Year Reflection

I just want you to take the time and reflect on what this year has been like for you. Think about the person you were at the beginning of 1017 and the person you are now. How have you changed? How have you grown, in your faith and as a person? What has this year been like for you? The ins and outs the ups and downs . What's new? Now what do you want for this coming year, how do you plan to dive deeper into your relationship with Christ? Just take the time to reflect on your year, whatever that means to you.

Now I just want to take the time to thank everyone who has been consistent throughout the year, everyone who has read the devotional and kept it going. This has been such a humbling experience for me and I have grown so much. I cannot believe it's coming to an end. Thank you so much, it means so much to me. Thank you so much. I love you and go have an amazing 2018! Be the person God made you to be and don't apologize for it! Thank you! I love you so much! Thank you!

Day 365: Direction: God Will Always Make a Way

*I know Sunday's are usually our recap days but in light of this being the last post of the year, here is the last part of our direction series.*

Matthew 6:25-34

25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? 28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? 31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Okay so today is officially the last devotional of the year and it is by far the hardest one I have had to write. It is more emotional that I thought. However we shall proceed with today's devotional in which we will talk about not worrying about things and not worrying about stuff that is not even here, because God will take care of it all. There is no need to worry about anything because God has it all under control. We often spend too much time worrying about the future when we don't even know what it holds. We spend our time anticipating what will happen and being anxious for no reason. the moment we have is a gift and many times we overlook it because we are too busy looking into the future trying to figure out something God has already figured out for us. So why not live right now, there's nothing we can do about tomorrow until it gets here. I am a firm believer in crossing a bridge when you get to it. Meaning I can prepare all I want, I can get ready to walk the bridge I have never seen, but nothing can prepare me for exactly what will happen when I get to the bridge and when I get on it. I cannot try to cross the bridge when I am miles away from it, that just makes no sense. I have to cross it when I get there. With that being said, we are often trying to live in the future because we are so worried about what it holds that we are dismissing the journey to get there. 

I want you to go into the new year into worrying about what the future holds but having faith in who holds your future. Not worrying about material things but latching on to something and someone far greater than what money can buy us. Know that no matter what happens God will always make a way. In fact He has already made a way, He already has it figured out. Our job is to not try to do His job but trust in what He is doing. God cares so much for us and He will not leave us out to dry. Enjoy the journey to bridge before you get there, and when you do get there walk with God over it. 

Response/ Prayer Time

Take the time to respond on whatever way you feel led, take the time to pray about what we discussed today and pray about whatever is on you heart tonight!

I love you so much and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and enjoy your New Year. 

P.S.

There will be another reflection post later on tonight. 

Day 364: Direction: We Can't Do It Alone

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Today's devo is going to be quite short and straight to the point. We are talking about direction as we head into the new year. Today we are talking about taking God's direction because wherever we are going and whatever we are doing we cannot do it alone. We have to lean on God and trust Him because He will take us places we didn't know we would go, but places that we didn't know we had to go. God will lead us on a path that we must follow Him to get through successfully. Through life we cannot succeed or do anything without Christ. We cannot walk by ourselves and think that we are going to get anywhere. We cannot abandon the way of the Lord and think that we are going to get somewhere our own way. That is not how it works, the more we lean on God and the more we trust Him and put our faith into Him, the more He reveals His plans to us.

Sometimes people think that in order to fully live our lives and do what we want to do and live how we want to live that we must abandon the way of Christ, because for some reason we think our way is better than His. I want to let you know that we are not in control of anything, we are not in control of our own destiny, God is, and trust me it  is better in His hands than ours. I know we all want to be independent and we want to do things our way or not at all, but trust me God's way is better. We can try to live our life on our own and try to walk this path on our own but it will not work. The main message I want you to take from this is that we need guidance from God and direction from our Heavenly Father because we cannot do this alone. We cannot live this life on our own. We thrive because of Christ, we live because God blew His breath into our bodies not because our mother's age birth to us. We are living because God says that we can live, and we are thriving because He wants us to thrive. If we cannot even breathe without God how are we going to walk through life without Him. We need Him even for the smallest things in life, we cannot take a step without Him. The mistake we make is thinking that we can. 

All this to say, seek guidance and direction from the Lord, He knows what He is doing. Give Him a chance and trust Him with everything, He won't let you down. I can promise you that. 

Reflection

1. Have you tried to walk through life on your own?

2. What do you need God's direction for?

3. Do you believe that God's plan is greater and bigger than yours could ever be?

Prayer Time

Take the time to pray about what we discussed today. Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayer. Ask God for guidance and clarity as you continue to follow 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 365!

Day 363: Direction: The Next Step

Psalm 25:4-5

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

Psalm 31:3

Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.

With New Years quickly approaching, and this year currently ending, this the time that people decide to make changes int heir lives. Everything from New Years Resolutions to deciding where to move or stay, many of us are entering a new chapter in our lives and closing the previous chapter. There's nothing more refreshing than starting New Year, to start with new goals, or continue those goals that you set for yourself this year. Many times we look at the New Year as another chance a new opportunity, to maybe get something right that we didn't before, to get rid of toxic habits or just vow ourselves to be better people. Whatever it may be we must seek God for direction. We are taking another step in our lives and we need to seek God so that He can guide us where we need to go.

Life is about progression, we move forward as time continues to move forward. As we walk as we continue to move forward we must make sure that we are following Christ in every way possible. The further we go the narrower the road might get or the harder it make be to make the decision to take the step that God has been preparing us to take. I feel like God prepares us for what He is about to do in our lives. He is taking us step by step to where He wants us to be. If you know that God is preparing you for something and you know that He leading you and guiding you to a certain place, please do not be afraid to step with Him. Do not be afraid to walk with Him. I don't know what your next step is but God does and that's good enough. For some of us taking the next step in our lives can be scary and intimidating, but what if God has been preparing you all year for this? What if we take a chance and believe that the dreams we have aren't just figments of our imaginations but they are tangible and God is taking us to meet them? What I'm saying is, take the next step of your life with Christ, don't try to do it without Him. Take the next step not just to follow your dreams but to grow closer to our Lord and Savior. To be more than we were before. To have a chance to grow in our faith and therefore grow in every other area of our lives. Take a step with Christ so that everything will fall into place, we are not going into this next year worried about the same things that worried us this year. So that we can start a new chapter in our lives with more faith in God, and a deeper understanding of who He is. But most importantly take a step with Christ because we love Him, because we don't want to walk through this life or any other life without Him. The next step includes growing closer to God, and whatever He has planned for you. Trust Him, and trust that where He is taking you is exactly where you are meant to be, because it is. 

All this to say, take a step with Christ, even if you don't know where your foot is going to land. Put the fear aside and push towards the destiny that God has set before you?

Reflection

1. What is your next step?

2. What is stopping you from taking that step?

3. If there is anything stopping you from taking a step with Christ, put it aside and know that God is taking you where you are meant to be. 

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions guide your prayers. Take the time to talk to God about direction and ask Him for guidance as to where you are going and where He wants you to be. 

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 364!

Day 86: Recap

It's recap Sunday everyone.

Day 79: Push Yourself

Today we talked about pushing ourselves. Being able to pray for, and encourage ourselves when there is no one else around or no one to call. We focused on the scriptures 1 Samuel 30:6, and Philippians 3:12.

"We also have to push ourselves when we are tired, when we are ready to give up, when it’s too painful, when everything is telling us to quit. We have to push ourselves. If we want that blessing, if we want that life of eternity with Christ, we must push ourselves to keep going even when we think we can’t take it anymore."

Day 80: But...

Today we talked about the hope in 'but..', when we see this word in a sentence we know that it's not over, there's more to come. We focused on the scripture Psalms 31:14.

"There’s always a but, there’s always an answer. But we have to look up from our sorrow and our heartache and the bad situation we are in and look to where we will find hope."

Day 81: Burdened with Sin

Today we talked about carrying the weight of sin and not being held down by our iniquities, and knowing that just because we are born into sin does not mean we have to stay in sin. We focused on the scriptures, Psalms 32:5 and 31:10.

"We cannot allow our souls to rot in a sinful hole because we are too shameful or too embarrassed to go to God, or we’re too full of pride. We all sin, believe it or not."

Day 82: Comfort Zones

We talked about comfort zones today and how detrimental they are to our spiritual growth. We focused on Joshua 1:9 and 2 Timothy 1:7.

"What keeps us from stepping outside of those comfort zones many times is fear.... Most of the time it’s fear... All of the time it’s fear. We are afraid of what will happen, where we will go next. But we must know that God is on the other side of fear. As long as we have faith in Him, as long as we have a relationship with God there is nothing to fear."

Day 83: A Step in the Right Direction

Today we had a guest writer, a friend of mine Alex Molloy. Talking about going in the direction God has laid before us. We focused on Proverbs 3:5-6.

" In order to commit to the God direction for your life, you must first submit. Submit to commit! Living a life where submission precedes direction results in God making all your paths straight."

Day 84: An Anchor for My Soul

Today we talked about being unshakable and unmovable as Christ is the anchor for our souls. Focusing on Psalms 46:5.

"Essentially we are the boat and God is the anchor. The water, wind,  and waves are the things getting in the way. The things that would move us if we did not have a strong foundation in the Lord. We are living in a world where the wind blows every which way, and very strong winds I might add. We live in a world where the current of the water is constantly changing. If we do not have something to hold on to or something to ground us we will get thrown from place to place, position to position, and find ourselves picking up and starting over for the rest of our lives. If we do not find something to keep us still, we will move every time the wind moves, we will float away with the current. But when our souls are anchored in Christ we are unmovable, and unshakable."

Day 84: A Step In the Right Direction by Alex Molloy

Today we have another guess writer, Alex Molloy a friend of mine. Alex is the Service Pastor of Story Philly in Center City Philadelphia. He is an amazing person and has a heart for Jesus and I am beyond excited to share that with you today. Enjoy!

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.
These are the words of 35th president JFK

As I look back on my life, my path has led me to a series of wonderful places; starting in London, with stops in Paris, Beijing and Sydney along the way, my path has wound itself to the east coast of America, namely Philadelphia. I’ve experienced hot weather and cold weather, great hospitality and great hostility along the way, but one thing is for certain. If you asked me where I’d be in 10 years as a 16 year old in school, Philadelphia probably wouldn’t have been on my radar. Being the service pastor of Story Philly, a center city church certainly wouldn’t have.

The truth is the destination I often found myself at when I was living a life away from my family and more importantly ignoring the call of God upon my life was always riddled with turmoil and discontent. The reason for this? My direction was way off. Any great pioneer arms him or herself with a compass, and mine wasn’t working, and when it did, I chose to ignore it. Because of that,  I found myself on the wrong path.

You see, whatever road you’re on determines where you end up, the path taken determines the destination. If I planned on driving to L.A., route 40 may be a good start, I-95N wouldn’t as I’d end up in Canada before long. Canada is a lot colder than California. Living life on the wrong path can result in destination a lot colder and more barren than intended and expected (no shade to Canada, it’s a beautiful place). You see, it’s not about intentions and expectations but rather direction.

Intentionality often seems great and noble. God however, isn’t interested in those with good intentions but those who display good actions and embody just characteristics. Too often it can be said about this generation that we’re slow to move, capable of recognizing the need, but end up doing nothing. Don’t be a we-really-ought-to-do-it-but-do-nothing kind of person. Because as Pastor Andy Stanley puts it, direction, not intention, determines destination. It’s the steps of the righteous that God orders and delights in, not the intentions.

Aha, so we need to be taking steps. And in front of me seems like a million and one different paths I could take. What should my next step be? There’s a little saying I’m beginning to live by; DO THE NEXT RIGHT THING.

Doing the next right thing can seem very difficult with a lack of information which we all have. It’s important to know that decisions made today have ramification later on. The path you take now in your 20s impacts your 30s. We can never know all the possible outcomes each path we choose to live will have. In order to do the next right thing, it’s not about trying to predict the future.

Proverbs 3:5
In every arena of life, trust in God, lean hard into Him, lean not into your own understanding

When it comes to the choice of our life paths I make the common mistake to think I’m wise enough to be able to lean on my own understanding. What God tells us to do is the complete opposite of this. There is no need to try to predict and decipher every possible outcome to any possible decision. All we need to do is trust in God and allow him to lead us. How do we do this? The next line of the proverb shows us:

Proverbs 3:6
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

When we live our lives submitting every single compartment of our hearts, our minds and our decisions to God and Heaven’s story, He will make your paths straight. It’s as simple as that (note I said simple not easy!). In order to commit to the God direction for your life, you must first submit. Submit to commit! Living a life where submission precedes direction results in God making all your paths straight.

There are so many things we entrust God with essentially because we have no choice or control in the matter such as eternity or our health. However, what God wants is that same trust and faith with what we do have control over; our relationships, our jobs, our finances and what we do with our time. Evaluate a relationship, a job or any decision on where it’s heading, not where it is.

One of the most important characteristics of a leader is one who knows what direction they’re heading and are relentless in their pursuit forward. Submit to commit, live with a God component in every single compartment of my life and be faithful with what is in your hand.

Reflection/ Prayer Time

As you pray ask yourself if you on the “God path”? Talk to God about what it means to be in His will and going in the direction that He is pointing. As you pray, ask God for direction and seek that direction knowing that He is pointing you the right way. Even when it looks a little gloomy, He’s pointing you in the right direction, have faith and move according to His will.

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Make sure you share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 85!

Day 25: Living in the Future

Many of us are planners, especially those who tend to be more busy. We plan every second of everyday, we know when we are going somewhere, what time we should be there, who will be there and even what time we are leaving. As a performer I keep a schedule, I have to plan everything around rehearsals, and performances, and so on. But I always have to be open to plans changing because we never know what’s going to happen tomorrow or the next day, or next week.

I’m a person who sets goals, and have a pretty good idea of what I want my future to look like, I have dreams, and visions that I believe will come to past, I have no doubt. But sometime I am so focused on where I am going, i pay no attention to where I am. We talked about living in the past yesterday and how it can blur the present. Today we’re talking about how living in the future can also blur the present. There is no problem in having hope in the future and pressing towards our goals, but we cannot overlook where we are in favor of where we want to be. We must be content with our life as is.

Matthew 6:34

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

We can plan and plan and plan, but we never know exactly what is going to happen, we cannot plan every moment of our lives. We all want a bright future, but in order to get there we have to be present in the now, or before we know it a decade has passed by and we’ve missed it because we are so focused on tomorrow. We have to realize that at one point the past was the present and the present was the future. Time is very tricky and it stops for no one. Like the scripture says, don’t worry about tomorrow, tomorrow will handle itself, we have to worry about today, because right now it’s all we have. We have to take life a day at a time, and before we know it, we’ll reach those goals.

We have to learn to cross the bridge when we get to it, not before. God has a plan for us and we don’t always know what that looks like. But we have to know that each step we take is ordered by Him, and we can’t plan His moves we just follow, He know where our foot will land. We have to trust God today as He leads us into tomorrow. We’re great with putting our future in His hands but can we trust Him in the now. God is working right now, don’t be so focused on what He is going to do that you miss what He is doing now.

Reflection

1. Write down your goals, dreams, and ambitions.
2. Trust God with them, trust His plan.

Prayer Time

Today we are going to keep it simple and sweet, talk to God about your dreams and ambitions, talk to Him about your future. If you're someone who lives in the future talk to God about what it means to be present to live in the now.

Day 24: Living In (and Regretting) the Past

We as human beings tend to live in the past a lot, with our regrets, and wishing we could have done something different to change an outcome, or wishing we could rewind time and take a different route than the one we chose.. We look back so much that we start to stumble on what is in front of us, Whether we regret the decisions we made or are looking back at “the best times of  our lives” for some reason we can’t stay out of the past.

Often times we hear the statements “If I could rewind the hands of time” or “If i had a time machine I would…” I’m very guilty of it, at one point in my life I spent so much time regretting a decision I made when I was eighteen I was twenty two and still regretting it. Then I realized that there is nothing I can do but move on, and know that even in my stupidity God works. I was so focused on the past that I could not see what God was doing right in front of me. Sometimes our desires to change the past can blur our present.

-Dyamond

2 Corinthians 5:17

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

When we become Christians many time automatically are burdened with guilt and shame because of the life we lived before we came to Christ. We apologize a million times for our sins, to make sure God forgives us. Once we give our lives to Christ, once we submit ourselves to Him and repent we become a new creation. Everything we did is no more, we can let it go because God did the moment He forgave us. God doesn’t dwell on our past, He loves us in the now. Micah 7:19 says Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!

Philippians 3:13-14

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

There is something greater that lies ahead, we just have to keep moving forward. We can glance back sometimes to see the progress and where we have come from, but we can’t stay there. Sometimes we have to move forward without looking back. Where we’re going is far greater than where we’ve been. And where we’ve been has put us on the path to where we are going. So appreciate the past, don’t live in it but appreciate it and move on. Press toward Christ, to eternity, press toward His love and His final destination. We can’t keep tripping on the present because we’re too busy in the past, it won’t work.

Isaiah 43:18 (read scriptures 14-28)

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.

In this chapter Isaiah is speaking to the israelites who have been exiled in Babylon for the last five decades. God is about to deliver them out of the hands of Babylon. As He reminds the people of the Exodus He tells them to forget the former things. Forget about that because He is about to do something new, possibly better. Sometimes we look at how good things used to be and can’t imagine how they can be as good or even better. When we think like this  we make the past so much bigger than the present. Having faith in what happened long ago instead of what is happening now.  Something we have to realize about God is, He never changes, the same miracles He did a thousand years ago He can do today.   I think God wants them to leave the past in the past and focus on what He is doing now. We must take our focus off of what happened years ago and focus on what is happening now, the past can’t do anything for us right now.

Reflection

“If I knew then what I know now…”

1. Complete the above sentence, without thinking about it just write.
2. Now think about who you would be, how different your life would be if you “knew then what you knew now”
3. Realize that everything happens for a reason and everything moment is an opportunity for growth. You had to go through what you went through in order to get to where you, and know what you know. Appreciate every moment, even the not-so-smart ones, and look forward to growth.

Prayer time

Lay your heart down before God, ask Him to search your heart, and remove any regrets. If you are holding on to the past, surrender it to Christ and let it God. Be willing to let go of whatever it is you are holding on to. Speak to God, Cry out, do whatever you need to do. Go into a prayer closet or find a secluded place where you can be alone, and just open your heart to Him. Spend this time with God and be completely honest with Him.

Day 15: 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 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. That’s unconditional love, loving even though we know it will never be reciprocated. 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 as well. He went into the homes 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 received healing. 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 didn’t 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 a verb,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, even when the make loving them the hardest challenge of life (so dramatic, I know). I know that some people are hard to love, but just imagine how hard we are to love, and how we still receive love unconditionally. We were all hard to love at one point in our lives. Not only do we deserve love, and want love, we need love. The worst feeling in the world into feel like 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 built 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. We learn to treat others well because we know how we want to be treated. We learn to love others because we know how we are and how we want to be loved.

If we do not love as Christians, can we truly call ourselves Christian? As I mentioned earlier 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?

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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.