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

A New Heaven, a New Earth, and a New Us

 

Isaiah 65:17 (NRSVue) - For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.

Here, the prophet speaks of God’s new creation.

This will be completely new.

Nothing will remain as it was before.

This creation will be so new that we will not think of the former one.

In Revelation, John experienced a vision of this new creation.

Revelation 21:1 (NRSVue) - Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

Scripture reminds us more than once that this will happen.

To some, this seems unlikely.

To others, this seems impossible.

But to the believer, this is a promise.

And the believer has concrete proof that a new creation is possible.

In fact, a new creation is more than probable.

The believer simply needs to look inward to recognize that he or she is already a new creation.

The believer understands that he or she is not the person they once were.

If God can transform our lives, He can also transform the lives of others.

Could it be that this transformation of lives will be part of the new heaven and the new earth?

It is.

God is at work transforming us into who He wants us to be.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com on Friday, August 2, 2024.

I will be back here on Friday, August 9, 2024

Proof

The 50^th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing continues to be on my mind.

This is due in part because it is hard for me to believe 50 years of my life have elapsed since then.

But, there is more to it than that.

There are people who still refuse to believe this event took place.

Theories abound as to how this was all some elaborate hoax.

Although there is definite proof, some will never believe that man set foot on the moon in July 1969.

Faith is a bit like that.

Try as we might to share the Good News, some people will absolutely refuse to believe it is true.

Yet the evidence is all around us.

Romans 1:20 (NET) - For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse.

Christ gave his disciples specific instructions on what they were to do.

This is known as “The Great Commission” and can be found in the gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 26:18-20 (NET) - Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Those instructions were not just for a handful of men who lived a long time ago.

They are for all believers for all time.

I once met and listened to a man who had a doctorate in theology.

He spoke about some of the most common questions he had been asked over the years.

One such question: How many people have you saved?

His reply: None. I am not Jesus!

Another question was: When were you saved?

His reply: At midday on a Friday about 2,000 years ago.

Faith is a matter of belief.

For those who find it, no amount of proof is necessary.

For those who do not, no amount of proof will ever be enough.

If that is the case, why should we take part in “The Great Commission” today?

I think the answer is a very simple one.

Because Jesus told us to do so.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, July 19, 2019.

I’ll be back here on Friday, July 26, 2019