Devotion
We Are Representatives of God’s Love
Chipo Biti
The way we love God is reflected in the way we love the people around us. The Christian life is not a life of selfishness or pickiness, where we choose to stick to ourselves or hang around select people of our liking. There is no room for excluding people when it comes to walking in the love of God. The same way God's arms were wide open for us when we were sinners, is the same way we are to have our arms stretched out wide open to the people around us. The love of God knows no boundaries when it comes to reaching out to people.
The love of God isn't for a certain group of people. It is for anyone and everyone and the only way God's love can reach other people is through us. We are God's representatives on earth and He expects us to do what He would have done.
When Jesus came to the earth He looked down upon no one. He entertained everyone and accommodated them as best as they can. Even though He had many disputes with the Pharisees over their self-righteousness, Jesus never closed them out. He was open to talk to Nicodemus (John 3:1-21), who was a Pharisee. Jesus still spoke to him, counselled him, and taught him about the Way.
The love of God should move us to overlook all offences in order to minister to other people. This is no easy feat but this is why God is with us. This is why the Holy Spirit - the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit teaches us how to love people past the offense they may have caused us.
Loving the people around us is not an option, dear brothers and sisters in the Lord. It is a commandment.
God is Love. You cannot claim to be of God if you refuse to love the people around you. The love of God overrides all prejudice and forms of exclusion.
God doesn't expect us to stand on the outside, looking in. He expects us to go in, full speed ahead, loving on anyone we can so that they know that there is a God out here who cares about them deeply.
Prayer
As children of God, it is our duty to exhibit God's love through our words and actions. If we fail to do so, how do we expect to lead more people to Christ?
You cannot reach out to people without the love of God. It is the love of God that compels you to reach out to people in the first place.
Devotion
Let us Bless The Lord
Frances Taylor
This is one of the psalms attributed to David. He is thanking God for rescuing him and promising to bless God at all times. He asks us to join him in his praises. He says his soul shall boast in the Lord. St. Paul tells us that we, too, should only boast in the Lord because it is he who always saves us. So, today, make a list. Make a list of everything that you are thankful for. Make a list of every success you have had and every failure you have survived. Make a list of every person who has helped you grow as a person and as a Christian. Now, look at it. Each of the items, events or persons on these lists are blessings from God. Either now, or before the day is over, bless and thank God for each of them. Ask God, also, to bless each of the people you have listed that you might be a blessing for them. If some of them are now with God, they would still like to hear you say thank you. God is so good to us all the time, and as one of my favorite ...
Morning Prayer
He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
Inspiration
Jesus tried to minister to the people in his town, but they rejected that he was the son of God. They only saw him as the son of a carpenter. There are many other Jews, who were referred to as God's own, who rejected Jesus Christ as the son of God, too. This is how Jesus ended up being crucified. But this did not deter Christ from His mission. He held nothing against anyone who rejected them. He forgave them and prayed that they would be saved.
Prayer
Dear God, I thank you for your son, Jesus Christ, who loved us so much, he did not hold it against any man when they wronged Him. Lord, I pray that I can exemplify this kind of love in my life too. I cannot do that without your help, Lord. May you help me to follow the example your son set for me, Lord. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.
