Whenever people say hurtful things to us, our tendancy is to want to defend ourselves and pay them back. We may be tempted to react out of our feelings rather than respond in love. Scripture instructs us about what to do in these situations.
Overcome Evil With Good
"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21)." If we respond to evil with evil, we worsen the problem. If we are going to overcome evil, we must respond in love. This requires action on our part. Evil is not overcome by silence. We must overcome evil by blessing the very people who are mistreating us. "Bless those who pursecute you; bless and do not curse." Romans 12:24
Act In Love
"Let all that you do be done in love (1 Corinthians 16:14)." We are never permitted by Scripture to act out of our feelings. We must act in love. First Corinthians chapter thirteen is a good Biblical deffinition of love. Love is essential to honoring Christ because love is the fulfillment of the law.
Do Not Retaliate
"Never pay back evil for evil to anyone... (Romans 12:17a)." The world's idea of justice is retaliation. However, retaliating is not the same thing as seeking justice. "Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written,'VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,' says the Lord (Romans 12:19)."
Seek to Reconcile
We should, "[Be] diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Ephesians 4:3 When others speak unkind things to us, we must examine what they are saying, and if we have done anything wrong we should repent and ask for forgiveness. Whatever the problem is, we should seek to restore our relationship with the person.
Love wants to reconcile.
Pride retaliates.
May we be overcomers!
Showing posts with label Love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Love. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Monday, October 6, 2014
The Opposite of Love
Love is placing another higher than yourself and laying down your rights for that person. The opposite of love is not hate but pride. Pride places the self above all others. Pride causes us to seek our own good and pleasure above others' good and pleasure. You don't have to hate someone to not love them. You do not love someone if you love yourself more.
"Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13
This is what Christ has done for us. He loved us more than His own life. Christ is the ultimate example of love, and His work on the cross is the chief display of love. May we know and understand the love of Christ, and may His love transform our hearts so that out of love we will,"count others more significant than [ourselves]." Philippians 2:3
Thursday, September 25, 2014
The Keys to Unity
The keys to unity are humility and love.
The key to humility and love is the cross.
"Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity." Colossians 3:14
"In humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." Philippians 2:3-4
"Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity" Psalm 133:1
There will be conflicts in the church and in our homes that we must handle with love and humility in order to maintain unity. Unity is not agreeing about everything, it is maintaining loving, healthy relationships despite conflicts. In order to do this we must fix our eyes on Christ. Truly, He is the perfect example of love and humility.
"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Philippians 2:5-8
May we, "[be] diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace"(Ephesians 4:3), and may God bring unity to His Church and to our homes.
The key to humility and love is the cross.
"Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity." Colossians 3:14
"In humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." Philippians 2:3-4
"Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity" Psalm 133:1
There will be conflicts in the church and in our homes that we must handle with love and humility in order to maintain unity. Unity is not agreeing about everything, it is maintaining loving, healthy relationships despite conflicts. In order to do this we must fix our eyes on Christ. Truly, He is the perfect example of love and humility.
"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Philippians 2:5-8
May we, "[be] diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace"(Ephesians 4:3), and may God bring unity to His Church and to our homes.
Thursday, September 18, 2014
Motivations for Ministry
What should the motivations of God's workman be? What are the Biblical reasons to minister to others?
1. The Glory of God
Our first motivation for ministry should be the glory of God. The goal of all ministry is to serve Christ, for as we do it to one of the least of these, we have done it for Christ. We must minister out of a heart desire to glorify God. "...whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31b
While we do minister to people, serving people cannot be the focus of our ministry. Otherwise, our ministry ceases to be ministry and becomes a humanitarian work and a work of our flesh. This is important. Ministry can become an idol in that it can become our focus. We cannot truly love or minister to people if they are at the center of lives. If our goal is merely to help people, we will not be much help. However, if our chief goal is to glorify God and we lift up His name, God promises that He will draw men unto Himself.
Compassion for people will not always sustain you. People will not always appreciate your efforts to reach them with the gospel. Many laborers for Christ have been killed, tortured, and imprisoned for serving Christ. Not only this, there are people who you will not feel like ministering to that will require you to draw on God's strength in order to love and serve them. Jesus tells us if our enemy is hungry to feed Him. Truly, if we are merely serving man, we will quit when we aren't appreciated or when the man we are to serve happens to be our enemy.
The apostle Paul was faithful to the end of his ministry. He wrote these words: "For am I seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ." Galatians 1:10. Paul offers us great insight into ministry in this passage. If we are not motivated by devotion to Christ and a desire to glorify Him, we will stop ministering as soon as we wear out or are persecuted. If we are simply serving man, we will not persevere. Our highest goal in ministry must be to serve God.
2. Love
Our second motivation for ministry should be love for our others. While our chief goal in ministry is not to serve man, we should love man. Without love, we will wear out. The Bible tells us love "does not seek it's own" (1 Cor 13:5). We see from this text that love is self sacrificial. Love seeks the good of others at one's own expense. It will take christian love to be able to continue ministering to people who don't appreciate you, take advantage of you, or even mistreat you.
We read in 1 John 3:13-14 and 16, "Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." We shouldn't be surprised if the very people we are ministering to hate us. Once Christ saves us though, we ought to love others as Christ loved us. We ought to lay down our lives for others in love as Christ laid down His. We ought to love others at all cost, even if it costs us our lives. This is true love. This is the kind of love that should motivate us to minister.
It took love for Elizabeth Elliot to take the gospel to the people who killed her husband. She went back and faced violent Auca tribes people because she still loved them even after they had murdered her beloved husband. This is the power of the love of Christ.
It took love for Jacob Deshazer to take the gospel back to the people who had brutally tortured him for years in POW prisons. Upon seeing the head prison guard of one of the prisons he stayed in, Jacob said,"We meet today in the presence of the God who loves and offers forgiveness to everyone." He was able to offer forgiveness to his former torturer because he had the love of Christ.
It took love for Jesus to say,"Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." as the people stood in the crowd and mocked Him. This is the kind of love it takes to fulfill your ministry.
Our first motivation for ministry should be the glory of God. The goal of all ministry is to serve Christ, for as we do it to one of the least of these, we have done it for Christ. We must minister out of a heart desire to glorify God. "...whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31b
While we do minister to people, serving people cannot be the focus of our ministry. Otherwise, our ministry ceases to be ministry and becomes a humanitarian work and a work of our flesh. This is important. Ministry can become an idol in that it can become our focus. We cannot truly love or minister to people if they are at the center of lives. If our goal is merely to help people, we will not be much help. However, if our chief goal is to glorify God and we lift up His name, God promises that He will draw men unto Himself.
Compassion for people will not always sustain you. People will not always appreciate your efforts to reach them with the gospel. Many laborers for Christ have been killed, tortured, and imprisoned for serving Christ. Not only this, there are people who you will not feel like ministering to that will require you to draw on God's strength in order to love and serve them. Jesus tells us if our enemy is hungry to feed Him. Truly, if we are merely serving man, we will quit when we aren't appreciated or when the man we are to serve happens to be our enemy.
The apostle Paul was faithful to the end of his ministry. He wrote these words: "For am I seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ." Galatians 1:10. Paul offers us great insight into ministry in this passage. If we are not motivated by devotion to Christ and a desire to glorify Him, we will stop ministering as soon as we wear out or are persecuted. If we are simply serving man, we will not persevere. Our highest goal in ministry must be to serve God.
2. Love
Our second motivation for ministry should be love for our others. While our chief goal in ministry is not to serve man, we should love man. Without love, we will wear out. The Bible tells us love "does not seek it's own" (1 Cor 13:5). We see from this text that love is self sacrificial. Love seeks the good of others at one's own expense. It will take christian love to be able to continue ministering to people who don't appreciate you, take advantage of you, or even mistreat you.
We read in 1 John 3:13-14 and 16, "Do not be surprised, brethren, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." We shouldn't be surprised if the very people we are ministering to hate us. Once Christ saves us though, we ought to love others as Christ loved us. We ought to lay down our lives for others in love as Christ laid down His. We ought to love others at all cost, even if it costs us our lives. This is true love. This is the kind of love that should motivate us to minister.
It took love for Elizabeth Elliot to take the gospel to the people who killed her husband. She went back and faced violent Auca tribes people because she still loved them even after they had murdered her beloved husband. This is the power of the love of Christ.
It took love for Jacob Deshazer to take the gospel back to the people who had brutally tortured him for years in POW prisons. Upon seeing the head prison guard of one of the prisons he stayed in, Jacob said,"We meet today in the presence of the God who loves and offers forgiveness to everyone." He was able to offer forgiveness to his former torturer because he had the love of Christ.
It took love for Jesus to say,"Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." as the people stood in the crowd and mocked Him. This is the kind of love it takes to fulfill your ministry.
May we be faithful ministers who seek the glory of God and who love others.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
What Do You Want To Be Known For?
There are many things that I want people to think of me, but I asked myself the other day,"What do I most want to be known for? Is it my talents, my beauty, or my intellect?" As I pondered this, another question came to mind,"What should I be known for?" Then God brought a verse to mind, "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."John 13:35
Of all the things that I want to be known for, the greatest thing I want to be known for is God's love in me. First Corinthians 13:1-3 says, "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing." If I have all talent, beauty, and intellect but do not have love, I am nothing. If we are in Christ we should be known for love, for "God is Love"1 John 4:8. I want to be more loving.
What are you known For? What do you want to be known for? How can you become what you want to be?
Of all the things that I want to be known for, the greatest thing I want to be known for is God's love in me. First Corinthians 13:1-3 says, "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing." If I have all talent, beauty, and intellect but do not have love, I am nothing. If we are in Christ we should be known for love, for "God is Love"1 John 4:8. I want to be more loving.
What are you known For? What do you want to be known for? How can you become what you want to be?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)