Tuesday 20 Mar 2012

Tuesday Reading: Romans 13:8-10

Key Verse: Romans 13:10
10  Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Devotion:
I’m sure that I have said it more than once, but the one thing that I can never accept is someone being unkind to another person. Yes I know that we all see it happen every day and that we all get involved in doing things that upset others at times, but what I am talking about here is when you see someone else talking another person down or doing something inappropriate before them. Maybe that is why the first verses I thought of when planning some of these devotions was from Esther. God has given us to love each other and that includes loving our neighbours and our enemies!

That is always a hard pill to swallow – loving those that seem to hate you most – but if you are willing to give that burden to Christ then He is going to be the one who can set you free from that burden. I thank God for the love that He has given me for others, for the burden He has given me to reach out to everyone and show them just how much He loves us all. If it is just me standing up and saying ‘let me show you some of the love that God has given me by loving you’ then so be it; but I will continue to stand for as long as Christ will support me. I may need propping up at times and I may need encouragement many more times, but God continues to allow my heart to grow toward those that others will reject or despise. And yes it has landed me in trouble on more than one occasion.

When we do stand up for Christ we can be sure that he is going to stand up for us as well. Proverbs 16:3 reminds us that we ought to commit our work to Him before we start the day so that He can guide us through that day. And for as long as we are willing to have that attitude to start our day with, we can be sure that our walk will be with Christ and not a lone walk in the desert.

There are so many ways in which we can offend people or wind them up that we do need to take time to think before we act. Taking that moment to think before you act will allow you to avoid those actions that will lead to hurt instead of love. Taking that moment to think will allow others to see that you do care about them and for them. If we were to truly live by love then surely we would try to avoid all circumstances that would lead to hurting someone else… therein lies another problem because invariably we cannot please everyone all the time; in those cases we should aim to always please our God first of all so that He can work with us to get things right. Trusting and loving someone should be integral parts of our lives.

Points to Ponder:
Do you stop and think before you run off and do things?

Do you think what God cares about before running off?