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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: 1st Samuel 18-20 … To study these chapters, go to this link -
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Psalm 11 … To study this song, go to this link -
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Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Psalm 59 … To study this song, go to this link -
Highlight Reference Passage #1: 1st Samuel 18: 1-4 … 1 After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. 2 From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. 3 And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself. 4 Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his tunic, and even his sword, his bow and his belt.
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Highlight Reference Passage #2: 1st Samuel 19: 1-3 … 1 Saul told his son Jonathan and all the attendants to kill David. But Jonathan had taken a great liking to David 2 and warned him, “My father Saul is looking for a chance to kill you. Be on your guard tomorrow morning; go into hiding and stay there. 3 I will go out and stand with my father in the field where you are. I’ll speak to him about you and will tell you what I find out.”
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Highlight Reference Passage #3: 1st Samuel 20: 1-4 … 1 Then David fled from Naioth at Ramah and went to Jonathan and asked, “What have I done? What is my crime? How have I wronged your father, that he is trying to kill me?” >>> 2 “Never!” Jonathan replied. “You are not going to die! Look, my father doesn’t do anything, great or small, without letting me know. Why would he hide this from me? It isn’t so!” >>> 3 But David took an oath and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said to himself, ‘Jonathan must not know this or he will be grieved.’ Yet as surely as the LORD lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.” >>>
4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you want me to do, I’ll do for you.”
My Journal for Today: Have you ever had a friend? … No, I mean A REAL FRIEND, … like the friendship modeled by Jonathan in his covenant friendship with David. Actually, I only have one friendship which approaches the covenant relationship which we read about in the passages I’ve highlighted today, which shine a light on the almost super-friendship which is chronicled in the book of 1st Samuel between Saul’s eldest son, Jonathan, and David, the man with whom Saul had a love/hate relationship.
And my covenant friend, … really the only friend I know I can count on always, … is Jesus. And you can read about the essence of my covenant relationship, as described by Jesus Himself in John 15: 9-17; and I’m afraid that MY FRIEND, Jesus, is closer in His covenant with me than I am with Him; but I still aspire to love my Friend, Jesus, just as He loves me.
Now, in my world of human friends, I can only say that I’ve experienced a remnant of the friendship which was modeled by Jonathan in the friendship he had with David. Jonathan was willing to give up and risk losing everything, … even his birthright, for his friend, David. He loved him enough to risk his very life and even the relationship he had with his father for the covenant he established with David. Do you have a friend like that in this world of horizontal relationships? … Very few of us do?
Really, the covenant relationship we read about above between Jonathan and David is a prototype picture of the relationship Jesus was to have with all who received His “friendship” in being born-again into an eternal “friendship” with Himself as Lord and Savior. Jonathan is a picture of Jesus, the One Who was willing to given up even the relationship with his Heavenly Father and to die for his friend, David, … David being the picture of you and me when we come into covenant relationship with our Friend, Jesus.
Sure, I’d love to have a human friendship who even comes close to that modeled by Jonathan and David; but I can always know that I have such a friendship; because I have my covenant and eternal brotherhood with Jesus to rely upon forever. .
My Prayer Today: … Thank you for being my Friend, Jesus! Amen
Showing posts with label Christian love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christian love. Show all posts
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Saturday, July 16, 2011
July 16, 2011 … Assurance in the Love of Other Christians
Passage of the Day: 1st John 2: 10 … Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.
My Journal for Today: Have you ever been somewhere, perhaps at an airport or at a rest-stop while traveling on the road, where you engaged someone you didn’t know in conversation; and during the conversation you discovered that this person declared himself/herself to be “a Christian?” At that moment of discovery, did you not feel immediately drawn to that “stranger,” … as if the discovery was of a lost family member?
Some time ago, a man, whom I’d never seen nor met before, saw me wearing a t-shirt with a Christian ministry logo on it in a store where we were both shoppers; and he said, “Hey, I like that t-shirt; … tell me about what it means.” Well, within a few moments we were revealing very deep and personal information about ourselves to one another – mutual testimonies of our love for Christ. It’s that way when Christian “strangers” meet others in the body of Christ. They are not really strangers; … WE are family! And when we meet another brother or sister in Christ for the first time, as born-again believers, there is, as the Apostle John says in today’s verse, “… nothing in [us] to make [us] stumble …” in our interaction with one another.
And in this truth and reality we have another of the eleven criteria that help us know we are truly IN CHRIST. Christians, the “real-deal” believers, really love one another; and they learn over time that love is not a feeling, … it is a choice! Paul wrote about the reason for this reality in Romans 5: 5, when he penned, “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” Genuine Christians are drawn to one another in the fellowship of believers [i.e., the family of God], because God’s love has been poured into our hearts; and God’s love draws Christians toward other Christians like moths drawn to the light. And certainly we know Whom THE Light is in our Christian hearts – HE IS CHRIST!
Peter encouraged believers to use God’s love to pour out themselves, in this Love, to others (see 1st Peter 1: 22). And I believe that real Christians just sense the love of God when it is consciously poured out to – or from - a fellow believer, … just as I felt it with that man, whom I’d never seen or known before, … who called our brotherhood to my attention when he saw my t-shirt. Remember Jesus said that the exhibit of God’s love shared between believers would the prime way non-believers would KNOW real Christians when they see them interacting (see John 13: 35). So, John in his first epistle (see 1st John 3: 14 – 18), is teaching a wonderful and strong sign of our Christianity, … that Christians will simply choose to love one another. Christians can’t hate one another, even if/when they don’t like the behavior of another Christian. And I’d almost bet right now you’re thinking of another Christian whom you’ve chosen to love even though that person doesn’t act in a very “Christian” manner. And the fact that you can choose to love them, in spite of their unlovable or unchristian behavior, is a sign that God is in you, enabling you, by His grace, to pour His love into that relationship.
So, be encouraged by your salvation when you find yourself being drawn to the family of God, or especially when you find yourself reaching out to love a somewhat unlovable fellow believer. It’s a strong sign that you are truly saved.
My Prayer Today: O Lord, let Your love come through me! Amen
My Journal for Today: Have you ever been somewhere, perhaps at an airport or at a rest-stop while traveling on the road, where you engaged someone you didn’t know in conversation; and during the conversation you discovered that this person declared himself/herself to be “a Christian?” At that moment of discovery, did you not feel immediately drawn to that “stranger,” … as if the discovery was of a lost family member?
Some time ago, a man, whom I’d never seen nor met before, saw me wearing a t-shirt with a Christian ministry logo on it in a store where we were both shoppers; and he said, “Hey, I like that t-shirt; … tell me about what it means.” Well, within a few moments we were revealing very deep and personal information about ourselves to one another – mutual testimonies of our love for Christ. It’s that way when Christian “strangers” meet others in the body of Christ. They are not really strangers; … WE are family! And when we meet another brother or sister in Christ for the first time, as born-again believers, there is, as the Apostle John says in today’s verse, “… nothing in [us] to make [us] stumble …” in our interaction with one another.
And in this truth and reality we have another of the eleven criteria that help us know we are truly IN CHRIST. Christians, the “real-deal” believers, really love one another; and they learn over time that love is not a feeling, … it is a choice! Paul wrote about the reason for this reality in Romans 5: 5, when he penned, “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” Genuine Christians are drawn to one another in the fellowship of believers [i.e., the family of God], because God’s love has been poured into our hearts; and God’s love draws Christians toward other Christians like moths drawn to the light. And certainly we know Whom THE Light is in our Christian hearts – HE IS CHRIST!
Peter encouraged believers to use God’s love to pour out themselves, in this Love, to others (see 1st Peter 1: 22). And I believe that real Christians just sense the love of God when it is consciously poured out to – or from - a fellow believer, … just as I felt it with that man, whom I’d never seen or known before, … who called our brotherhood to my attention when he saw my t-shirt. Remember Jesus said that the exhibit of God’s love shared between believers would the prime way non-believers would KNOW real Christians when they see them interacting (see John 13: 35). So, John in his first epistle (see 1st John 3: 14 – 18), is teaching a wonderful and strong sign of our Christianity, … that Christians will simply choose to love one another. Christians can’t hate one another, even if/when they don’t like the behavior of another Christian. And I’d almost bet right now you’re thinking of another Christian whom you’ve chosen to love even though that person doesn’t act in a very “Christian” manner. And the fact that you can choose to love them, in spite of their unlovable or unchristian behavior, is a sign that God is in you, enabling you, by His grace, to pour His love into that relationship.
So, be encouraged by your salvation when you find yourself being drawn to the family of God, or especially when you find yourself reaching out to love a somewhat unlovable fellow believer. It’s a strong sign that you are truly saved.
My Prayer Today: O Lord, let Your love come through me! Amen
Thursday, January 13, 2011
January 13, 2011 … Love for One Another
Passage of the Day: Hebrews 13: 2 [NIV] – 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.
Hebrews 13: 2 - [NASB] – 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
My Journal for Today: Well, continuing on in Hebrews 13, today the Author begins to stretch the love of God which should be expressed in the lives of Christians. He says that this love should be extended not only to fellow believers but also to “strangers,” which probably would refers to non-believers as well as believers whom we don’t know well enough to be considered “brothers/sisters in Christ.” And like I said yesterday, extending God’s love to those we don’t know well can be a challenge when we don’t know if we can trust such people. Tomorrow, when we go to Heb. 13: 3, we’re going to see that this could even extend to the imprisoned. But I digress.
Paul picked up this theme in two of his epistles. Check out 1st Thess. 5: 15 and Gal. 6: 9-10 …
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Thess. 5: 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
Gal. 6: 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Hospitality was a big deal in middle-eastern culture when Paul and the Author of Hebrews wrote the above passages. And it was especially a mandate of the Jewish believers who no doubt remembered the story of their Father Abraham in Genesis 18: 1 - 5, who gave comfort to absolute strangers, who turned out to be angels, … one of those likely being the pre-incarnate Messiah.
But to absolutely validate the importance of our command to extend God’s love to the seemingly unlovable, to strangers, or to the lost, we need to go no further than the words of Jesus Himself, relating His command to reach out in love to the “least” of the world. Read in Matthew 25: 40, 45:
>>> SCRIPTURE: In His parable, Jesus says, in Matt. 25: 40, 45: ”The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for Me.' … 45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.”
Again, I can’t help but remember the exhortation of John from 1st John 3: 18,19 [NASB], “Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed or in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth (i.e., really Christians), and shall assure our heart before Him.”
All of this is tough going for any Christian; but no one said that this Christianity deal was a walk in the park, just smelling the roses. Yes, … these commands are simple and straight forward. However, our walk as Christians can, at times, require spreading some manure on the roses and working hard to tend them for God. But when the roses grow and present themselves, they are sweet smelling and beautiful. So, I guess it’s time to go out and tend to God’s rose garden today.
My Prayer Today: Help me, Lord, to do what it takes to spread YOUR love in the world. Amen
Hebrews 13: 2 - [NASB] – 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
My Journal for Today: Well, continuing on in Hebrews 13, today the Author begins to stretch the love of God which should be expressed in the lives of Christians. He says that this love should be extended not only to fellow believers but also to “strangers,” which probably would refers to non-believers as well as believers whom we don’t know well enough to be considered “brothers/sisters in Christ.” And like I said yesterday, extending God’s love to those we don’t know well can be a challenge when we don’t know if we can trust such people. Tomorrow, when we go to Heb. 13: 3, we’re going to see that this could even extend to the imprisoned. But I digress.
Paul picked up this theme in two of his epistles. Check out 1st Thess. 5: 15 and Gal. 6: 9-10 …
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Thess. 5: 15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.
Gal. 6: 9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 10Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
Hospitality was a big deal in middle-eastern culture when Paul and the Author of Hebrews wrote the above passages. And it was especially a mandate of the Jewish believers who no doubt remembered the story of their Father Abraham in Genesis 18: 1 - 5, who gave comfort to absolute strangers, who turned out to be angels, … one of those likely being the pre-incarnate Messiah.
But to absolutely validate the importance of our command to extend God’s love to the seemingly unlovable, to strangers, or to the lost, we need to go no further than the words of Jesus Himself, relating His command to reach out in love to the “least” of the world. Read in Matthew 25: 40, 45:
>>> SCRIPTURE: In His parable, Jesus says, in Matt. 25: 40, 45: ”The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for Me.' … 45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.”
Again, I can’t help but remember the exhortation of John from 1st John 3: 18,19 [NASB], “Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed or in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth (i.e., really Christians), and shall assure our heart before Him.”
All of this is tough going for any Christian; but no one said that this Christianity deal was a walk in the park, just smelling the roses. Yes, … these commands are simple and straight forward. However, our walk as Christians can, at times, require spreading some manure on the roses and working hard to tend them for God. But when the roses grow and present themselves, they are sweet smelling and beautiful. So, I guess it’s time to go out and tend to God’s rose garden today.
My Prayer Today: Help me, Lord, to do what it takes to spread YOUR love in the world. Amen
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
January 12, 2011 … The Importance of Brotherly Love
Passage of the Day: Hebrews 13: 1 [NIV] – Keep on loving each other as brothers.
Hebrews 13: 1 – [NASB] – Let love of the brethren continue.
My Journal for Today: Again from the verse of the day, the Author of Hebrews exhorts believers to hold out brotherly love for other Christians on a continual basis. In this passage, the author uses the Greek term “philadelphia” to speak of God’s exhortation to Christian love. “Philadelphia,” translated into our American culture, is the human love that we hold for those dear to us. It’s … the love that gives and takes in human relationships. However, when Jesus commands His followers to express HIS love to our fellow man, our Lord uses an even stronger term in the Greek for love, “agape,” which is the love that gives and gives and then keeps on giving. It’s that unconditional love that actually is supernatural. [Again, I refer you to Jesus’ mandate in John 13: 34 - 35]
>>> SCRIPTURE: John 12: 34 "A new command I give you: Love [Greek – “agapao”] one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another."
And in his first epistle, John, reiterates this Christlike emphasis on love. Read 1st John 3: 17 – 20 [and especially note verse 18 in bold below]…
>>> SCRIPTURE: John 3: 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love [again, the Greek – “agapao”] with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth [i.e., that we are truly Christians], and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.
And here is the tough thing for Christians from the words of Jesus and His Spirit, through the Apostle John, quoted above. They are telling us that we cannot really call ourselves “born-again Christians” and refuse to love anyone, let alone fellow Christians. John is even writing, inspired by God’s Spirit, that no mature Christian would ever refuse to help another person, and especially another Christian, in genuine need. Such refusal would demonstrate, according to God’s word, a rejection of God’s love, which simply would not be the case with the genuine, surrendered Christian. And if a Christian were to sin by refusing to love another (love is always a choice!), then the conviction of God’s Spirit would be present in the Christian’s heart and would alert the believer of his/her sin. I certainly have felt that kind of conviction when my selfishness has been exercised and I’ve refused to reach out in love to others when I saw them in need.
We’ve heard of “tough love,” which is love doled out in challenging acts of separation or even rejection of the behavior of those whom we don’t want to be “enablers” for their acts of sin. Jesus taught (in Matt. 18) that there is a time when we must love another Christian enough to put them out of the church for their habitual and flagrant sin. But there’s another kind of tough love as well… and that’s “the love that is tough” to express in living up to John’s exhortation in 1John 3: 18, “… let us not love with (just) words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” I think you’d agree that this can be really tough at times; and I must admit, I find it difficult to live this out when I perceive a “drunk” panhandling for money. My struggle and question is: “How do I show love to this man?” My rational nature is saying: “If I give him money, he’s going to use it for booze.” >>> Have you ever been there and wondered how to “love” the sinner without enabling the sin? That is the real tough love for me.
Yes, all of us who are genuinely in Christ must continually take a sober look at our relational choices; and if God, the Holy Spirit, convicts us of any act where we withhold our “agape,” or our “philadelphia” from another, we simply must act to allow God’s love to be channeled through us to others. Again, according to Jesus in John 13: 34 - 35, that’s the only way that the world is ever going to see God’s love working in and through us as Christians; – and that, my dear one, is when God’s love is given out in His Name by His people.
How about it?! Let’s give out a little “agape” today and let the lost world see Christ in us.
My Prayer Today: Lord, convict me to be a light of love in this ever darkening world. Amen
Hebrews 13: 1 – [NASB] – Let love of the brethren continue.
My Journal for Today: Again from the verse of the day, the Author of Hebrews exhorts believers to hold out brotherly love for other Christians on a continual basis. In this passage, the author uses the Greek term “philadelphia” to speak of God’s exhortation to Christian love. “Philadelphia,” translated into our American culture, is the human love that we hold for those dear to us. It’s … the love that gives and takes in human relationships. However, when Jesus commands His followers to express HIS love to our fellow man, our Lord uses an even stronger term in the Greek for love, “agape,” which is the love that gives and gives and then keeps on giving. It’s that unconditional love that actually is supernatural. [Again, I refer you to Jesus’ mandate in John 13: 34 - 35]
>>> SCRIPTURE: John 12: 34 "A new command I give you: Love [Greek – “agapao”] one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another."
And in his first epistle, John, reiterates this Christlike emphasis on love. Read 1st John 3: 17 – 20 [and especially note verse 18 in bold below]…
>>> SCRIPTURE: John 3: 17 If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 18Dear children, let us not love [again, the Greek – “agapao”] with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. 19 This then is how we know that we belong to the truth [i.e., that we are truly Christians], and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence 20whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.
And here is the tough thing for Christians from the words of Jesus and His Spirit, through the Apostle John, quoted above. They are telling us that we cannot really call ourselves “born-again Christians” and refuse to love anyone, let alone fellow Christians. John is even writing, inspired by God’s Spirit, that no mature Christian would ever refuse to help another person, and especially another Christian, in genuine need. Such refusal would demonstrate, according to God’s word, a rejection of God’s love, which simply would not be the case with the genuine, surrendered Christian. And if a Christian were to sin by refusing to love another (love is always a choice!), then the conviction of God’s Spirit would be present in the Christian’s heart and would alert the believer of his/her sin. I certainly have felt that kind of conviction when my selfishness has been exercised and I’ve refused to reach out in love to others when I saw them in need.
We’ve heard of “tough love,” which is love doled out in challenging acts of separation or even rejection of the behavior of those whom we don’t want to be “enablers” for their acts of sin. Jesus taught (in Matt. 18) that there is a time when we must love another Christian enough to put them out of the church for their habitual and flagrant sin. But there’s another kind of tough love as well… and that’s “the love that is tough” to express in living up to John’s exhortation in 1John 3: 18, “… let us not love with (just) words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” I think you’d agree that this can be really tough at times; and I must admit, I find it difficult to live this out when I perceive a “drunk” panhandling for money. My struggle and question is: “How do I show love to this man?” My rational nature is saying: “If I give him money, he’s going to use it for booze.” >>> Have you ever been there and wondered how to “love” the sinner without enabling the sin? That is the real tough love for me.
Yes, all of us who are genuinely in Christ must continually take a sober look at our relational choices; and if God, the Holy Spirit, convicts us of any act where we withhold our “agape,” or our “philadelphia” from another, we simply must act to allow God’s love to be channeled through us to others. Again, according to Jesus in John 13: 34 - 35, that’s the only way that the world is ever going to see God’s love working in and through us as Christians; – and that, my dear one, is when God’s love is given out in His Name by His people.
How about it?! Let’s give out a little “agape” today and let the lost world see Christ in us.
My Prayer Today: Lord, convict me to be a light of love in this ever darkening world. Amen
Monday, January 10, 2011
January 10, 2011 … Worthy Witness of Christlikeness
Passage of the Day: Hebrews 13: 1K [NIV] – Keep on loving each other as brothers.
Hebrews 13: 1 – [NASB] – Let love of the brethren continue.
My Journal for Today: We’ve been looking at Paul’s exhortation to the Ephesians in Eph. 4: 1 [see devotionals for Jan. 1-8] for Christians to walk-the-walk of worthiness in Christ; and here, in today’s passage, the Author of Hebrews, which some scholars say was also the Apostle Paul, begins to get personal and practical about the issue of worthiness as a Christian, saying that believers will never be seen as any different from the world unless unbelievers AT LEAST see Christians loving one another. And actually, there were other similar challenges in the New Testament of this exhortation toward mutual love and Christian living. Besides the Author of Hebrews, there was Paul’s instruction to the Church and of Paul’s younger protégé, Titus, as we read in Titus 2: 7- 8 …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Titus 2: 7 In everything set them [the world of unbelievers] an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
Also, the Apostle Peter wrote to the Asia Minor churches, exhorting them in 1st Peter 2: 15 …
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Pet. 2: 15 For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.
And Jesus Himself, was pretty emphatic about Christians being walking examples of His Way of love, when He said the following in John 13: 34 - 35 …
>>> SCRIPTURE: John 13: 34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another."
Okay, … I’m both convinced and convicted! If we’re to be worthy Christians, we (I) need to be living for Christ and like Christ, loving one another and shining His light of good (and Godly) works (including mutual love) to the world in such a way that they see our [my] genuine love for one another and our concern for the world (see Matt. 5: 16 - you look that one up for yourself). … And I’m afraid that all too often I fall short of the mark set by God’s word and the Model of Christ Himself in this regard.
Yes, I fall short; but that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t see the Mark and hold myself to it, or should I rather say, to “Him.” Christ is the Mark, of course; and all that I am, I should be for Him and in Him. With this said in writing, I move on toward my Mark [i.e., my “goal” of Christlikeness] as Paul stated in Phil. 3: 13-14 …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Phil. 3: 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
My Prayer Today: Lord, You are my Mark; help me be like You; and especially to love other Christians as You have shown Your love for me! Amen
Hebrews 13: 1 – [NASB] – Let love of the brethren continue.
My Journal for Today: We’ve been looking at Paul’s exhortation to the Ephesians in Eph. 4: 1 [see devotionals for Jan. 1-8] for Christians to walk-the-walk of worthiness in Christ; and here, in today’s passage, the Author of Hebrews, which some scholars say was also the Apostle Paul, begins to get personal and practical about the issue of worthiness as a Christian, saying that believers will never be seen as any different from the world unless unbelievers AT LEAST see Christians loving one another. And actually, there were other similar challenges in the New Testament of this exhortation toward mutual love and Christian living. Besides the Author of Hebrews, there was Paul’s instruction to the Church and of Paul’s younger protégé, Titus, as we read in Titus 2: 7- 8 …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Titus 2: 7 In everything set them [the world of unbelievers] an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness 8and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.
Also, the Apostle Peter wrote to the Asia Minor churches, exhorting them in 1st Peter 2: 15 …
>>> SCRIPTURE: 1st Pet. 2: 15 For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.
And Jesus Himself, was pretty emphatic about Christians being walking examples of His Way of love, when He said the following in John 13: 34 - 35 …
>>> SCRIPTURE: John 13: 34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another."
Okay, … I’m both convinced and convicted! If we’re to be worthy Christians, we (I) need to be living for Christ and like Christ, loving one another and shining His light of good (and Godly) works (including mutual love) to the world in such a way that they see our [my] genuine love for one another and our concern for the world (see Matt. 5: 16 - you look that one up for yourself). … And I’m afraid that all too often I fall short of the mark set by God’s word and the Model of Christ Himself in this regard.
Yes, I fall short; but that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t see the Mark and hold myself to it, or should I rather say, to “Him.” Christ is the Mark, of course; and all that I am, I should be for Him and in Him. With this said in writing, I move on toward my Mark [i.e., my “goal” of Christlikeness] as Paul stated in Phil. 3: 13-14 …
>>> SCRIPTURE: Phil. 3: 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
My Prayer Today: Lord, You are my Mark; help me be like You; and especially to love other Christians as You have shown Your love for me! Amen
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