Love is what is left in a relationship after all the selfishness is taken out.
Nick Richardson
Romans 14:13-15
Therefore, let us no longer criticize one another, but instead decide not to put a stumbling block or pitfall in your brother’s way. (I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. Still, to someone who considers a thing to be unclean, to that one it is unclean.) For if your brother is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. By what you eat, do not destroy that one for whom Christ died. (HCSB)
Just forgive me and grant me some room as I prattle on about the impact these verses of scripture should have on us, but what they call on us to do is to live “outside” of self. Sounds simple enough, but we have to admit it is a struggle for us to live in a world that puts our wants and needs behind the needs of others. It is simply not our nature is it?
In Leviticus 19:18, God says we shall love our neighbor as ourselves, then Jesus raises the bar again in Matthew 5:44 when he says even love your enemies and pray for those that hate or persecute you. Isn’t that a bold call to live by faith and not by selfish feeling? You know what I mean when I say feeling right. Emotional faith is the weakest faith of all.
I don’t always feel like loving you, or anyone else, but I don’t have a choice, because I am to submit myself to the Lordship of Jesus, and obey God’s commands. When I submit, then the Holy Spirit of God will give me the strength to love others, not with my weak and temporal emotional love, but with the Eternal Love of Christ, my Savior, and Lord…God’s Blessings.
Pastor William
Nick Richardson
Romans 14:13-15
Therefore, let us no longer criticize one another, but instead decide not to put a stumbling block or pitfall in your brother’s way. (I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. Still, to someone who considers a thing to be unclean, to that one it is unclean.) For if your brother is hurt by what you eat, you are no longer walking according to love. By what you eat, do not destroy that one for whom Christ died. (HCSB)
Just forgive me and grant me some room as I prattle on about the impact these verses of scripture should have on us, but what they call on us to do is to live “outside” of self. Sounds simple enough, but we have to admit it is a struggle for us to live in a world that puts our wants and needs behind the needs of others. It is simply not our nature is it?
In Leviticus 19:18, God says we shall love our neighbor as ourselves, then Jesus raises the bar again in Matthew 5:44 when he says even love your enemies and pray for those that hate or persecute you. Isn’t that a bold call to live by faith and not by selfish feeling? You know what I mean when I say feeling right. Emotional faith is the weakest faith of all.
I don’t always feel like loving you, or anyone else, but I don’t have a choice, because I am to submit myself to the Lordship of Jesus, and obey God’s commands. When I submit, then the Holy Spirit of God will give me the strength to love others, not with my weak and temporal emotional love, but with the Eternal Love of Christ, my Savior, and Lord…God’s Blessings.
Pastor William
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