Weekend Words

 I've had 4 days of on again off again headaches, so couldn't get a general post on last week.  Tomorrow (Monday) I have an appointment to have some dental work done.  Depending how that goes, I will try and get back in the next few days with a post (including Yarn Along).

Two of my devotional readings this week...

From Beside the Still Waters...

Right Relationships - Read Romans 12

If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. - Romans 12:18

We are social beings who like to relate to others.  It is interesting to watch how people interact with one another.  Some are outgoing, others are more reserved, and a few aren't friendly at all.  Some love people and use things, others love things and use people.

The Bible has much to say about relating to one another.  Jesus is the perfect example of teaching and showing unselfish love for everyone.  He said, "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you" (John 15:12).  What a high calling - to love as Jesus loved!  Love should govern my relationships with family members and neighbours, with employers or employees, and with the man who steps on my toes or gives me a bad business deal.  Jesus said we should love even our enemies (Matthew 5:44), and today's Bible reading admonishes, "If thine enemy hunger, feed him."

How is our love towards our brother and sister in the church?  In 1 Peter 1:22 we have a work order from God: "See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently."  This means having a strong, godly love and making sure we demonstrate it.  Verse 9 in today's Bible reading says, "Let love be without dissimulation."  That means not just pretending to love, but loving genuinely from the heart.

If we are married God has words for us.  "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.  Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them" (Colossians 3:18-19).  Ephesians 4:32 tells us to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving, which feeds good relationships.  Let us seriously consider: Are my relationships right according to God's standards?

Cleason Martin - Stratton, ON

But the greatest of these is love.

From A Year's Journey with God...

Radiating God's love

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us. - 1 John 4:11-12

I was travelling on the London Underground at the height of the rush hour.  All day I'd been in a church full of happy Christians, but how different were the faces that surrounded me now!  They looked stressed, bored and devoid of hope.  Probably the only contact most of them had with Jesus - who came to give them peace and joy - was to use His name as a swear word.  He must long for people like that to know how much He loves them, but the only way He has of connecting with them is through you and me.

So do we all have to start preaching on the Underground?  No way!  My bedroom radiator feels ice-cold at night, but once the central heating boiler has rumbled into action, hot water begins to trickle into it and I know I can safely get up and dress beside its cosy warmth.  It is not the radiator itself that warms me, but the water inside it.  When we are filled with the Holy Spirit we can introduce people to Jesus simply by 'radiating' the warmth of His love to everyone we meet.  By nature, we might be cold and unloving, but it is His supernatural love that touches them.

Jesus, it was not what you said that impressed people most, it was the love that they saw in your eyes, your smile, the way you treated them; these were the ways you showed them what God's love is like.  Please fill my heart with that same love and help me to 'radiate' it to everyone I encounter today.