Saturday Reading: 1 Peter 3:8-13
Key Verse: 1 Peter 3:8
8 And finally, all be of one mind, having compassion on one another, loving the brothers, tender-hearted, friendly.
Devotion:
There are many times in our lives when we find it hard to think along the same lines as other Christians... what should we be doing then? God gave us this answer when Jesus told us to love our neighbour. He knew that there would be times when Christians would disagree with other Christians, and some being stubborn, would turn to arguments or fights to try and resolve the disputes. What the Lord would have us to do is far from the arguments and fights – He would rather we turned our feeling to love and compassion before we get that far.
We can identify the time before a fight breaks out because that is when we start to get uneasy or let our feeling get the better of us. That is the time to take a step back and think rather than take a step forward and make yourself heard. Breaking out into an argument over something is not going to win friends or influence people whatsoever. Yes we do need to make the truth know, but not at the expense of friendship – in these cases we need to back off and agree to disagree knowing that you will at least have another time to put forward the truth and allow them to make their own minds up.
It’s not about bashing people over the head until they submit to God’s Word, it’s about showing them the good and the benefits of having God’s Word on your side so that they will want to find out more. The Lord is watching over us all the time and when we start to fight with others we are chasing people away from God. If they are Christians already, then we causing heart-ache to both us and God. Our tongues will get us into all sorts of problems if we do allow them to rule our lives. Jesus was one that only spoke when He knew it would benefit us, during times when He would otherwise be drawn into arguments, He would back off and allow people to think before giving them a truthful reply – most people will spot their own mistakes given time to think.
Points to Ponder:
Do you talk before thinking?
Do you allow God to speak before running off at the mouth?
