Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video with images and lyrics from Laura Story singing her song … Grace Abounds … poignantly singing of how we, having been born-again in Christ are seek out God’s grace to return His love to other when they strike out at us.
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Highlight Verse[s]: 1Peter 3:9 [NLT] … 9 Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.
… As disciples of Christ we are never to repay evil with evil. Rather, repay insults with blessings.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 1Peter 3:8-14 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God, thru Peter, exhorts Christians to avoid trying to repay evil with evil.
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Reference Passage : … Matthew 6:14-15 [NLT] … 14 “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. 15 But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.
… Jesus … on forgiving those who wrong us.
Reference Passage : … Luke 23:34 [NLT] … 34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.”
… From the cross, dying, Jesus showed no bitterness or resentment … ONLY GRACE.
Reference Passage : … Ephesians 4:29 [NLT] … 29 Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
… As Christians, we’re to avoid speaking ill of or to others … rather to bless them with ONLY edifying or grace-filled speech.
Reference Passage : … Philippians 2:5 [NLT] … 5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
… When someone wrongs us with unjust ills, we must follow what Paul exhorts … and that is to have the same attitude of our Lord; and He was always willing to extend His love to others … even on the cross (see Luke 23:34).
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Winn Collier, uses a relatively recent new story about a released prisoner to illustrate how we must not hold onto to bitterness and show others the same kind of grace Christ has shown for us. The ODB author wrote … On January 30, 2018, almost thirty-eight years after his conviction, Malcolm Alexander walked out of prison a free man. DNA evidence cleared Alexander, who had steadfastly maintained his innocence amid a myriad of court proceedings that were tragically unjust. An incompetent defense attorney (later disbarred), shoddy evidence, and dubious investigative tactics all put an innocent man in prison for nearly four decades. When he was finally released, however, Alexander showed immense grace. “You cannot be angry,” he said. “There’s not enough time to be angry.”
As in this ODB story, we rejoice when the scales of justice, which were so unequally balanced (see photo), … as they were for Malcolm Alexander, are put back into balance again. But if you were this man, wrongly imprisoned for almost 4 decades, would you be able to set aside all anger and bitterness and move on with an attitude like that of our Lord when He hung dying on the cross (see Luke 23: 34)?
And in Scripture, we read both Peter and Paul, in their letters to Christians (that’s us too!), exhorted fellow believers to do what Jesus taught to His disciples … and that is to extend grace and blessing to those who have wronged us (see highlight and reference passages).
I know, … it’s tough to do! However, nonetheless, … that is our Christlike mandate; and like Malcolm Alexander, we must set aside very natural feelings from having been wronged to be like Christ and show God’s love and grace, as Laura Story sings in the linked song.
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for showing us how to use Your grace and extend blessing to those who’ve wronged us.
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My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I pray, Lord, that all reading here can, and will, join me and to set aside any feelings of anger or bitterness and CHOOSE to extend the same kind of saving and sanctifying grace our Lord extends to us all. … 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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