Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take 20 seconds to take in a YouTube version with images and lyrics from Glen Campbell singing his hit song Try A Little Kindness
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Highlight Verse[s]: Acts 9:32 [NLT] … 36 There was a believer in Joppa named Tabitha (which in Greek is Dorcas). She was always doing kind things for others and helping the poor.
… Peter traveled out of his way to raise a lady from the dead, showing God’s love/power to others.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Acts 9:32-42 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Peter shows the power and love of God for others by going out of his way to show the love of God to others with acts of kindness.
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Reference Passage : … John 13:34-35 [NLT] … 34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.”
… After washing the feet of His Disciples in the Upper Room before He went to the cross, Jesus taught them how they could show others that they were His disciples, … by showing them thru acts of kindness and love.
Reference Passage : … Galatians 6:9-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… We should never give up on doing good for others … for we will reap what we sow.
Reference Passage : … Ephesians 2:10 [NLT] … 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.
… We were created to be Christ’s master work, doing good works to show Christ to others and glorify the Father in Heaven.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 2:3-4 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… As witnesses of Christ’s love we are reach out beyond our own personal needs to show Christ’s love to others.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Estera Escobar, uses a personal story of a gift of kindness received in the mail and how this love gift made her feel. The ODB author writes … “Estera, you got a present from our friend Helen!” my mom told me when she got home from work. Growing up we didn’t have much, so receiving a present in the mail was like a second Christmas. I felt loved, remembered, and valued by God through this wonderful woman.
When someone gives us a gift out of love for us [see photo] or does something out of pure kindness, it really makes us feel loved, doesn’t it? Well, that’s what the ODB author was trying to illustrate with her testimony above; and also by sharing the story of Peter going out of his way to help others, including healing their loved ones or even raising one of them from the dead [see the highlight passage].
When we go way beyond our selves and show acts of kindness, as Glen Campbell sings in the linked song, we do exactly what Jesus modeled and commanded us to do to show that we are His disciples (see John 13:34-35). He even washed their feet the night before He went to the cross to illustrate that truth. And the Apostle Paul echoed Christ’s exhortation of kindness often in His letters to Christians (see the Pauline passages above).
So, are any of you, reading here with me today, convicted or inspired, as am I, to look out today for a divine appointment to show a little Christlike kindness to someone? And when we do, … prayerfully, … others will see us being disciples of Christ in that kindness offered out of love.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for Your being our [capital “M”] Model of kindness and love for others.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here can, and will, join me to be aware and act when You give us an opportunity to “try a little kindness” for others today. . … 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.
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