June 17, 2020
Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
(Deuteronomy 6:5 (NIV))
Do you love the Lord?
Let me ask this in a different way. What are you willing to give up for the Lord? Status? Career? House? Cars? Family? Friends?
Did you cringe at any of these things? Did you find yourself thinking something like, “As long as I don’t have to give up _______!”
What if God called you to sacrifice the thing that you loved most in order to follow Him? Would you respond like Abraham did with Isaac or would you respond like the rich young ruler?
Many people associate the words from Deuteronomy 6:5 with how Jesus responded in the following passage from Matthew.
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
(Matthew 22:36-40 (NIV))
If you truly love the Lord, you realize that everyone is made in the image of God. The way that we treat each other is indicative of how we treat the Lord and ourselves. Unfortunately, society’s definition of love means that we embrace their sins. Is this true love? Would you validate your sinful behavior to the point where you are killing yourself with alcohol or drugs and still claim to love yourself? How can we embrace the sins of others when we know that the same sin in our lives leads to death?
We must love as Jesus loved!
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
(John 3:16-17 (NIV))
Perhaps we should look at this concept through these words. Love the Lord your God as He first loved us – with all of His heart, with all of His soul and with all of His strength. He had the love and commitment to sacrifice His Son to save us! Doesn’t this merit the gratitude and unfailing love of thankfulness?
Does the Lord have all your heart, soul and strength?
Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Posted by dailylivingministries
May 1, 2020
Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©
Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,
(Matthew 24:12 (NIV))
Are you old enough to remember when you could disagree with someone and still call them a friend?
In all honesty, I could probably stop there and most of you would stop and reflect on how society and we, as individuals, have changed. There used to be a time when the disagreements weren’t over good being called evil and evil being called good. Most of us could agree on basic principles and we could have a rational, sane conversation over the differences that we did not agree on. Now, our differences are growing ever farther apart from each each and the chasm is growing deeper. Biblical principles are frowned upon by some and others take this to an extreme by saying that Biblical principles are hate speech.
I saw something today that made me stop and reflect on the concept that was being presented. With the shelter in place, social distancing and the concept that we must wear a mask in public, people appear to be isolating themselves from each other. Random instances where you accidentally bump into someone at the store are now being treated as threats to the individuals involved. Instead of a gracious smile and an “Excuse me,” people are becoming hostile to each other in these situations. Are we becoming so consumed by our own selfish attitudes and self-preservation, that we fail to recognize the humanity of others. We have been pushed farther apart in basic social values and now we are being urged to stay away from each other and hide behind a mask. Are we getting to a point where we will forget to love our neighbors? Will we become so engrossed with selfishness that we will no longer take the time to show a kindness to others?
If we profess a faith in Jesus, we are called to love our neighbor.
Don’t allow your faith and your love to grow cold!
Copyright 1998 – 2020 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Leave a Comment » | abounding in love, agape love, backwards priorities, be bold in your faith, Biblical principles, brotherly love, building faith, child-like faith, daily feed our faith, do you have faith, do you love Jesus, do you love the world, don't let love be replaced with contempt and hate, faith and love, faith, hope and love, Godly priorities, it is a matter of priorities, priorities, Uncategorized, what are your priorities | Tagged: acceidentally, attitudes, basic, Be still, biblical, bump, changed, chasm, cold, concept, consumed, conversation, deeper, disagree, disagreements, distancing, evil, faith, fatih, friend, good, gracious, grow, hate, hostile, humanity, increase, individuals, instances, isolating, Jesus, kindness, Love, mask, most, neighbor, neighbors, principles, profess, pushed, random, rational, recognize, reflect, sane, self-preservation, selfish, shelter, smicle, social, society, speech, wickedness | Permalink
Posted by dailylivingministries
May 9, 2016
Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ©
If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters–yes, even his own life–he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
(Luke 14:26-27 (NIV))
Ouch! This is painful, yet, this is exactly what we are expected to do.
Do you love the sinful life that you live? Do you love the sinful nature of those who are a part of your physical family? Do you hate the sin that has taken control of the world, and as a result, the very nature of everyone, including yourself?
We live in a fallen world and everyone is saturated in the sin that this world is consumed with. As a result, we can’t truly love what is saturated in sin, including our own lives. We can love the individuals to the point where we care about them and want good things to happen, but our understanding of good is severely distorted because of the sin that we live in. Our understanding of love is severely limited.
I know that I have asked something similar already, but I think that it merits being asked again. Can you honestly love someone if they are saturated in sin? Can you honestly love your own life if it is engulfed in sin? Most, if not all, sin is based on the individual. It takes hold of a person’s heart and makes them the center of their own universe. It turns the individual into the center of their own worship. If we truly love our lives and each other, then we are not capable of truly loving God in all of His perfect glory.
I know that it is human nature to look out for yourself and to love yourself, but I honestly believe that we are being told to hate our sinful nature and make a decision to turn away from our sinful nature. You embrace what you love and you reject what you hate.
What do you think of your life and the lives of those around you?
Copyright 1998 – 2016 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Posted by dailylivingministries
Daily Living Ministries 