April 15, 2021 … Carrying Their Baggage …

Berry Patch Devotions in 2021 - Day 105

Devotional Song: ... GO TO THIS LINK ...   Please take the time to take in song and lyrics from Steven Curtis Chapman singing … I Will Be Here … poignantly singing of how we Christians should be there to help others carry their heavy baggage in life. 

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Highlight Passage:  Leviticus 19:34  [ESV] ... 

34 You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

…God’s command to treat strangers as we would family.        

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Highlight Passage [Context]: …  Leviticus 19:32-34  [ESV] …  USE THIS LINK … 

… God, thru Moses’ teaching, shows those in the under the Old Covenant were commanded by God to love and treat strangers as neighbors. 

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Reference Passage: … Matthew 7:12 [ESV] …  

12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. … “   

…  Jesus teaches His followers His “golden rule” of doing for others as we would want to be treated ourselves. 

Reference Passage: … John 13:34-35 [ESV] …  USE THIS LINK … 

…  Jesus’ command to His disciples that we love one another, showing off His love and grace to others. 

Reference Passage: … Ephesians 4:32 [ESV] …  

32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. 

…  Paul exhorting other Christians to treat one another as God would treat us with Christlike love and grace.  

Reference Passage: … Philippians 2:4-5 [ESV] …  

4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, …  

…  As disciples of Christ God, thru Paul, taught that we are to have Christ’s mind of humility and service to look out for the interests of others as we would our own interests.   

My Devotional Journal: Today's Our Daily Bread author, Kirsten Holmberg, AT THIS LINK …  writes of of a middle school teacher who had her students write their biggest problem in life on cards and exchange them anonymously, … teaching her students that we all have “baggage” (see photo); … and that we need to help each other carry the baggage which piles up in life if we don’t share each other’s burdens.  

And that is a life message which is found in the Old Testament (see highlight passage) and repetitively from Christ and God’s Authors in the NT (see Scriptures above).  So, I’m praying this morning that we all have internalized that “golden rule” mentality [see Matt 7:12]; … and we look to help others we see today who have some baggage which we might help them carry. 

My THANKFULNESS: ... Oh Abba Father, ... thank You, King Jesus, … for giving me Your empowering grace to help others with their baggage.       

My Prayer Today: Oh Abba Father, ... King Jesus, ... . I pray that all reading here will join me today, … to seek to help others carry their baggage today.   … Amen

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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.