Category: Today’s Truth

Love is not rude; however. Many marriages end because of the lack of respect that people have for each other. We see the same lack of respect in the workplace, politics, sports, and other places, so why would we expect marriages and relationships to be any different. For any relationship to work, there has to be a sense of respect (the opposite of being rude). It all depends on where we look to for our examples. If we look to society, the entertainment industry, politicians, then we will never see a picture of humility and respect. We must instead look to the Bible for examples of how to live with love and respect.

Look at the life of Mary and Joseph. Mary was a young virgin who was pregnant all of a sudden. I am sure the world probably looked at her with disgust as they only saw a young pregnant girl. Joseph saw more, especially after he was visited by an angel of the Lord. He treated Mary with love and respect, putting her needs above his own. Think about your own relationship for a minute, whether that be marriage, a friendship, or even a relationship you have with a family member. Does your love always show humility, or is it rude in the way you talk and act toward others?

Strive to live your life in such a way that loves and respects the lives of others. Show your neighbor or anyone you encounter respect. Show your family and friends your love and respect. Most of all, show your spouse how much love you have for him or her by respecting who they are. We can show the love of Christ with our words and actions when we eliminate rude talk out of our lives.

Dictionary.com defines the word proud as “having, proceeding from, or showing a high opinion of one’s own dignity, importance, or superiority.” This definition of pride is opposite of what the Bible says about being proud. Proverbs 16:18 says that, “pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.” In other words, pride leads to the destruction of oneself, families, friendships, and other relationships. Pride only looks out for one’s own interest and not the interests of others.

Love is the opposite of pride. It looks to the interests of others and puts them first. It is humility in action. Love says, “I will deny myself and my interests and put you first.” This is exactly what Jesus did when He went to the cross. He denied Himself and put humanity first. He looked out for our interests instead of His own. He looked to build us up instead of tearing us down. Christ was the very picture of love and humility. However, our enemy, the devil, seeks to kill, steal, and destroy. He delights in nothing more than our destruction, and he uses pride to do it. So when we put others first, we are accomplishing the work that Jesus set out to do.

Pride tears apart everything we build as Christians. No matter how invested we are in a relationship, pride can tear it apart. However, love is the opposite of pride. It builds up and encourages. It puts others first and seeks the good of others. Pray and ask God to keep you grounded so you can build up your relationships.

Have you ever seen someone live with a jealous heart? Maybe you have felt jealousy creep up inside you. Jealousy is not a feeling from the Lord; however, God created us as beings with feelings. We were made to love and feel deeply. So how do you love without feeling jealous.

Living a life of love without jealousy can be difficult. As a society, we are constantly comparing ourselves to those around us. We need a bigger house like others, the newest car, a life of luxury to keep up with our peers. God never intended for us to compare ourselves with those around us, but instead compare ourselves to ourselves. What does this mean? We should never want to live a stagnant life where we are satisfied, but instead, we should push ourselves to be more, to do more than we’ve ever done. Push yourself to grow in your walk with God. Compare yourself to where you were at when you first came to know Him. Have you grown? If not, then decide what you need to do to grow closer to Him. Next, instead of seeing people for the things they have or don’t have, see them for who they are: made in the image of God. This will change your perspective and help you pray for them in a new way. If they don’t know God, then you need to pray for their heart instead of desiring the things they have.

You can’t take things with you to the grave. The only thing that matters in this life is what you invest in. If you live your life always wanting what others have, you will live an empty life. However, if you love others and live your life investing in heavenly things, you will live a fulfilled life.

Love is kind. Anyone who does not love with kindness, is not really loving. We see many examples in our world today of the opposite of kindness: hatred, discord, maliciousness. In fact, the mainstream media LOVES to report about those things. Every once in a while the sprinkle in kindness story.

You may have heard the phrase, kindness makes the world go round. There is some truth to this phrase. Kind acts inspire and motivate people. Kindness really can be contagious. However, kindness is a product of love, God’s love. You can’t have kindness without it. It is the direct result of living as God’s love: loving your family, your friends, your neighbor, and even your enemies. Kindness is the proof that God is real. When nonbelievers look at your life, your kind acts should point them to Jesus.

Is your life and kindness pointing others to Jesus? Or is it a contradiction to the hope that lives inside of you? Love is kind and kindness is love. We show kindness because of the kindness God gave us when He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross. Let your life radiate with the kindness God has bestowed in your life.

How does the world define love? Really think about that for a moment- the way love is portrayed in the movies, TV shows, and just in Hollywood itself. You always hear about hot, new relationships or divorces, but you rarely hear about the ones that stand the test of time. The ones that are built on more than attraction and similarities. The world defines love as something that comes and goes, not something that lasts and endures. 1 Corinthians 13 is the Bible’s definition of what love really is and it all begins with these words: “love is patient.”

Love is patient. The King James version of the Bible says that “charity suffereth long.” That puts patience in a whole new perspective, doesn’t it? Love is not something that can be tossed aside, but true, biblical love perseveres through the hardest times. It “suffers” long. Does that mean it is miserable? By all means, no! It waits. Psalm 27:14 says to wait patiently for the Lord. We wait on the Lord; we wait on Him to act and to move in our lives. All the while, we wait in His love and grace. That is a picture of how we should love. We wait, but all the while we wait in unconditional love. That is how we should love as parents with our children, as spouses in our marriages, and how we should love the world.

We would be nothing if God hadn’t waited for us to choose Him and His love. Why not wait on others? Wait with kindness, wait with grace, and most of all, wait in love.

Even though Christianity is not works based, we work out of our love for the Lord. The same is true in a relationship. If you love someone, you will want to do everything you can to please them. If you love the Lord, you will strive to please Him. Too many times, though, we work for meaningless things, material things.

Ecclesiastes 9:10 says, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.” We must check our motivation for the things that we are working for. We must not waste time on meaningless things and things that cannot go with us to the grave. Worldly wisdom and knowledge will not go with us, so the more time we devote to those types of things, the more time we waste on this earth. If we invest in the eternal while we are on earth, we will be blessed and get to be a part of the wonderful things God is doing. For example, if you spend time studying your Bible everyday, then when you go through difficult situations in life, you will have the wisdom from God to carry you through. If you don’t and instead invest in worldly things, then difficult situations might overtake and overwhelm you.

Colossians 3:23 encourages us to, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” When you work on this earth, work as though you are working for the Lord rather than for man. That will help you stay focused on the Lord and His work, and it will also help you stay motivated to invest in eternal things. Take some time today to really think about the things in this life that you invest in, and spend time in prayer, asking God to help give you an eternal mindset.

One thing that is different between Christianity and other religions is the need for forgiveness. While other religions depend on works and how good you are, Christianity’s theme is on the forgiveness Christ gave when He died on the cross and the acceptance of that forgiveness by the believer. To the believer, God is a Father who disciplines and cares for His children. He is not a genie who grants wishes. Instead, he disciplines those He loves through His teachings and consequences, and He cares for them by providing for them and offering forgiveness when they make mistakes.

God is in control; He sits on His throne. That means there is nothing beyond His control. Sometimes He allows things to happen to His people to guide them and teach them. Other times He allows them to happen because He wants them to draw closer to Him. Hosea 6:1 says, “Come, let us return to the Lord; for He has torn us, that He may heal us; He has struck us down, and He will bind us up.” No matter what happens to us, when we return to Him, He will heal us and bind us up if we allow Him to. Whether that means you have walked away from Him and are in need of His restoration, or if your sins have caused you pain and you need forgiveness, He is a good God, and He will redeem you.

So, return to the Lord and allow Him to pour His grace, mercy, and forgiveness over you, that you may live in light of the salvation He has given. May you find yourself whole and healed once again.

Many people in life are looking for something. They seek happiness, peace, comforts, etc. so they look for people and things to fulfill those needs. Those who look for happiness and comfort in worldly things are lost. Jesus came to rescue the lost! He came that the weak may be strong!

In Ezekiel 34:16 God says that “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.” God seeks out the lost! He finds the strayed, the injured, and the weak. In the Bible we see story after story where God sought out these types of people. Take Hagar, for instance. She ran away from home because of the way she was being treated by Sarah, Abraham’s wife, after she found out she was pregnant. God found her in the middle of the wilderness and promised her that He would take care of her. So she called Him the “God who sees.” He had seen her needs. He had seen her situation. He had found her. Just as God saw Hagar and took care of her, He will do the same for you if you trust in Him. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

When we seek after God and open our hearts to Him, He will seek after us, and He ALWAYS finds us. There is nowhere we can go that is out of His presence.

The word kindness is a popular word in today’s culture. The world may be wrong about a lot of things, but kindness isn’t one of them. Their definition of kindness tends to come out of sinful desires, but there is a reason that people feel there is a need for more kindness in the world. Maybe it is because too many Christians are not showing kindness to those around them. Some churches tend to spend more time bickering than reaching out to the lost. So how can we stand for our beliefs and still show kindness to the lost world?

Ephesians 4:32 says to “be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” This verse is the key to showing kindness to the world. To be kind to others you have to have a tender heart. You must understand why others are the way they are, what their situation is, and how you can help shine the light of Jesus in their lives. To do this, you must have forgiveness in your heart for others: those who have wronged you and even those who never gave an apology. If you forgive others, then Christ will forgive you, making it easier for you to extend kindness to others.

The ultimate kind act you can do for someone is to be Jesus’ hands and feet and bring His light to a dark world. This is where the world’s definition is different from God’s definition. By bringing Jesus to someone, you can give someone more kindness than they can ever get anywhere else!

God is a good God who loves His people. Unfortunately, the world often only sees His wrath, or they see the Bible as a list of rules. They miss out on the part about His love. Or they even misinterpret His love and sacrifice. We, as Christians, must show God’s love to the world so that they can experience its power and beauty.

God’s love began when He created man and woman, cared for them even after they sinned and were banished from the Garden of Eden, and as His people began to occupy the lands He created, He continued to love and care for them. When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, God sent Moses to lead them out and into the promised land. God delivered the law to the people, so they would learn how to live before a Holy God. Deuteronomy describes this act of love in 32:10, “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. Deuteronomy 32:10.” He cared for them in this way because He saw them as the apple (or pupil) of His eye. His love is only for His people. He longs for nothing more than for His people to love Him back in this way and accept His great gift of salvation.

Do you know God in this way? Have you ever really thought and pondered His great love for you? If you have accepted His salvation and love Him with all your heart, then don’t be afraid to share that love with the world. They are in need of the love of God, and they will see His love in your heart and life if you live like you love Him.