March 5, 2015 … Other Oriented?

Daily Berry Patch Devotions in 2015 - Day 64

Devotional Song: ... Go to this link   … Please take the time to take in a video of Dionne Warwick singing the class 60s pop song … What the World Needs Now; … declaring a prayer for more of what the world is desperately starved for … GOD’s love.

Highlight Passage 1st Corinthians 13: 13 [NKJV] … 
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 
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Highlight Context - 1st Corinthians 13: 4-13 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
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Reference Passage #1 - John 3: 16 and John 13: 34-35 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus’ commands of love …

Reference Passage #2 - Philippians 2: 3-4 [NKJV] …
  3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 

Reference Passage #3 - 2nd Corinthians 13: 5 [NKJV] …
  5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. 

My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread devotional entry, authored by Dave Branon, began today’s entry with a sad/poignant story about his daughter who was tragically taken from the Branon family in an auto accident. But when she was a teen, today’s ODB author told of their daughter, Melissa - “Mell” for short - who had a daily discipline of Bible study; and Branon relates how “Mell” would mark pertinent passages and write application notes in the margins.

 Branon further writes … In Matthew 7, for instance, she had drawn a box around verses 1 and 2 that talk about not judging others because, when you do, “with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” Next to it she wrote this Mell Note: “Look at what you are doing before you look at others.” Melissa was an “others-oriented” teen. She lived the words of Philippians 2:4.

For years I have maintained that having a decidedly, disciplined, DAILY, devotional time with God, … i.e., deeply digging into God’s word, … will, over time, shape a character of Christlikeness, with the “fruit of the Spirit” (see Galatians 5: 22) growing and maturing in the life of that disciple of Christ who chooses to prioritize their daily relationship with the Lord. [I know - long sentence - almost Pauline isn’t it?]

Questions for us [especially me] today from this ODB entry …
1.  Are we really choosing to be in God’s word daily? [see Joshua 1: 8]
2.  Is “LOVE,” the most prominent of the fruit of God’s Spirit, maturing in our lives?
3.  Am I a Phil. 2: 3-4 Saint; or am I still thinking of self over Savior?

 I guess it’s always a good idea to take a periodic self-inventory of our faith [see 2nd Corinthians 13: 5 above].

My Prayer for Today … O Lord, … help me to grow in Your love, by taking it more and more to others in my life. … 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.