“Love means doing what God has commanded us, and He has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.” v. 6 (NLT)
Love, what does it look and how would you describe it? All of us have a desire to be loved and somewhere deep in our hearts we are compelled to love. Love is the deepest form of commitment and causes us to think outside of ourselves. It motivates us with an “I’ll do what ever it takes” attitude! You see, when we truly love God, THEN we will truly love people. It’s a catch 22. Understanding that we are loved by God allows us to truly love others. We begin to see people from his perspective and it causes us to think about them instead of only ourselves. Thus, capturing, experiencing, and giving the greatest gift we can ever give someone, Love, no strings attached!
Today, how can you express genuine, pure, selfless love to the people around you? Do something today out of Love for God and others!
“Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.” v. 5 (NLT)
Have you ever taken a spiritual? I mean, we understand what it means to have a yearly exam at the doctor’s office. When playing sports in Middle School and High School a physical has to be done before you can play on the school team. But just as a physical is important to make sure we are physically healthy, a spiritual is important to make sure we are spiritually healthy. Think about it, what if we took the same discipline we take in making sure our bodies are healthy, and used the same tenacity to make sure we are spiritually healthy! Because of this I propose the importance of taking a spiritual!
Here are some questions that should be asked during your Spiritual:
1. Have you Surrendered to Christ allowing Him to be Savior and Lord?
2. Are you spending daily time with Him reading the Bible and allowing Him to speak to you?
3. Are you spending daily time with Him in Prayer and allowing yourself to speak to Him?
4. Are you Hiding His Word in your heart by memorizing Scripture?
5. Are your beliefs and lifestyle moving in the same direction?
6. Do your words and actions align or contradict each other?
7. Are you sharing the Gospel with friends, family, and strangers?
8. Are you investing your life in someone else teaching them the things of God and challenging them to develop spiritual habits?
9. Are you serving in a local church?
10. Are you spending your life on eternal things instead of earthly things?
These are just 10 questions of many that should be asked during your spiritual! I want to encourage you to take some time to think thru these 10 questions? If you think of more, great! But lets use this as a starting point to examining ourselves to see if our faith is genuine!
Today, spend some time examining yourself by taking a spiritual! If there are areas you are doing well in, celebrate them and continue pressing in. But if there are areas that need some tweaking, make the adjustments needed to take your faith and journey with Christ to deeper commitments!
“I will gladly spend myself and all I have for you, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me.” v.15 (NLT)
This is the heart of a person who cares deeply for the people. Paul had such a burden and passion to see others know and follow God that he would go to great length to reach and teach them everything he knew in-order to advance Gods Kingdom. However, people weren’t exactly showing him the same love back.
The type of love Paul was expressing included encouragement and rebuking. He didn’t just say the things that the people wanted to hear, he also said the things that they needed to hear. As a result, some started making excuses and pointing fingers back at Paul instead of dealing with the conviction they were feeling in their own heart.
Let’s be honest, it tough to confront someone in a loving way! Many times we are so scared of how it may be perceived and received that we will stay silent because we don’t want to lose that friendship. I get that. But if we really love them, we must learn how to talk about the difficult things with them. It’s not going g to be easy. But instead of worrying about the outcome, let’s share the truth and work through the situation together!
Today, is there a difficult conversation you need to have with someone you love? Will you learn to not just say the things they want to hear, but also share the things they need to hear in love. It may be tough, but Real love isn’t always easy!
“But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.” v 15-16 (NLT)
It was true then and it is true now, Satan is a liar, and he is doing everything he can to deceive as many people as he can, in the time he has left. We don’t have time to go into all the different ways that Satan tries to lead us astray. To be honest, there are way to many to count. But, we can know what the Word of God says … and to be honest, when we know what the Word of God says, we can have a better chance of determining what is truth and what are lies.
I’ll be honest, we live in a world that tries to justify everything! We have become smooth talkers and experts on spinning things to get what we want. If we aren’t careful, we can begin to convince ourselves that something is ok when we know it is wrong. The Bible calls this the Hardening of the Heart. “Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.” Eph 4:18 (NLT) Knowing the Word of God, Testing the things we hear with the Word of God, and Praying through the Word of God, are the only ways we will be able to know the truth and not be deceived.
Today, what will you believe? We have to understand that the enemy would like nothing more than to lead you and I astray, that’s why it is curtail for us to know the Truth of God’s Word. When we know the truth, the truth will set us free!!!
“We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.” v.4 (NLT)
Every Christian has 3 main weapons to fight off the enemy! However, many Christians don’t ever take a stand and use the weapons that have been given effectively. But these weapons are powerful when used in the way they were meant to be used. So lets take a closer look at these three things that have been given so we can take a stand against the evil one, have confidence as believers, and have boldness to share our faith with others around us.
1. The Word of God – AKA Sword of the Spirit
We have been given a sword that many never carry or know how to use. Instead, it sits at home collecting dust because it is rarely picked up. This sword I am referring to is the Bible. It is described as being “alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” (Hebrews 4:12) The Bible is powerful in the hands of a Christ Follower that reads it, meditates on it, and memorizes it!
2. Prayer
We have the ability to call on Heaven at anytime. Sadly, our prayer time consist of meal time prayers or times when we have come to the end of our rope and offer up a prayer as a last resort. But when we look at how prayer was used by the people of God in the Bible, we see powerful things that happened when God’s people committed to prayer. Somewhere in the mix, or the busyness of the day we have lost the importance of and the power of prayer. James says that, “The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results.” When we pray, God listens. When we pray, we no longer look to our own power but we draw from the power given by the Holy Spirit. Prayer may be one of the most simple yet difficult things a Christian can do. But when done in a Biblical way, Biblical results happen!
3. Personal Testimony
One of the greatest tools that a Christian has is their personal testimony of what Christ has done in their life. Now, it seems that the only testimonies we hear are the extreme ones. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard someone say that their testimony isn’t that good. Listen, if you have surrendered your life to Jesus, you have a testimony and it is good! Why, because you once were dead, and now you are alive … THAT’S A TESTIMONY! Let me remind you of Jesus words in Revelation 12:11, “And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony.” Simply put, you have a story, don’t cheapen it, don’t discredit it, but simply share it. God will use it. The only way it can’t be used is if you keep silent!
Today, Spend some time reading Scripture, praying, and preparing your story so when the opportunity arrises, you are prepared for what ever come your way!
“You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. ‘For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.’” v.7
Paul says this two times within these two chapters. It must be important for us to understand and to begin to apply as we live out the Gospel advancing the Kingdom of God. So, instead of writing something new, let’s think through this again today because giving is such an important part of a Christ Followers life.
Giving is a testimony to the faith of a believer. How and where you spend your money reveals where your heart is. It’s often said, “Show me you check book and I will tell you where your heart is.” When we give, we are giving back to God for the advancement of His Kingdom on this earth. It allows the church to accomplish the task of reaching people for Christ, Baptizing new believers, Discipling Committed Christ Followers, and Equipping the Church to lead. By giving, we help the church extend its ministry and influence in culture.
Today, are you a giver? How can you begin to give from what you have and/or increase your giving according to what you have?
“Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have.” v.12 (NLT)
Giving is a testimony to the faith of a believer. How and where you spend your money reveals where your heart is. It’s often said, “Show me you check book and I will tell you where your heart is.” When we give, we are giving back to God for the advancement of His Kingdom on this earth. It allows the church to accomplish the task of reaching people for Christ, Baptizing new believers, Discipleing Committed Christ Followers, and Equipping the Church to lead. By giving, we help the church extend its ministry and influence in culture.
Today, are you a giver? How can you begin to give from what you have and/or increase your giving according to what you have?
“For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.” v.10 (NLT)
We have all experienced sadness, but not all of us have experienced brokenness! Brokenness, causes us to see ourselves in a way that exposes who we really are. Brokenness causes us to look outside ourselves, realizing that we have a need that can not be met my things, others, or ourselves. In times of brokenness we see who we are in light of who God is. It reveals our sinfulness and His Holiness. It causes us to repent from sin and seek forgiveness and moves us into a great knowledge and experience of Gods Love for us.
However, many times we don’t allow ourselves to have a sense of brokenness. Brokenness goes against everything we have been programmed to believe by our society. Work hard, don’t cry, you can do anything you put your mind to, and you can live happily ever after. Out fear of failure, and fear of what others might think, say, or do, and our own pride keeps many of us from expressing and experiencing true brokenness thus causing us to harden our heart toward God.
Therefore here is the question, When the real you is exposed, how do you respond?
Today, lets pray that God would give us a sense of brokenness for the things that break His Heart! This is the only way we will truly change because we rely on His strength, mercy, grace, and forgiveness instead of relying on ourselves.
“We live in such a way that no one will stumble because of us, and no one will find fault with our ministry.” v.3 (NLT)
People are watching!!! How you live impacts how they interpret what you believe, and what they believe about what you believe! Now this doesn’t mean we need to walk around on eggshells hoping we don’t mess up, but it does mean that as Christ Followers we begin to express on the outside the things we believe on the inside. This is where we put our faith in action and others can see Jesus by the way we live.
Today, don’t let the things you say or do cause someone else to stumble and/or discredit the work of Christ in you and potentially in them!
“So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’” v.20
Every-time I read this i get the chills of excitement and the chills of fear. I am excited that I get to represent Christ to the world, but then I think about the magnitude of that statement and the responsibility I have to represent Him. It’s often said that people won’t read the Bible but they will read your life! It leaves us asking the question, what are people really seeing in me. I’m not talking about the things i say I believe, I am talking about the day-to-day me, what do they see, and as they read my life, am I representing Christ in a worthy way? This is the question, this is the calling, and this is the challenge that every Christ Follower should evaluate their life on.
Today, How will you represent Christ? What will others see from your life today? Will they see Christ by you actions, your words, your convictions, your attitude, and your service?
