| Daily Thought — May
5, 2008 |
|
| LIVING THE
SOLUTION WITH DAILY INSPIRATION |
I can't
tell you how happy I am to learn that many members
of your congregation are diligent in living out the
Truth, exactly as commanded by the Father. But permit
me a reminder, friends, and this is not a new commandment
but simply a repetition of our original and basic charter:
that we love each other. Love means following his commandments,
and his unifying commandment is that you conduct your
lives in love. This is the first thing you heard, and
nothing has changed. (2 John 1:4-6 — The Message)
The basic foundational message of God
is love. God Himself is love. It is out of love that He
created us. It is out of love that He sent Jesus who willingly
came to this Earth. It is out of love that Jesus went to
the cross in our place. It is out of love that He rose
again and spent 40 days with His followers before ascending
to the right hand of the Father. Everything was done out
love. This is the pure and simple message of the Bible—love.
It is love for God, love for self and love for others.
(Yes I did put love for self before love for others, just
as Jesus did when He said, “love others as you love
yourself”. The syntax puts others first, but to do
what He asked we must first truly love ourselves before
we can truly love others.)
As time has passed many have come into the church and have
tried to change the message. In many cases they have changed
and perverted the message, introducing and substituting
legalism, rules and regulations for love, putting the focus
on the outside behavior rather than the internal condition
of the heart. Remember, it is out of the heart that we
choose our behavior; from it can come life or death. Don’t
forget that the religious leaders of Jesus’ time
looked good on the outside, but their hearts and motives
were anything but good. He called them white-washed tombs,
posers, fakes if you will. God does not care about how
things look on the outside. He is only interested in our
hearts, for if our hearts are right, if they are connected
with His, then how we live our lives will be right. We
will live the way God wants us to live, as a natural byproduct
of having a loving heart, a heart connected with and seeking
God.
So don’t be distracted from the pure simple truth
and message of Christ—love. Seek to love God more, to
connect your heart with his daily. Pray that you will be
more in love with him daily. Pray that He will show you
how He sees you and that you can love yourself as He loves.
Then you can love others as you love yourself and as He
has loved you.
Live intentionally, purposely, free and with passion,
Pete Reinbold
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can see past Daily Thoughts - visit
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Scripture taken from the
Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright © 1973,
1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights
reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of
International Bible Society.
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered trademarks
of International Bible Society. Use of either trademark for the
offering of goods or services requires the prior written consent
of International Bible Society.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible,
New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used by permission
of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189, USA. All
rights reserved. |
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