly repeat the words, "Little children, love one another." And his disciples became weary of the phrase. Finally, in his old age, as John was being carried to their assembly, the disciples asked him, "Why do you always repeat these same words?" "Because friends," John replied, "it is the Lord's commandment -- and if only this one were fulfilled, it would be enough."
What is the greatest witness we Christians have to the world around us? I can tell you it's not only our words of wisdom, though they may be wonderful. It's not only our knowledge of the Scripture, though it may be vast. It's not only our material giving, though it may be great.
The greatest witness we have is the kind of love that the Bible defines above. Have we been patient and kind with others? Perhaps instead, we've been envious, boastful, proud, rude, self-seeking or easily angered. I know I have. Have we kept a record of wrongs? Have we delighted in evil? Uggh. When we express the true love of God, we always rejoice in the truth, protect, trust, hope and persevere.
Love never fails. Love can turn evil to good, darkness into light and enemies to friends. True love can totally transform the world around us.
I am humbled, are you? Let's strive to start loving the way the Lord would have us love. Yeah -- you know why. 'Cause there's just so much work to be done!!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]The first king of Israel, King Saul,was told by God to utterly slay Amalek and his descendants. In blatant disobedience Saul allowed Agag, the king of the Amalekites and the best of the cattle to remain alive. The following day, Saul tried to remedy his disobedience by attempting to sacrifice the best of the cattle to the Lord.
One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to flee flames by jumping to the ground from the roof. His father stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to his son, "Jump! I'll catch you." But the boy was afraid -- he couldn't see his father -- all he could see was flame, smoke, and blackness. He was afraid. Still, his father kept yelling: "Jump son! I will catch you!" But the boy refused, crying, "Daddy, I can't see you!" His father replied, "It's ok son -- I can see you -- and that's all that matters!"
Tonight begins the feast of Purim, which celebrates the deliverance of the Jewish people from one of many of Satan's attempts to purge them from the world. Mordechai gave Esther a great challenge then, "and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?"
While I was in the States, I read several stories about Ronald Reagan that made me appreciate him as a person and as a leader. But one amusing story really caught my attention and made me smile. When he was a young man, Reagan worked at a radio station and sometimes played records of sermons. His shift at the station was a one-man operation and so, on occasion, Ron would set the record playing and then sneak out for a cup of coffee. One day he got a call while he was at the coffee shop from the station's owner, ordering him back to the station, and then ... he received his termination notice. He'd returned to the station finding the record skipping at a particular point in the sermon...
Life can get so hectic sometimes -- we often try to do too many things at once. But when our schedule gets that hectic, we need to start investing in some quality time with the Lord. The operating word here is "investing".
In 2nd Samuel Chapter 9 we read of the story of King David and Mephibosheth. Mephibosheth was the son of Jonathan and the grandson of the first king of Israel, King Saul. After Jonathan's death, David went forth to show kindness to Saul's house. Mephibosheth had become lame at the young age of five -- he had lived his entire life as a cripple.
The first man was called "Ah-dom", we know him as "Adam". The word used for "man", as in "mankind", in Genesis 1, is also the same word – "Ah-dom". "Ah-dom" is rooted in the three Hebrew letters, aleph-dalet-mem, and one of the Hebrew words for earth is "Adamah", which contains the same three letters, however it ends with the Hebrew letter "hay". "Adamah" means "red earth", or "red clay", and this word points to the natural earth elements, the "earth dust" that composed Adam’s body, and the body of every human being since. "Man" is "ah-dom", in a very real sense, "clay".