Daily Devotional: Thursday, Jan 28
Speaker: Ben Sigman
Theme: Love
Weekend Music links on iTunes: All Over the Worldby Matt Redman; Majestic by Lincoln Brewster; To the Ends of the Earthby Hillsong United; Healerby Kari Jobe.
Read: Colossians 3: 10; Ephesians 6:11; Galatians 3:27; Colossians 3:14
Think: In the message from Pastor Ben this weekend, he quoted Colossians 3:14, which included the words "put on love". The Epistles (which is just another name for the New Testament letters written by the Apostles) encourage followers of Christ to put on things like the new self, the full armor of Christ, and even Christ himself! We have a lot of choices everyday regarding what we "put on".
The fruit of the Spirit is a free gift available to all Christians who choose to spend time with God and live for Him. But it is also our responsibility to choose to open this gift, and to choose to put it on for all to see. Best of all - we can then pour out on our world the amazing benefits of His gift!
In the same way as Pastor Ben said, love is a choice which reminds me of the Cherokee story of the battle of two wolves:
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all. One is evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?" The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
I was looking at the apple tree in my back yard this week. There is one rotten apple hanging on a top branch, wasted. It made me think about how I don't want any of the fruit of the Spirit that God offers to go unused and undeveloped in my life!
Do: Make a conscious decision this week as you get up and get going with your day to choose "I am going to put on love today!"
Pray: Loving Father, help me choose you, choose your ways and choose to reflect your love to my family, my friends and my co-workers. I want to bring glory to your name. Amen.
The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church. |
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