Jude 1: ²⁰ But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, ²¹ and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.

²² And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. ²³ Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives.

²⁴ Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault. ²⁵ All glory to him who alone is God, our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord. All glory, majesty, power, and authority are his before all time, and in the present, and beyond all time! Amen.

 

we talk all the time about the power of our words... last week we talked about giving up negative words... this is a great thing if we are able to achieve it...

 

what about building others up? what if we were to daily find something positive to say about everyone we come in contact with... not only would this brighten our own outlook.. it would also brighten the day of the person we are speaking the good about... and truly... all of us have positive points and negative ones about us...

 

when I was learning to train the dogs.. they teach you to ignore bad behavior and to praise good behavior.. then the dog will try to stay away from the bad behavior because they don't want to be ignored.. but will do the good behavior to get your praise... you are not to point it out.. you are not to yell at them.. just ignore it... imagine if we did this with the people in our lives... because truly... what other people do is between them and God.. yet we keep making it between them and us.. their sin is not our responsibility... them treating you badly is not your responsibility...  it is theirs.. toward God.. allow Him to be the one to make changes in someone else.. and just keep working on your own actions.. as this is what is between you and God..

I am the Lord your God.. you will have no other gods before Me.

 

we all have 'idols' in our lives.. whether they be things or people... something or someone we put before God.. even when it is unintentional... it is hard work to keep God first in our lives... my thought is that it is that way because we tend to gravitate to what we see and feel rather than Who cares most for us...

 

I read in a devotional today that every relationship in our lives will either pass on or pass away, except our relationship with God.. that is the only permanent relationship we will ever have..

 

even if we have a husband for 50 years.. at some point they will leave us and die.. our kids will either die.. or we will die and leave them... but we don't think about that.. do we.. we strive for permanent relationships on this earth.. whether they be man/woman or child.. or even friend... and I believe that all of our relationships are a gift from God.. they can be used as something to learn from whether it is a long relationship or a short one... and we should value them while we have them..

 

but the one 'forever' relationship we can have.. that is the one that we tend to take the most for granted... we are a strange people... while all of our energy should be put into the one great relationship we can have.. still we strive toward the ones that are going to end at one point...

 

Lord help me to always remember that You alone are my forever relationship and to not take You for granted but to ALWAYS give you first place in my life... amen.