Devotional Song: ... Go to this link … Please take the time to take in a video of one of those Bill Gaither gospel-singing gatherings where the group sings … The Family of God, declaring their love for one another in the unity of God’s family.
Highlight Passage 1st Thessalonians 2: 8 [NKJV] …
8 So, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.
… The love of God is palpable amongst those who share the love of God in Christ …
============
Highlight Context - 1st Thessalonians 2: 6-14 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Paul expresses how the love of God permeates His body like that of a family of faith
============
Reference Passage #1 - John 13: 34-35 [NKJV] …
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
… Christ’s commandment to His family of disciples …
Reference Passage #2 - 1st Corinthians 12: 12-14 [NKJV] …
12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into[c] one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many.
… We are all, as born-again Christians, part of ONE BODY, … the Body of Christ …
Reference Passage #3 - Ephesians 4: 1-6 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Living in the unity of being in the Body of Christ …
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by David C McCasland, reminded me, as one of his readers, of a scenario which I’ve experienced more than once since I became part of God’s family of faithful. Perhaps you have experienced something like this as well.
You meet a perfect “stranger,” perhaps in an airport, … someone you’ve never met before and you strike up a conversation, learning in the sharing that you’re both Christians. And suddenly you find yourself, along with your new acquaintance, willing to share anything openly and honestly, … even sharing intimate details of each other’s lives. It’s as if you’ve been members of the same family for all of your lives; and you’re willing to share openly with the other as if you’re brothers and/or sisters. … And of course, that’s exactly what you are, … members of God’s family, intimately sharing the same Savior, Who saved you both and has covered you with His blood on the cross.
Paul wrote about it often in his letters to fellow believers in Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, and Ephesus, where the Apostle wrote about the unity of believers in One Body, … the family of God. And as you take in the attached photo, the song with Bill Gather singing about the family of God, and the reference Scriptures above, I hope that any Christians reading along with me today are my brothers or sisters in God’s family. And when we come into contact with one another, perhaps as new acquaintances in an airport, we can immediately connect and share God’s love with one another, even being willing to die for one another, … recognizing that we are brothers or sisters in the family of God.
My Prayer Today: Lord, You not only call me Your “friend,” but in You all Who call you “Lord” are brother and sisters in the family of God. HALLELUJAH!! Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
No comments:
Post a Comment