I was reading the 'daily bread' this morning and it was talking about a woman whose mother has alzheimer's and she has slowly deteriorated and the woman says that through this experience she has learned what true love really is... she has learned that you stay through the good and the bad... that you continue to show love regardless of how annoyed you may be... that you love unconditionally.. and even though her mother has lost much of her memory and movement.. she is able to remember that under the person she now looks at.. is the person that she always knew... and she is able to love the person she has always been in spite of what she now sees...

 

and I was thinking... we have all had situations in our lives where it was not easy to love someone... and for me personally.. in the past.. I would just walk away... but I know that is not God's version of love.. we don't just stop dealing with people because they are hard to deal with..

 

don't misunderstand me.. I am not saying we are to stay in abusive relationships or unhealthy ones.. but we walk away from people so easily... I have brothers and sisters I haven't talked to in 23yrs because I was with a black man.. and my kids are black.. how ridiculous is that? that is not the love that God intended for us to have or to show others... God's love is constant.. it is not based on our actions.. it is not based on our feelings.. if we could learn to love as God does.. we could change the world...

 

corinthians 13: love is patient, love is kind.. love is neverending and it never fails.

Romans 6: ¹⁸ Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.

I think this is a battle we all face at some time... we stop living for Christ and live instead for the laws.. not intentionally... not even recognizing it.. but this is when we become judgemental and harsh...

I think we see how far we have come and look at someone else and wonder what is wrong with them that they can't seem to get it together.. even if these words don't come out of our mouths.. we still think them...

and at that point.. we have stopped living in Christ's love and began living in the law... looking to the actions of the physical body rather than the emotions of the heart... someone's heart may be right with God.. but sometimes they have an issue they don't seem able to get over.. sometimes it seems they don't even want to get over it... but it is not our place to judge either the person and their actions or their relationship with God...

truly we have enough trouble keeping our own heart pure and cannot afford to be worried about anyone else's condition of the heart..

John 3: ¹⁹ And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. ²⁰ All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. ²¹ But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.”

 

I can remember when I was loving the darkness more than the light... I didn't want many of my actions to be exposed.. I would stay away from people or places that could 'expose' me...

 

now that I live in the light I no longer have fear of being exposed.. there is nothing hidden now... I am not trying to look one way and sneak to do something else... so today I can live fully in the light.. both the light of people's eyes and the Light of God...

 

I pray that others can see my life and desire to make a change not based on me.. but based on all the changes that God has made within me... both inside and in my actions...

I was praying/meditating with God this morning.. and I realized.. I can now go into a relationship with a man because of God's great love for me... not because of a man's great love for me.. but because of God's... I used to use the excuse of God loving me so great.. why would I want to add a man to it and allow him to mess it up... today I realize that he wouldn't mess it up... he would be an outlet for this great love of God within me to overflow and touch the man God chooses..

Philippians 4: ⁷ Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. ⁸ And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. ⁹ Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.

 

this morning.. the man that has been annoying me so badly at work... says something ridiculous about/to someone else in an email and I am copied on it.. my instinct.. my human nature wanted to say something smart to someone else about him... just to push the knife in the reality that he is an idiot... and Jesus stops me.. and tells me to focus my thoughts on that which is true and honorable and right and pure and lovely and admirable... thinking about things that are excellent and worthy of praise... so I did not make the comment that I desired to make... I said nothing at all because it did not need to be said...

 

I wonder... if we could take our focus off of ourselves... not just for a minute to get our head right.. but really stop focusing on ourselves for the long haul.... I think we would feel so much better... if I sit and think all day about how annoying this man is... and I admit that many times on a wednesday as my entire payroll is pushed late because of him.. I do fall into that... but... is it going to change my situation? no.. I am going to have to walk through this.. and I have a choice.. either I will walk around mad half my life... or I will recognize that this is just a trial or test.. and my job is to be the best me I can be at the time... I am done letting this stupid man control my attitude and feelings and joy... yes.. I said joy.. peace too if I am honest.. because I cannot have peace and joy along with an attitude...

 

this is my new motto for life: I will fix my thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Thinking about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. ⁹ Keep putting into practice all I learned and received about God and His goodness—everything you heard from Him and saw Him doing. Then the God of peace will be with me.

I remember a time that I was thinking that peace of mind is priceless... well it STILL is PRICELESS!

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.