Godly love is tough love calling for repentance!

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
(1 John 3:11 (NIV))

I honestly believe that our society has twisted what it means to love each other.

Think about that for a moment. We used to correct and discipline each other because we loved each other. We, as a society, did not want to see each other fall into sins that became habits that became lifestyles. We loved each other enough to try and offer guidance and correction so that no one would stumble and fall. We literally took each other on as a responsibility because we understood the concept that it is easier to guide than it is to recover from a fall. We also understood the consequences of sin, both short term and eternal.

Sadly, in today’s society, we are considered hateful if we try to offer guidance. We are only looked upon as loving if we completely accept everything about each other.

If that is how love works, then we need to be honest with ourselves and admit that we hate ourselves. After all, everybody has something in their lives that they hate. By that logic, if we can’t accept everything about ourselves, then we must hate ourselves.

Human nature proves that statement to be incorrect, after all, self-preservation is a very strong human characteristic.

Godly love is not acceptance, but a desire to see what is best for each other.

Is addiction good for anybody?

Is hatred good for anybody?

Is rebellion against God good for anybody?

Is sin ever in anybody’s interests?

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
(Romans 3:23 (NIV))

Is eternal separation from God good for anybody?

It is for this reason that we must tell people about Jesus, and not the watered down Jesus that accepts our sins without asking us to repent. Jesus showed tough love.

“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
(Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV))

Copyright 1998 – 2015 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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I am the way and the truth and the life

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
(Matthew 7:14 (NIV))

How many ways to heaven have you heard in your lifetime?

If you truly stop to think about it, there have been countless opinions and philosophies that you have heard and countless others that have made so little sense that you didn’t even pay attention to them.

In today’s society, it has become acceptable to believe that there are as many different ways to heaven as there are people. Stop to think about that statement. Let’s compare this to a shotgun blast. A shotgun blast scatters and only a very few of the small shot actually hit their target. To be more precise, I would venture to say that not a single shot actually hits exactly where you aim. If there are as many ways to heaven as there are people, what does that say when compared to a shotgun blast?

The word “sin” is an archery term that literally means to miss the mark. There is no shotgun blast mentality in archery. There is no shotgun blast mentality in getting to heaven. Just like in archery, if we miss the mark established by God as what we have to hit to get to heaven, then we have sinned. We will not be allowed in.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
(Romans 3:23 (NIV))

If we have all sinned, then how do we gain eternal life?

and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
(Romans 3:24 (NIV))

Jesus hit that mark. Through His steadfast aim, we are redeemed.

“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.
(John 3:16 (NIV))

Jesus is the way! Jesus is the only way. He is that gate.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
(John 14:6 (NIV))

Copyright 1998 – 2013 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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A very special house call

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and “sinners” were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the “sinners” and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and `sinners’?”
On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
(Mark 2:15-17 (NIV))

Do you remember a time when doctors used top make house calls? This usually meant that the patient was too sick to go into the doctor’s office and the doctor had to go to the patient’s home. This meant that the doctor would go directly to the point of greatest need.

Consider Jesus as the ultimate physician on earth. He was sent by God the Father to call the dying to Himself. Does a doctor stand in the street and call to those who are in need of his healing knowledge? He goes directly to the point of need. Does a doctor visit places of athletic ability and physical health if he is determined to bring healing to those in need? He goes where his knowledge and abilities can be utilized to the benefit of those in need.

Jesus, as the great physician, came to those who are in need.

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
(Romans 3:23 (NIV))

We are all sinners. We are all sick to the point of death. Jesus came for those who are sick from sin.

He came for all of us!

Have you allowed Jesus to make a house call?

Copyright 1998 – 2012 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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