Sunday Song

1 Peter 1:22

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.

I was reading a devotional by Rev. Charles Stanley yesterday, and it made me "throw out" what I had planned on for my Sunday Song.

Over the past couple of years, I've been working on my 'tude. I used to be the type to just turn my back and hold a grudge. It was easier that way. I wouldn't have to face my own hurt...angry was the path of least resistance. However, in doing so, I was miserable and way too self-absorbed.

I sincerely started to try to see things how God would want me to see things. When I experience a hurt I try to understand that it might not be all about me.

Charles Stanley's devotional kind of echoes those thoughts:

Jesus clearly teaches us to love even when those around us seem unlovable. And He lived out what He taught. Christ loved us enough to die for us while we were still sinners. Surely, out of gratitude for what He did and with His strength, we, as His followers, can love others.

While it's hard to respond to unkindness with love, such godly behavior can lead to great blessing.

First, the Father is pleased. This realization should bring His children joy, peace, and a sense of accomplishment. Next, believers ought to feel excitement and anticipation to watch how God will move in the relationship. Finally, there will be an awareness the Holy Spirit is working from within, enabling divine love to flow through yielded human lives.

He then concluded the devotional in this manner:

Treating others as we want to be treated is what builds the deep, satisfying connections that all people desire. Without significant relationships, life lacks meaning...regardless of how many possessions or acquaintances we have.

How true, and something I need to work on every single day.

(H/T: InTouch Ministries)

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Matthew West