Thursday 14 Feb 2019

February 14: 1 Peter 3:8-13

Key Verse: 1 Peter 3:8
Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble

Devotion:
There are many times in our lives when we may 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 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 as being when we start to get uneasy or let our feelings 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 known, but not at the expense of friendship – in these cases we need to back off and agree to disagree knowing we will at least have another time to put forward the truth and allow others 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 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 are 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 who 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?