I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Giving What You’ve Been Given
Some people are hard to love. Most of us have relationships in our lives that are difficult or painful to engage in. But Scripture encourages us to make every opportunity possible to love those around us.
Christians should be the most loving people on the planet. Of all the people on earth, we have been given the ultimate gift from God. We have not only received salvation and eternal life, but we’ve received the gift of God Himself.
God the Father gave us the breath that we breathe. Jesus brought us to Himself so that we might be saved by His power. The Spirit of God lives within us and empowers us for every good deed. All of these things have been freely given to us with no strings attached.
Having received this amazing love and mercy from God, we ought to love others in the same way. When we love others in the same manner that God has loved us, we exhibit the greatest evidence that we are children of God. Jesus said,
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.
John 13:35 NIV
Similar to how we can prove counterfeit money by how it looks and feels, we can determine the quality of our own faith by how well we love others.
If we fail to love those around us, we also fail to show them the love of God. We should not deny others what we’ve been freely given. Loving others doesn’t mean we need to willingly be mistreated, or agree with someone else’s lifestyle or worldview. It does mean that we need to use every opportunity to love them the way God loves them.
So when you have an opportunity to give someone a second chance, do so in love. Or when you have the chance to help someone in need, do so cheerfully.
Are there people in your life that you can be more loving toward? Take some time today to reflect first on the love of God that you have received through Christ. Make a list of all of the ways God has been good to you. Next, consider the people in your life who you can love better. Write down a list of some simple steps you can take to show the love of God to people.
Luke 10
“After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But into ...
God Is With You
The prophet Isaiah wrote the words of Isaiah 7:14 nearly 600 years before Jesus was born. At the time of this writing, the Israelites were doing all the right religious things, but weren’t practicing justice as God commands. Like many prophets during Isaiah’s time, this was a warning against that injustice. But among that warning was a glimmer of hope that God would set things right.
Here, the prophet Isaiah is giving the people of Israel a reason to hope because of God’s good promise—the promise that He will provide a sign and He will show up for us. Because that’s what Immanuel means: God with us.
But what does “God with us” mean for us today?
It means we can share in that hope by fixing our eyes on Jesus and trusting in Him. We can trust that from Christ’s birth to His current reign in Heaven—Jesus is God with us.
He’s with us in our pain when we lose a loved one.
He’s with us in our anger when we see injustice and don’t know where to turn.
He’s with us ...
