“add to your…brotherly kindness -- love.” —2 Peter 1:5, 7
[…] Initially, when “the love of God has been poured out in
our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans
5:5), it is easy to put Jesus first. But then we must practice the things
mentioned in 2 Peter 1 to see them worked out in our lives.[…] And the Holy
Spirit reveals to me that God loved me
not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now He
commands me to show the same love to others by saying, “…love one another as I
have loved you” (John 15:12). He is
saying, “I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect,
but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you.” This
kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unlovable— it is His love, and
it will not be evidenced in us overnight. Some of us may have tried to force
it, but we were soon tired and frustrated.[…] I may get irritated because I
have to live with an unusually difficult person. But just think how
disagreeable I have been with God! Am I prepared to be identified so closely
with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness will be continually poured
out through Me? […]Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained through
discipline.” CHAMBERS
If yo think about it, you really don’t mind being loved ..
being affirmed that you have worth, in spite of your imperfections, your
quirks, well, perhaps things that are genuinely irritating to other
people. But, it is not so easy for you to
show love towards others that maybe are very much like you. Suddenly the rules
change … what is good for me is not good for them. They need to be judged and condemned for
their failings. They certainly don’t
need to be loved .. they don’t deserve it.
What they need is to be “fixed”.
Once those things that irritate me so stop, well I just might find it
within me to at least tolerate them.
The parable of the unforgiving servant describes a person
like that. (Matthew 18:21-35) He wanted forgiveness for what he had done –
or not done – but when it was time to show the same to someone else … he would
not. You might think it is an impossible
thing to ask of a person … and you are right … but it is not an impossible
thing to ask of a child of God. God does
not tell us to do something in the Bible, knowing that we cannot do it. He tells us to do something knowing that we
can do it by virtue of our relationship with Him and the power of His Spirit in
us. You should not be content with
harboring negative feeling toward others in the face of what God has told you
to do. In the face of the love that God
has shown towards you. That does not
mean they will change.. or even like you.
It means that you will reflect the love of God in obedience to His Word
and for His glory. It means you will stop
being disobedient. ELGIN
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
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