Wednesday 31 Oct 2012

Wednesday Reading: 1 Peter 4:7-11

Key Verse: 1 Peter 4:9
9  Use hospitality one to another without grudging.

Devotion:
There are some subjects that you just want to quote whole sections of the bible for rather than limiting any devotion to a few verses; the love that God commands us to have for one another is one such subject. How often we do forget this every so simple command because we somehow corrupt things so that we don’t have to love some people, just the ones we want to. That is not what God has said we should do!

We do live in a world where people are going to choose the ones they want to love and care for rather than following God’s wishes. We do live in a world where those that do not know Christ will demand things from those they say they love almost as if it was in payment for them loving them. We do live in a world that is full of hatred, wars and strife. But this is the same world that Christ came down to in order to demonstrate God’s absolute love for us. Christ came to openly declare His love for the whole world, both to the sinners and to the saved.

When Christ then taught His disciples about brotherly love it was first to the Jews so that they would grasp this love; for God had shown them His love throughout history. But then He sent Paul to demonstrate that love to the gentiles, knowing that those that accepted Him would not be limited by this focus on Israel as the chosen race, but would be able to love others freely. It was that outreach that opened the eyes for many people as to how they should be opening their hearts. It is that example that we look at today and begin to realise just how much God wants us to love others.

Above all, God wants us to be able to love without grumbling, without holding back, without limiting it and without worldly selections. Oh how we like to pigeon-hole people so that we may not have to put up with some. How we like to blame others so that we can live ‘above’ them or ‘without’ them in some manner. We are all God’s creation and we are all accountable to God. We do not have the choice as to whether we should choose who we should love because God commands us to love everyone. What we do have the choice for, however, is to associate and mix with whom we choose. God does not say that we have to mix with people who reject Him. He wants us to reach out to the lost, but He does not want us to sink into sin with the lost. God will give us the gift of love is we are willing to accept it and use it without imposing our own limits on it – because God’s love is without limits.

Points to Ponder:
How choosey are you with you love?

What would you have done if God chose to ignore you?