The Power of Love

 

Psalm 37:8 (NRSVue) - Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Do not fret—it leads only to evil.

Here, the Psalmist encourages both patience and trust.

To do that, we must put aside anger,

We must not give in to fear.

For human beings, this is easier said than done.

Fortunately for us, we do not have to do this on our own,

Paul understood this when he wrote to the Thessalonians.

Paul encouraged them with his blessing.

1 Thessalonians 5:15 (NRSVue) - See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all.

When people feel wronged, their first reaction is to avenge themselves by striking back.

But that is the conditioning of the world.

That is not the way God designed us to live.

We were designed to love.

We were created to forego vengeance,

Christ tells us to love God.

Christ also tells us to love our neighbor.

But we cannot love completely on our own.

We only experience complete love when we have been made anew.

That is when we truly welcome God’s love into our hearts.

We then understand that God loves our neighbor.

God even loves those whom we feel have wronged us.

True love is the key.

Paul reminds us of this too,

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

May we take these words to heart.

May we share the love God has for us with others.

May we remember that God loves them as well.

 

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com on Friday, September 6, 2024.

I will be back here on Friday, September 13, 2024

Making Introductions

 

Ezekiel 20:44 (NRSVue) - And you shall know that I am the Lord when I deal with you for my name’s sake, not according to your evil ways or corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, says the Lord God.

Here, the prophet tells the people that God will restore them.

Once restored, they will realize that they were not restored through their actions.

The people will acknowledge that it was God who restored them.

In Paul’s letter to Rome, he speaks of justification.

In particular, he writes of the implications for the justified.

Paul concludes this section with a reminder.

The believers in Rome were not justified by their actions.

They were justified by God’s love and Christ’s willing sacrifice.

Romans 5:8 (NRSVue) - But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

Wherever we may be on our spiritual journey, God meets us where we are.

His love for us endures even when we are far away from Him.

And, when we let Him, God leads us into that essential personal relationship with Christ.

This is the moment when we are restored.

This is the moment when we are justified,

In other words, our lives will never be the same as they once were.

Transformed, we set about to do the work He places before us,

Moreover, He equips us for the journey ahead,

He starts by enabling us to listen.

From there, we become more compassionate with our fellow man,

We even learn what it means to truly forgive,

After all, God was compassionate with us.

Through Christ we were forgiven.

There is no shortage of people in need of restoration.

Perhaps they feel they can never be justified.

To be clear, we can neither restore nor justify others.

We could not even do these things for ourselves.

But we can introduce them to the One who does both.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com on Friday, August 16, 2024.

I will be back here on Friday, August 23, 2024