by David Brenneman
"If someone says, “I love God,” and yet he hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen." 1 John 4:20.
"Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. Why not rather be wronged?" 1 Corinthians 6:7a.
"Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a.
The behavior of Christian people ought not to mirror the behavior of the world...and yet it is. So many people are not going to God's Word as the final word on situations in their lives. They, like the world, want what they want, when they wanted it and how they wanted it.
Is this taught of the Spirit on how we are to be? To take other Believers to court? To exercise a complete lack of forgiveness? To even divorce another Believer? Wasn't it the Lord Jesus Christ in the book of Genesis who stated that what God has joined together, let no man separate? Didn't Jesus reiterate this in the Gospels?
For sure what we think matters, but only through the lense of Scripture. We are called to be holy as He is holy. We are called to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and spirit. To love your neighbor as yourself.
Where in this do we find permission from God to break His word regarding other Believers?
When issues arise, we are to seek Godly counsel. Not worldly counsel. When we think it's our way or the highway, we are already on that sinking sand that Jesus spoke of.
Are we so out of touch with the Spirit that we would rather break the Word of God in favor of our getting what we want in life?
How do we expect God to honor our life if there's any semblance of disobedience? To disobey in part is to disobey in all - a paraphrase from Dr. Charles Stanley.
We are to be living lives separated from the world, yet while we remain in the world.
Forgiveness. Why do so many Believer's treat this as a disposable commodity? That there's certain topics, certain situations, where God's forgiveness doesn't apply? Jesus went to the cross and took on every single type and kind of sin ever committed or will be committed by every single human being every to make it into human history. His forgiveness reaches to the farthest parts of the Heavens.
It's heartbreaking to read of Believer's taking Believer's to court. To see what's obvious in one or both parties embracing selfishness rather than forgiveness.
Paul easily condemned such behavior and as what he wrote has God's seal of approval by way of the Spirit, God condemns that behavior as well.
When we do something against what work God is going in Christ Jesus in the lives of others we do so to our own detriment, to what WILL amount to our own shame.
We will be utterly ashamed when standing before Jesus because no excuses will be accepted. None. There are no accepted excuses for selfishness.
We cannot justify our behavior against other Believers. We can come up with some whoppers but they will not be valid in the eyes of God.
"If someone says, “I love God,” and yet he hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen." 1 John 4:20.
Selfishness is one of the greatest deceptions of life. With it we break up marriages, destroy families, create situations that ruin lives. It happens in the Church all too often.
Rather than exercising patience and trusting in God's timing, we jump the gun a and decide FOR God. We would rather not let go than to remember we own nothing! God owns it all. God. As written in the Bible, what He gives, He can take away.
My Dear Reader, are you angry with another person? What does the Bible say? Do not let the sun go down on your anger.
What does it say of your character in Christ? We lose when we put our wants and desires before the will of God for us in Christ Jesus.
We ought to be patient. What does 1 Corinthians 14 begin with? Love is patient. Love is kind.
What are we doing when we are essentially doing the Devil's work of ruining lives, marriages, families, for our own desires? He just sits back and realizes there's nothing he needs to do.
Pray for your enemies the Bible says.
Pray for those who persecute you, again, the Bible says.
We do not honor God when we decide that we aren't going to do what the Spirit is telling us to do. We certainly do not when we try justifying what we do in the name of Jesus. That's just wrong. We cannot ever claim that the path we are on is right in God's eyes if it violates His Word in even the smallest detail. Jesus lived the self-less life. He easily could have just had a thought and many would have been in torment in Hell instantly. No, He said to His Father, not My will, but Yours be done.
The anger of man does not bring about the righteous life that God desires. The list written to Timothy, replace that word anger with all of those.
loving self does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
loving money does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
boasting does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
arrogance does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
reviling does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
disobedient to parents
ungratefulness does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
unholiness does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
unloving
irreconcilable does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
malicious gossips
without self-control does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
brutal does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
haters of good does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
treacherousness does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
reckless behavior does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
conceitedness does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
My Friend, be the example in Christ that the Spirit teaches you to be. Exemplify the character of Christ in you. Do not seek a path that does not bring about the righteous life that God desires for you.
All Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible (C) Lockman Foundation
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