Opportunities

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NET) - And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

These words from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians are among my favorite in all of scripture.

I think every Christian would agree that faith is a wonderful thing.

And, who among us does not like to have hope.

But Paul reminds us love is even greater than faith or hope.

All three of these things involve relationships.

The first two, faith and hope, mainly involve our relationship with God.

Love, on the other hand, is not so limited.

While it is an integral part of our relationship with God it is also important to our relationship with others.

Jesus reminded us of this.

John 15:12 (NET) - My commandment is this—to love one another just as I have loved you.

The words we speak can demonstrate our love for God and others.

More importantly, our actions also demonstrate our love.

That’s where opportunities come in.

The dictionary defines opportunity as: a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.

One kind of opportunity is the kind we create ourselves.

The other is the kind that presents itself to us.

These can be difficult for us to recognize with all the distractions the world offers us.

That is why it is important that we remain open and receptive to God’s leading,

When we do, something remarkable happens.

Our response to these opportunities is a great way to demonstrate our love for God and others as well.

We demonstrate our love for God and others at the same time.

Paul understood this and pointed this out in his letter to the Galatians.

Galatians 6:10 (NET) - So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who belong to the family of faith.

As Easter draws ever nearer, let us remember how God demonstrated his love for us through Christ.

Let us remember that Jesus willingly laid down his life for us because He loves us.

John 15:13 (NET) - No one has greater love than this—that one lays down his life for his friends.

Opportunities still arise.

Let us be open to them.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, April 5, 2019.

I’ll be back here on Friday, April 12, 2019