Morning Moments

LIVING BY LOVE

Phil 4:8 (KJV)
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

There are the things which the Authorized Version and the Revised Standard call lovely. Moffatt translates attractive. Winsome is the best translation of all. The Greek is prosphiles, and it might be paraphrased as that which calls forth love. There are those whose minds are so set on vengeance and punishment that they call forth bitterness and fear in others. There are those whose minds are so set on criticism and rebuke that they call forth resentment in others. The mind of the Christian is set on the lovely things-kindness, sympathy, forbearance-so he is a winsome person, whom to see is to love.

Jesus rarely did what was expected of Him by man. It is far too easy for us to develop some set of rules in our minds and churches by which we expect others to live. It is true that boundaries are needed for us all, and restrictions are imposed to make sure we live within those boundaries. But the believer is NOT under the “rules of expectation” of man, but under the bondage of love to God and man.

We are to live not by rules but by respect – first for God, then for man. Remember that laws are made for law breakers. There is something very interesting about this to me – If I don’t love God as I should, I can’t love me as I should, and if I can’t love me as I should, then I cannot love my neighbor as I should. This is the crux of the matter that I love God will all my heart, soul, and strength, and that I love my neighbor as myself. As I THINK on lovely things of God, I see that God designed man to be the dwelling place of God, and am thus thankful that I have become the dwelling place of God and that my neighbor (others) were also so designed. It diminishes my “expectations” and maximizes my hope (abiding confidence) that God who dwells in me will use me to reach out lovingly so that others may also see and know and experience the same.

BOTTOM LINE: LOVE (God’s love in us) believes the best of the other person, and its hopes are fadeless, enduring everything lovingly and cheerfully without weakening. NO complaints. NO criticisms, and NO excuses. Where is the stinking thinking in that?
BLESSINGS!