Tag: Hug

Contrasting Standards

Romans 12:9-19

  The Church:                                     The World:
Genuine love                               Hypocritical love
Abhors evil                                  Embraces evil
Clings to good                            Shuns good
Cares for others                        Despises others
Sound in business                     Lazy in business
Excited in righteousness          Excited in selfishness
Hopeful                                        Hopeless
Patient in hard times                 Frantic in hard times
Prayerful                                      Wishful
Gives generously                       Gives sparingly
Hospitable                                   Unfriendly
Bless enemies                            Curse enemies
Empathetic and sympathetic    Cold and heartless
Of the same mind                      Divisive
Humble                                        Arrogant
Godly wisdom                            Worldly wisdom
Recompense good for evil  Recompense evil for evil
Honest                                         Insincere
Peaceful                                     Unruly
Forgiving                                     Vengeful

In life, we honor our employees so they will perform better, our bosses so they’ll pay us consistently, and those with the power of influence, so they’ll work for us and not against us, but we must also honor people, because they have been created in the image of the same God we live to please. Living to please others isn’t always an easy thing to do, but loving for real involves effort and concentration. God not only takes note of how we treat our brothers and sisters, but more so how we treat those who have yet to surrender their hearts to Him.

The Hard Side Of Love

3 John 1:9-12

How do you hug a porcupine, without getting poked with its pointy needles? It’s virtually impossible to come away injury-free when dealing with a porcupine, because he’s primed and always ready to poke anyone who gets too close. There are men and women in churches around the world, who are similar to porcupines. Rather than get along with brethren, they prefer to pick and poke at all that get too close,  who try and correct their ways. The children of God were called to live by godly standards, and that includes behaving with the fruit of the Spirit, on a consistent basis, but how do you handle a person who seeks only to put themselves before others, and slander those who call them out for their wrongdoing? In the same way it’s difficult to hug a porcupine, it’s even more difficult to love an unruly church member. The flesh side of a man desires to slap good sense into those who refuse to humble themselves before the mighty hand of God, but the Spirit won’t allow them to give in to temptation. Instead, we are to continue to show love to those who are prideful and unruly, while making sure the body of believers isn’t affected by their evil doings. “And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” (Ephesians 4:32 KJV)

“What’s love got to do with it? Everything!” – Ell