Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube with images and lyrics from Jeremy Camp singing … The Answer … poignantly singing of how the only answer to the world’s ills is Jesus and His law of love.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Deuteronomy 10:19 [NLT] … 19 Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
… We are to show love to those who are strangers … to others who hold different values.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Deuteronomy 10:12-19 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God teaches, thru Moses, the essence of the Law which is loving others as ourselves.
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Reference Passage : … Matthew 7:12 [NLT] … 12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
… God’s “golden rule” … to show unto others what we would have them show to us.
Reference Passage : … Mark 12:28-31 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus expresses the essence of God’s law being to love others as we love ourselves.
Reference Passage : … 1John 4:7-8 [NLT] … 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
… We Christians are charged to love overs as Jesus loved us all.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Amy Boucher Pye, uses a personal story of a friend’s experience of hospitality to illustrate how God’s love can - and should - be shared with others. The ODB author wrote … When my friends lived in Moldova, one of the poorest countries in Europe, they were overwhelmed by the warm welcome they received there, especially from other Christians. Once they took some clothes and provisions to a couple from their church who were very poor, yet who were fostering several children. The couple treated my friends like honored guests, giving them sweet tea and, despite their protests, something to eat. As my friends left with gifts of watermelons and other fruits and vegetables, they marveled at the hospitality they experienced.
I have to confess that today’s ODB entry, and the Scriptures which support it, have me in some degree of personal turmoil. Here we are in the USA with almost a 50/50 division of opinion as to how to handle the influx of thousands of hurting souls crossing illegally into the US on our southern border. And in light of the commands of Jesus [see above] to love others and be hospitable, how does one answer this dilemma? In the context of Christ’s LAW OF LOVE (see all the Scriptures above), how do Europeans handle the influx of Islamists who desire to consume all of Europe with their Sharia law and doctrine?
Certainly, as Jeremy Camp sings in the linked song, I know that God’s love is the answer. ... BUT - and it’s an enormous “BUT” - how do we, as disciples of Christ implement God’s law of love in the world today.
I’m consumed with self doubt today. How about you?
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My THANKFULNESS: … Oh Abba Father, … thank You, Lord, … for giving us THE answer thru Your word, … even if I can’t see it clearly right now.
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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 do all we can to pursue God’s LAW OF LOVE and implement it in our lives 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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