Verse
But if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel
against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against
you, as it was against your fathers. –1 Samuel 12: 15
Reflection
Famine, war, captivity…these are all the consequences of
rebellion the people of Israel experienced.
The Old Testament has example after example f the Lord turning his hand
against those who did not obey him. It
can be easy for us to judge these Old Testament citizens, but if we look
closely at our own hearts, we will see that there have been times when we have
disobeyed and rebelled against the Lord’s commandments. Rather than judging the Old Testament body,
we should use their experiences as a guide.
Rather than continuing in sin and having God subject us to His wrath, we
should seek His face.
Prayer
Dear God, You are holy and You are jealous. When we are tempted to disobey Your commands,
remind us of the Israelites and the ways they suffered because of sin. Remind us that sometimes we must be
disciplined to learn this lesson from those who went before us rather than
having to walk through it ourselves.
Forgive us for our sins, O Lord.
Do not turn Your hand against us.
Please extend mercy on Your children.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.
It’s All About Love
Jesus gave us the most important commandments that we are to
live out in our lives as Christians. The
first one. We are to love God with all
our hearts, souls, and minds. The second
one being that we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. It should be no surprise that the greatest
commandments of all have to do with love.
Everything that is to do with God is all about love. God created us out of love and He redeemed us
out of love. We are where we are, as His
children, because of the love of God.
You cannot be a child of God if you do not have the love of
God in your heart. But the love of God
is not just about saying that you have it.
It has to be evident in your thoughts, beliefs, and actions. You may not have it all figured out but you
will learn as you go. This is why we
have the Bible – it helps us grow in the knowledge of God and what His love
really means. We express our love for
God through communicating with Him regularly, studying His word, and obeying
His commands.
We also express our love for God through loving people. There is no way you can claim to love God if
you harbor resentment and hatred against people. It can be hard to let go of the hurtful
things that people have done to us, but forgiveness sets us free. Forgiveness is a godly action because we are
emulating what God did for us. God is
more than capable of healing our brokenness and helping us find the strength to
forgive those who have wronged us.
God’s love guides us on how to love our neighbors – both
believers and non-believers. We love our
fellow believers because they are our brothers and sisters in Christ – we are
family. We love non-believers because
they need that love – even if they do not realize it. The love we give them will show them that
there is a God who loves them and desires to be a part of their lives.
Love keeps all things godly together. That is why we are to treasure it and treat
it as the powerful, life-changing force that it is.
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