Devotion
Being a Witness of God’s Love to Others
Frances Taylor
I'm going to start with the family! If your family is anything like mine, you will have at least one person who doesn't speak to another person. Sometimes that one person wants YOU to choose sides. What do you do? Then there's the neighborhood. Feuds happen. What is your response? Moving on to the workplace, do you treat all your fellow workers with equal kindness and generosity? Your family, neighbors and maybe co-workers know that you are a Christian and that you go to church. For them, you are an example of the faith that you – that I – profess and there are expectations. We are all God's beloved children. He doesn't play favorites and doesn't expect us to either. Jesus gave us this command: love one another. I don't hear any exceptions in this Gospel passage. Sometimes a simple smile can change a person's day. We are usually good when there is a crisis. We send sympathy cards or a meal to someone who experiences a loss. We might help babysit for someone who has a family emergency. But in the everyday, it's how we show respect, courtesy, kindness – love – that lets others know that we care. There's an old story about a monastery where the monks are told that Jesus is one of them. They begin to treat everyone as if he were Jesus and before long, people flocked to the monastery because of the love they witnessed among the monks. Well, Jesus is among us. He lives in each of us. If we begin to treat everyone as we would treat Jesus, what wonders we might see in our families, our neighborhoods, our workplaces and our church.
Prayer
Lord, please forgive me for the times that my example is not a witness to your love. Help me to be a better witness of your love and forgiveness within my family and among my neighbors. Amen.
Night Prayer
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Inspiration
We despise the thought of a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. The outside is easy to clean; it's the caked-up residue on the inside that's so difficult to remove. Jesus compares the scribes and Pharisees with dishes that have been wiped clean on the outside while dirty inside. The Pharisees took exceptional care of their outward appearance and neglected their inward spirits. We are guilty of allowing our hearts to be left filthy as well. We look and act as we should while our souls are full of darkness. We must continue to converse with the Holy Spirit daily and trust His guidance to cleanse our sinful nature.
Prayer
Dear God, Please forgive our sinful nature. We yearn for cleansing from within, so we are genuine witnesses to Your name. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
