Thursday February 24, 2011
Theme: Loving Like Jesus Loves Me
Weekend Music links on iTunes: God Is With Us - Michael Olson, Today Is the Day - Lincoln Brewster, None But Jesus - Hillsong, Attention - Know Hope Collective
Read: John 13:34, Col. 3:13, Rom. 15:7, Eph.3:8
Think: As I have reread and thought over the verses from Sunday’s message, it struck me that the Bible uses some pretty strong language when it comes to the way we are to treat others. Jesus “commands” us to love one another, “you must love one another”, he says. Paul says “you must make allowances for each other’s faults” and “you must forgive”. As a follower of Jesus, he doesn’t allow me the option of hating, holding grudges, or being exclusive towards others.
So, wow! Now what? Do I accept this as a challenge, make a resolution, dig in and try harder? Like my New Year’s resolutions, this plan is doomed to swift failure. Truly loving, forgiving and accepting others is difficult if not impossible in my own strength. But, what I can do, is to open my heart to Jesus and allow Him to love, forgive and accept others through me.
Letting Christ love through me is a bit like this: when I add a program on my computer a message pops up that says: “Do you want to allow the following program to make changes to this computer?” It is then my choice to say yes or no. If I say yes, I know that my computer will now run differently. It has been intrinsically changed. Jesus says to me “Do you want to allow me to make changes to your heart?” It is now my choice to say, “YES”!
Do: Say “Yes” to Jesus. Allow him to make changes in your heart, to transform you to be more like him.
Pray: Lord, your very nature is love. I now open my heart and allow you to do a work in me. Love others through me. Make me more like you; loving, forgiving, and accepting. May I be a conduit of your grace to those around me today. Amen.
The eDevotional is written each week by a team of volunteers from Timberlake Church.