1 Corinthians 14:1 NLT
Let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives—especially the ability to prophesy.
“Let love be your highest goal!”
When we accept Jesus Christ into our hearts, love becomes our highest goal.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT
Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Yesterday I wrote about a couple of these attributes; today I will continue with the rest of them.
“It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged.”
When we accept Jesus as our Savior, all of our sins are forgiven. Past, present, and future. This happened when Jesus died on the cross. He was the ultimate sacrifice for all of our sins. And He went to the cross willingly to do this.
This is so far from what we do concerning when someone sins against us.
I get irritated, and I can’t help but keep a running total of things that people have done to offend me. I am working on this giving these feelings over to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. See, He is the only human being who could do this, and the only way we can do this is by accepting Him as Lord over our lives.
Psalm 103:12 NLT
He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
Micah 7:19 NLT
Once again you will have compassion on us. You will trample our sins under your feet and throw them into the depths of the ocean!
This is what Jesus did for us, and this is what we are to do to those around us. But how?
Psalm 55:22 NLT
Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.
We give these burdens to the Lord.
How long must we do this?
Until you no longer feel the need to get your own way, until the irritation is gone, and you are no longer harboring bad feelings about the offense against you. This takes persistence.
We will be tested with this a lot, but this is how God will sharpen us. This is how He will strengthen us.
“It does not rejoice in injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.”
When we see something going wrong in our lives or those close to us, sometimes we get very defensive, and we want to take the matter into our own hands, especially when we know what is happening is wrong. The other party needs to know what they are doing is wrong!
The truth is no one is getting away with anything. And the truth will always win out. So what do we do?
1 Peter 3:9 NLT
Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.
When we get toe to toe with the offending party, we are in for a battle but this is not for the Christian.
We do not repay evil for evil, we do not retaliate.
We leave this in God’s hands.
This does not mean that you remain in an abusive situation. If there is harmful abuse happening, we remove ourselves from the situation and report this to the proper authorities.
I’m talking about normal interactions here.
If you leave these things in God’s hands, the other person’s iniquities will be revealed over a period of time. But it doesn’t have to happen at our hands.
Romans 12:17-21 NLT
Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honorable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone. Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the LORD. Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.” [21] Don’t let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.
“Leave that to the righteous anger of God.”
“Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
This portion of scripture brings tears to my eyes every time I read it.
We got ourselves in trouble when we attached our joy to the outcomes of our circumstances. Our joy needs to be in Jesus Christ and what He did for us.
This doesn’t mean that we won’t be sad or shouldn’t be happy when things go well.
Ecclesiastes 3:4 NLT
A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.
As we grow spiritually, we need to have the discernment to know when we are trying to press our will on the world around us and when we recognize this, we need to bring this to the throne of God.
Heavenly Father, I am grateful for Your love. I am grateful for Your Word. I am grateful for Your sacrifice.
I pray that Your Word shapes my heart, brings me closer to Jesus, and creates a servant’s attitude to my life.
I pray for mercy for the current challenges we face, but above all else, I pray that these current circumstances bring people closer to You.
In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray in His Holy Name, Amen!! 🙏❤️
