Day 230: You Decide

Romans 14:22-23

You may believe there’s nothing wrong with what you are doing, but keep it between yourself and God. Blessed are those who don’t feel guilty for doing something they have decided is right. But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.

Ecclesiastes 9:7

Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.

Yesterday we talked about not passing judgement on someone because they choose to live differently than we do. Today we are going to dive into some of those choices a bit and explore what it means to choose the lifestyle we want to live as  a follower of Christ.

There are certain things or acts within the Christian community that are deemed sinful or looked down upon. However, many of these things are not sins. We simply get the choice, we choose whether we want to or not. I think two of the biggest subjects I can think of to address this is, drinking, alcohol, and celebrating Halloween. Many Christians believe that drinking alcohol is a sin, while others think is fine to go out and have a cocktail, or stay in in and have some champagne or wine. Now the bible constantly condemns drunkenness, because of what it can lead to. There should be nothing that alters the state of our mind. However it never said that we could not drink, in fact Jesus Himself was at the reception turning water into wine for the people. I understand both sides as being drunk can lead us to act in a way that is not pleasing to God. It’s the same for celebrating holidays like halloween, or going to parties and nightclubs or bars. I think it is less about what you do or where you go but how you do it, and what you do when there. We label things a sin that doesn’t have a church involved, or a Christian name in it. In every moment we are Christians, we don’t get to set our faith aside in order to do things we deem sinful, but we must remember that just because it doesn’t involve us going to church or a Hillsong concert does not mean it’s a sin. We must conduct ourselves as  Christians at all times, now that doesn’t mean you go to a party for the sake of proving that we are down with Jesus or saving every soul the place. No it means, enjoy yourself and having a good time. God wants us to enjoy our life. We put too much weight on what it means to have fun, everything isn’t that deep. Sometimes we are meant just to have a good time. We as Christians have to lighten up a bit.  Choose to live live life to the fullest without feeling like it can’t be done without sinning.  Which leads me to my next point, When you decide that something is right, don’t feel guilty for it and don’t allow anyone make you feel guilty for it.

Let not one make you feel bad for your choices. Follow your convictions, but also if you have to ask if something is right, or try to convince yourself that it is, it probably isn’t. I think many times we as Christians try to explain why we choose to do certain things to other Christians who have chosen not to do them in order to prove our devotion to Jesus. The choices we make are between ourselves and God, we don’t owe an explanation to anyone else. When we learn this simple logic we will live much happier and joyful lives. I believe that many of these reservations and traditions we practice have a lot more to do with how people will view us than they do with how it will affect us spiritually. We are not living for other people, at some points in our lives we have to enjoy it for ourselves, not worrying about what anyone else thinks. At the end of the day, we answer to God and no one else.  

We have to trust ourselves and know that God trusts us as well. I think many times we kind of set up boundaries to keep ourselves from sinning. We live these compact lives in these boxes of comfort that will keep us out of harm's way, keep us from temptation and sin. We are so concerned with not sinning that we forget to live. We live with the fear that we will be a sinful person or are a sinful person for doing certain things. First of all, we’ll never be perfect. Second we cannot cut ourselves off from life because we don’t trust ourselves enough not to sin. We have the Holy Spirit within us, we have to trust those convictions. This is why self-control is one of the fruits of the spirit. Now there is a difference in doing what we know is wrong and having religious reservations. If we know that something is a sin and we ignore every conviction and do said thing anyway than we are sinning.

All this to say, you make the choice on the life you want to live and don’t allow yourself to be guilted for it. Live your best life and enjoy it, you only get one.

Reflection

1. What choices have you made that have been looked down upon by other Christians?
2. Have you prayed about it?
3. Do you allow yourself to be guilted by others or even yourself behind the choices you have made regarding your life?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer today. Talk to God about you choices and have a conversation with Him. Pray for discernment and conviction.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 231!

Day 229: Pass No Judgement

Romans 14:1-6

Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong. For instance, one person believes it’s alright to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables. Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don’t. And those who don’t eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them. Who are you to condemn someone else’s servants? Their own master will judge whether they stand or fall. And with the Lord’s help, they will stand and receive his approval. In the same way, some think one day is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. You should each be fully convinced that whichever day you choose is acceptable. Those who worship the Lord on a special day do it to honor him. Those who eat any kind of food do so to honor the Lord, since they give thanks to God before eating. And those who refuse to eat certain foods also want to please the Lord and give thanks to God.

(Today’s devo is the first of three parts. For the next three days we will explore subjects that tie into one another or build on one another. It’s kind of like a mini series.)

The biggest point I want to make today is, do not pass judgement on someone because they live differently than you. Now I’ve seen this quote a multitude of times, however the word ‘live’ is replaced by the word, ‘sin’. But that’s not what I’m talking about today. I want to discuss how we as Christians are so quick to turn our noses up and look down on someone because they live differently than us. We tend to doubt someone’s Christianity because they aren’t living their life, or doing the things we think a Christian should do. We often project our lifestyles onto other people because we think our way is the only way. Maybe they’re more traditional in their faith and maybe they’re more contemporary or modern. Maybe they believe the Sabbath day is on a Saturday instead of a Sunday. Maybe they don’t eat certain things, or participate in certain activities because of their faith. Maybe you do all of these these because of your faith. What I’m getting at here is, it’s not a matter of how, and where, and when. But it’s more a matter of the heart. If we love God with every ounce of our being, and we know in our heart that He is God, and if we have confessed it with our mouths than we are saved. . If we truly live our lives dedicated to Him, then at the end of the day that’s all that matters.

I think sometimes we can get this “holier than thou” attitude, that somehow gives us to right to act superior to our brothers and sisters in Christ. We think that because we don’t live the exact same lifestyle then one of us must be doing it wrong. That is not the case at all, God gave us a choice and even in the will of God, we get to choose the type of lifestyle we want to lead. It’s not a matter of sin or righteousness, it’s just a choice.  Not all of us are going to make the same choices, but who are we to judge someone else because they decide that our life and our lifestyle isn’t for them.

Our generation can relate to this message a lot as millennials make up most of today’s contemporary churches. These churches get quite a bit of slack from the older generations and the more traditional churches. It’s a new type of church, where you don’t have to dress up, or have a traditional choir, there’s not really a pulpit for the clergy to sit on. It’s very unconventional. Different than what many of us grew up with.  However, it works, we may look different, or sound different, but the message is the same. Our worship time may look like a Hillsong United concert with the lights and ripped skinny jeans, but we are still singing about the goodness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Our hearts are still near the cross. We profess our love for God. Traditional churches are the complete opposite. But the beautiful thing about it all, no matter what denomination, no matter where it is, how you look, there’s one thing we all have in common, the Good News. Every Christian church is preaching the Good News of Jesus Christ.

I believe Romans 4:17-19 wraps this message up perfectly. For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God, and others will approve of you, too. So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up.

All this to say, for lack of better words, don’t be petty. Don’t pass judgement on someone and doubt their devotion to Christ because their life does not look exactly like yours. We as the body of Christ should be lifting each other up, praying for one another every chance we get. That way, there’s no time or room to be petty and judgemental.  

Reflection

1. Have you ever passed judgement on someone because you felt they should be living a certain way as a Christian?
2. Has someone ever done it to you?
3. In both situations, how did it make you feel? Be honest.

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above question guide your prayer today. Ask God to search your heart and take any judgement towards His people out. Have an honest and intimate conversation with Him.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for day 230!

Day 214: Walk through the Door

Matthew 7:7

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Growing up my mom would always say, “A closed mouth don’t get fed.” This was her way of telling me to speak up for myself, and ask for the things I want. This was her telling me, I don’t know what you want, what you’re feeling, or what you need if you don’t talk to me. If you knew me as a child you would know that I rarely spoke. I was beyond quiet. So needless to say I grew up hearing this scripture, both at home and in church. We were always told to ask for what we want. We were told to knock and the door will be opened. The door can’t be opened if we don’t knock. We always talked about the door being opened, we never talked about walking through it. Opening the door is one thing, walking through it is another.

Ever asked God for something and then hesitate to accept it when He gave it to you? We as humans do it constantly. We are constantly asking God to do things for us and when He does, we hesitate. We have enough faith to believe that God will open the door and when He does, we expect Him to carry us over the threshold too. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, God will not do for us, what we can do for ourselves. God will open the door, but we have to walk through it. Walking through that door is completely on us, Often times we ask God to open doors for us, but for some reason when He opens the door we have to take the time to figure out of it’s right for us or not. We send ourselves into a full on anxiety attack, posting on Facebook and asking for prayers to help with big decisions. We often think there’s a catch to blessings and grace. There isn’t there’s no catch. When God opens a door for us we don’t have to hesitate, we don’t worry that’s it’s not right for us because He’s opened the door. He opened it for us. God will not open a door for us and then not allow us to walk through it, (I mean unless you’re Moses, you’ll get a glimpse and that’s all.).

I think sometimes we are so concerned and caught up with “the right thing” that we overlook the right thing. What I mean is that we put so much pressure on ourselves to do what is right that we are blinded by the very idea. We become so infatuated with the idea that we start to overlook the real thing. Sometimes we complicate things more than we should. We tend to make the smallest things into an obstacle course when they don’t have to be.

All this to say, walk through the door. When God opens a door, don’t hesitate, don’t doubt. Trust Him and walk through it, He’s not going to walk through it for you, He will walk through it with you. First we have to choose to walk through it, so we have two choices, either stand there stuck or walk through the door that God has opened and continue to move forward. It’s our choice. The door is open we have to decide to walk through.

Reflection

1. Do you hesitate to accept what God has given you?
2. Do you have trouble walking through the doors GOd opens for you? If yes, why?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above question guide your prayer today, Talk to God about having faith and accepting what He is giving. Just have a conversation with Him.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 215!

Day 148: Misconceptions (Part 6)- Life Is Good/Life is Beautiful

John 8:12

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

When we follow Christ we never have to walk in darkness, not only that but we never have to walk alone. Jesus is literally the light of our lives, we live because He did. We can walk this earth blameless and fearless because He did.

He took away the darkness.

He took away the blame.

He took away the shame.

He took away the fear.

He has given us freedom, peace, love, joy, understanding, courage, love, joy... He has become the light of our world and made our lives so much better. It’s like He came and gave us a makeover. Jesus has provided us with a good life.

The best days I have are the ones when I just sit and enjoy the goodness of God. Meaning that no matter what is going on in my life, no matter what situation I am in, there is always a peace I find in God. I always know that I will be alright because I serve a mighty and awesome God. I have made the choice to always look on the bright side. I give my attention to the good things that are happening in my life, I focus on that and have found that my life is much better than I ever thought. I've learned to see and understand the beauty of life. It is so beautiful that sometimes it seems surreal and brings tears to my eyes.

I am a busybody, I cannot physically sit still, I love adventures. I have a wanderer's heart, for me, there is always something beautiful to place my eyes on. There’s always a green patch of grass in the midst of the desert. This is how I have chosen to view life because I believe it to be true. There is always something good about life. Just because we have bad days and periods of struggling does not mean we have a hard or bad life. I know many of us could fall into that category, I could definitely fall into that category, but why sit in darkness when God has given us light. Why live in fear when God has given us courage. Why sit in our mess and worry about things that we cannot change. Why worry if we are going to pray. Life will pass us by if we sit waiting for things to get better. Things will get better but if we cannot live and enjoy life while we’re in the valley, what will happen when we’re on the mountaintop. We might be in the valley but while we’re down there make the best of it, coming out doesn’t always have to be a story of sorrow. One thing that God has taught me is to enjoy life at every stage. Days are fleeting and passing by, time doesn’t stop, so let’s not waste it.  

I remember having a conversation with one of my best friends and he asked me, “Do you ever feel like you’re just existing?” my response was, “Every day of my life I feel that way.” At that point in my life, I was struggling to find a job and trying to figure out what next steps I wanted to take in my life. I wanted to get a job and make money so that I could live. I only felt alive when I was out in the world doing things when I was shopping or doing things that I felt like I should be doing. But that day I decided that I would not live that way, life is too good to waste. I’ve learned to live life to the fullest whether I have a pocket full of money or two cents in my pocket. My situation does not dictate my life, or who I am. It will be a milestone or a rock on my journey but it will not stop me from living and moving forward. God has given us this awesome journey called life and a gift called living, let’s not waste it waiting on something that we think is coming. Every day we have to get up and live, we are more than just a body with a heartbeat. Even if we have to push ourselves to get out of bed do it. Live, don’t let the days just go by and the next thing you know a whole year has passed and you have nothing to show for it. I truly believe that God has given us this life to truly live.

As this series comes to a close I want to end by bringing it all together. We have to live our lives to the fullest. I believe that God wants us to get as much out of this life as we possibly can. He wants us to have experienced, He wants us to enjoy living, He wants us to more than just exist. He wants us to love and fall in love. He wants us to follow our dreams. He wants us to paint these towns with His love, with our lives. He wants us to leave our mark on this world. He wants to live and enjoy it. That’s what it’s all about. Add some color to your journey.

Response/Reflection

We all have a journey to take and it all looks different for each of us. But if we were to paint our journey on a canvas, what would it look like? Would it be full of color or would it be black and white? Would it be full of decorations and personality? What would it look like?  

Prayer time

Talk to God about your life and what it looks like. Have a conversation with Him, whatever it is you want to say to Him, say it and mean it.

I love you! I hope you have an amazing day or evening. ENJOY YOUR DAY! HAVE FUN! Come back tomorrow for Day 149!

Day 139: Representing the Cross

2 Corinthians 5:20

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

ambassador-an authorized messenger or representative.

I want to pay attention to the first part of this scripture, as it tells us who we are in Christ, and as Christians. When we look at our lives and the lifestyle we lead, do we represent Christ? Does our lifestyle, our choices, our actions, do we represent Christ?

I ask this question because the scripture above tells us that we are ambassadors of Christ, and an ambassador serves as a representative.

As Christians, we are meant to live a life that points towards Christ. We are to live our lives as Jesus lived His. Representing what He did on that cross, carrying ourselves with holiness living righteously. He went through so much to ensure that we could live a life of freedom and abundance, to ensure our salvation. We must use the gift of freedom He has given us to represent Him and the cross.  

We cannot be representatives of Christ if we are still living in sin,. We cannot rep Christ and sin and the same time, it is one or the other. When we give our lives to Christ, when we make that decision to follow Him, we must be fully devoted to Him. We must live our lives to honor and glorify Him. We also must live our lives like Christ to be an example to our brothers and sisters who might not know what it means to live like Christ.

Those of us who have given our lives to Christ and made the decision to follow Him knows what it means to follow Christ. We must dive into His word, that is where we will get all the answers we are looking for. The bible shows us how to live through Christ, and Paul, and the disciples, and so many men and women in the bible who lived their lives fully devoted to God. The scripture also tells us how to not to live. It shows us the consequences of a life that is not fully devoted to Christ.

Reflection

Today’s message is short but I will end with the big question proposed today. Ask yourself, “Does my life represent Christ?”

Prayer Time

Allow your answer to the above question lead you in prayer today. Talk to God about your discoveries and have a conversation with Him.

If you are reading this today and you realize that you have made the choice to follow Christ but your life doesn’t quite look like Him, or you’re not representing Christ with your actions and lifestyle; today is the day to choose to fully devote your life to Christ. If you’ve never made the decision before, today is the day to make that decision to follow Christ if you feel the Holy Spirit tugging on your heart today, respond.

If you made the choice to follow Christ, rededicate, or to submit your life to Him fully, Go to Romans 10:9-10

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and is justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

And repeat these few words,

Jesus, I declare that you are my Lord and Saviour who died for my sin and was raised three days later. I repent of my sins and I give my life to you. I believe in my heart that you are the true living God. Thank you for saving me. In Jesus name, Amen.

Congratulations! The angels in heaven are rejoicing right now.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for Day and every day for the rest of the year!

Day 43: I Chose You

Sometimes as Christians we feel unworthy of the task God has chosen us to do. We can’t believe that He would give us this specific task. Out of everyone else that He could have chosen He decided to chose us. It’s mind blowing, i know! Due to this disbelief, more times than not we  underestimate ourselves, we unconsciously imply that God is mistaken by choosing us. He must have the wrong person. but God is like, no ‘I want you, I know you. I chose you’.  We try to talk our way out of it, or try to convince God that we are the right person for the job and even try to assign it to someone else. But God knows what we are capable of, He knows what we're good at, He gave us the skills and gifts we have. I think it’s hard to wrap our mind around the fact that out of the seven billion plus people in the world,  He chose us. But God is standing there saying to us, “I choose you.”

This brings me to the story of Moses and the burning bush.

Exodus 3:9-11, 4:1, 10-13 (Expanded passage, Exodus 3-4:17)

9 And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” …  

4:1 Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’...

10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.”11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? 12 Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.” 13 But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”

In this passage, God comes to Moses through a burning bush, the bush is on fire but it is never consumed by the fire. He tells Moses, you’re the one I’m going to send to deliver my people out of Egypt. Moses start to humbly decline, and comes up with all the excuses he could probably find, but God has an answer for them all. Moses says, they will want to know the name of the person who sent me. God is like, ‘tell them I Am has sent you. Then He says they will not believe me, so God performs miracles right there for Moses, with the staff, and then says, ‘if they don’t believe you even after that, take some water from the Nile and pour it on dry ground, and the water will be turned to blood. Moses responds by saying, ‘I’m not good at speaking, I have a stutter.’ And God is all, ‘I made your mouth, I gave you a tongue and speech, now go.” And Moses finally gets down to, ‘please just send someone else’ he says. It says at this points God’s anger was kindled against Moses. And God sent Aaron as Moses mouthpiece, no matter how many excuses Moses came up with God foiled them all. Somebody was going to bring those people out of Egypt and that somebody was going to be Moses. No matter what, God’s plan will always prevail.

I feel like many times we are like Moses, ‘but what if this or that…’ ‘I’m not qualified enough’ ‘So and so would be better for the job’ Even though God is showing us all the ways He will equip us to carry out His plan, somehow someway we still find an excuse not to do it. Is it our fear, is it that we feel unworthy, or that we will mess it up. I think it is a mixture of all three of these things, we fear that we will fail, we don’t feel like we are right or worthy enough, or we’re afraid that we will mess everything up completely and fold.. Ultimately our fear is failure, we do not want to let God down. But the thing about that is, God chose us for a reason, He knows that we are able to complete the task set ahead of us, because He is God. He created us, He knows what we can do, and how far we can go. The question is, Do we know? The only way we will let God down is by disobeying Him, if we choose to ignore the task, or ignore the calling we not only let God down but we let ourselves down. But when we decide to pick up that heavy cross and bear it, that is when we are in the will of God. One of God’s response to Moses was, “But I will be with you... “ (Exodus 3:12). God is not going to leave us alone, He will be there with us every step of the way. He doesn’t give us assignment, leave and come back to correct and judge when it’s all over, he’s not a high school teacher. He’s there along the way, showing us, and teaching us, and strengthening us. He’s right there walking with us.

We must know that in the eyes of God we are worthy, we are so much more than what we think we are. Knowing your worth doesn’t take away from your humility. It shows that we know our God, we know who God has created us to be. We are worthy enough to him for Him to look at us, point us out and say, “I choose you.”

Another great example of latching on to the call of God is in the New Testament. Jesus chose each disciple one by one, none of them hesitated to follow HIm. In fact they dropped everything to follow Christ, and in the end were greatly rewarded for it.

Mark 1:16-20

Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets.  And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

Luke 5:4-11

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”  For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

God makes no mistakes, He never slips up and calls the wrong person. He knows exactly who we are and what He wants us to do, He knows us personally, better than anyone ever could. God has a different plan for us all and He has chosen us for a task that He has designed specifically for us. We were all created with a purpose, know that God is not a God of error. When we He chooses us for something we have to get up and do it. There is no excuse that God does not have an answer for. He knows that we can do it, we just have to know that we are both capable and worthy. The only way we can let God down is by ignoring His call, respond and act on it.

Reflection

1. Do you feel you are worthy enough to be chosen by God? Why or why not?
2. How have you responded to the call of God? Do you try to get out of it, are you unsure of why He chose you?
3. God knows what you are capable of, do you?

Prayer Time

Reread the scriptures we spoke about today, and if you want read the expanded passages. Allow your answers to the questions above shape your prayer today. Ask God to help you see that you are worthy in His eyes. Knowing that God makes no mistakes, be confident in the life He has give you, and the task He has chosen you for.

Have an AWESOME day or evening, I love you! Share this with a friend and make sure you come back tomorrow for day 44!

Day 17: Loving People

I’m pretty sure we can all agree that love is not only beautiful but powerful. Love is more powerful than anger, pain, and definitely more powerful than hate. Love is a necessity and a want. I love talking about love because I just love, love. Since I’ve become a christian my desire to love people has gotten stronger. I find myself in positions all the time where I can’t help myself, I love you. I can’t hold grudges, it doesn’t sit right with me to stay angry, or waste my time hating people. I’m just a sappy love ball, I can’t help it and I love it. I’ve found that since I’ve experienced the love of God and understood what it means to be loved by God, I want everyone to feel this type of love, so why not give it to them?

-Dyamond

We all  deserve love, and I’m not talking about love in a romantic way, (we will get to that subject later in the year I promise). No matter who  you are, what you look like, what your social or financial status is,  where you came from, what you’ve done in your life. You deserve to be loved, unconditionally. Love doesn’t give up or end. Loving someone unconditionally means no matter what happens, there is nothing someone can do to make us stop loving them. That’s how God loves us, He never stops loving us, There’s nothing we can do to make Him love us more or less. He can’t help Himself, he loves us, even before we loved Him. Some people will never love God but He still loves them. It’s the same with loving people, sometimes we have to love people even though we know they will never love us back. We have to love people while at the same time, knowing it will never be reciprocated. That’s unconditional love, we don’t love just the people who love us, we love everyone. In the same way Jesus loved everyone He came across, it did not matter if they were Jews, Gentiles, Samaritans, tax collectors, thieves, murderers. Whoever they were Jesus came to save them too, He went into the houses of people who were considered criminals and outcast. Jesus love is unconditional to all people, and therefore as we live like Christ we shall also love like Christ.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

Mark 2:1-12

And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”  And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

This passage is one of my favorites, and not for the obvious reasons. I want to focus on the four men in this story. These four men were the reason the man who was paralyzed got healed. They went out of their way to make sure this man got to Jesus.  THe could have left Him there when they got in the first time and said “we tried.”shrugged and walked away. Instead the did something so loving that Jesus had to honor their faith in the situation. These four men were carrying a paralyzed man on a bed, and when they could not get in through the door they went to the roof. When they got to the roof they put a hole in it, as hole big enough so that the man could fit through it. Then it says they ‘let down the bed.’ They did not drop it, they let it down, gently, making sure that he was safe. I’m not sure how long it took for the men to do all of this, but all I know is that they saw a need and met it. They knew that this man could not get to Jesus alone, so they took him. They went through all that trouble because they knew Jesus would heal him, they had faith that He could and would be healed.

Sometimes loving people is having faith for them. Sometimes we have to go out of our way for people, not because it makes us look like a good person but because we are here serve and love others. Sometimes love means sacrifice, we have to put ourselves on the line for others. We have to love people who we don’t agree with, we have to love the people we don’t want to be around all the time, we have to love the people who do us wrong and hurt us. Loving people isn't always pretty, but it is so much better than carrying around the burden of hate.  

1 John 4:20

If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

How can we hate our neighbor who we see everyday, and profess to love God, whom we have never seen. Loving people is more that just a phrase, it’s an action word. We are always so quick to say, “I love you because I have to.” But just like anything else love is a choice. God chooses to love us, even when we give Him reason not to. We must simply choose love over hate, we must choose to love people, Now I know that some people are hard to love, but just imagine how hard we are to love, and how we still get love. Not only do we deserve love, and want love, we need love. The worst feeling in the world is to feel as if no one loves you. We go through stages in our lives sometimes where we feel like everyone hates us, or that we have been cut off from the world. We need love, we need to know that someone will always be there, that in our lowest points. We need to know that no matter what we do we will always be loved. If we know that, that is what we need as human beings then we should be giving that love to our neighbors.

Mark 12:31

The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

The second greatest commandment is to love our neighbors as ourselves, the first is loving god with our heart, mind, and soul. As Christians our entire foundation is build on love. We talked earlier about loving ourselves, and we love ourselves so much, more than we'll ever know or admit. What if we take all the love we give ourselves and shower someone else with it.

If we do not love as Christians, can we truly call ourselves Christian? As I mentioned before, some people are hard to love, some people cannot accept love, some people just are not loving. The way we love people should never be impacted by the way they love others, or the way they accept or refuse love. When you love someone, there is nothing they can do about it. When you love someone you cannot control it, you love them rather you agree with them or not, whether you get along with them all the time or not, you just love them. The same way God loves us, is the same type of love  we should have towards His people. We must learn how to love people with no strings attached, no conditions, no forfeiting, none of that. I love you, end of story and there’s nothing you can do about it.  

Reflection

1. Love looks different to everyone, we all give and experience love in different ways, what are some of the ways you have experienced love?
2. What does loving others look liek to you? It’s different for everyone, but how do you love?
3. How do you love the people that are hard to love?
4. Just for fun, if you know them, what are your love languages?

Prayer Time

Respond to God, and talk to HIm about what it means to love His people. Ask God to help you see others through His eyes. Love on as many people as you can. Ask God to show you how to love unconditionally. Remember that prayer is just a conversation between you and God.