love

Tuesday, July 14, 2009 (8:33 a.m.)

Riverside Lodge and Cabins Red River, NM

“Beloved,

“Let us love one another, love one another. For love is of God, And everyone that loveth is born of God And knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, For God is love. Beloved, let us love one another. First John four: seven and eight.”

Yes Lord! Today I ask that You would teach me more about Your love and loving the way You would have us love.

1Corinthians 13:4-7 describes loves as “patient, kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Beloved Lord God, I confess to not coming anywhere near loving like that! I want to. Sometimes I even try to. But in day-to-day application, I fail. Often.

How do I begin to stop inwardly judging others and the ways they live their lives. I guess Matthew 7:1-5 sums it up fairly well. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”

Beloved Lord, how do I ever get to the point where my own eyes are clear? How do I overcome the seemingly constant urge to criticize and condemn the way that others live their lives? This is not something I can even attempt on my own. I have failed so miserably in this area through the years. I need You to do Your work in me. I haven’t enjoyed pointing out the faults of others for years, but that hasn’t stopped me from doing it. I know that it is not something You would have me do, but there’s always that next word about somebody or the way they do something that is practically dying to get out.

I need Your help Dear Lord. You know the things You would and would not have me thinking and saying. In 2 Corinthians 10 (verses 3-5) Paul said, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

Lord, I want to live my life with thoughts that are obedient to You. I want to only speak words that are true, helpful, inspiring, necessary and kind. These are things I truly cannot do on my own. Muzzle my mouth today Lord. Let out only those thoughts and expressions that will glorify You. Take all the others and throw them in the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20) that they will be burned and destroyed and no longer part of who and what I long to be. I love You so much Dear Lord. Help me to truly love others as You would have me love. I love You. Amen.

(628 words ~ 9:40 a.m.)