Day 64
Love as You’ve Been
Loved[i]
You
may think that the situation is hopeless, but God gives us more grace when we turn away from our own
interests.
James 4:6
The Voice
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G
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od wants us to know that our empathy
for the needs of others is directly related to whether He prospers us in our
daily lives. If our outward displays of Christian charity are praiseworthy
while our words and actions toward those we love are harsh, God considers us no
better than a cup that is clean on the outside but dirty on the inside.[ii]
One sure way to close the floodgates of Heaven’s blessings is to be rude,
stingy, judgmental, and unkind to the people closest to us. God expects His
rule of loving as we’ve been loved to apply behind the closed doors of our
homes as well as in public.
Lack of forgiveness
toward a fellow human being can prevent us from receiving the fullness of the
blessings God would like to provide. This just seems monstrously unfair,
because we have been hurt, treated unfairly, and wronged. But the Almighty God
sent His Son to die for us when we were in the midst of sins just as terrible
as the ones that have been committed against us, and He asks us to love others
with this same kind of sacrificial love.
We feel as though a
chosen blindness to the needs of those we depend upon is a safety measure; if I can't feel your need I'm not at risk of
sublimating my needs to yours. But Jesus asks us to entrust our needs
into His hands and to serve others with willing hearts.
We must give up the
idea that we have some need that is going to go unmet if someone close to us
doesn’t step up to the plate and do what he or she ought to do. We must release
other human beings from the responsibility for our welfare and depend wholly
upon God for every need. From this place of freedom, we can begin to love as
Christ has loved us.
In prayer, the Lord
will bring to our minds faces of those who have done us wrong. And He wants us
to pray for those people, and forgive, love and perhaps even serve them so they
can see Christ in us. He wants us to feel their hurts as though they were our
own, and not hesitate to put their needs ahead of ours. Our ability to do this
depends upon whether we truly believe God is sufficient for our every
need.
Pray: Father I
release those You bring to my mind right now from the responsibility to meet my
needs. I lift to You those who have hurt and failed me. Forgive me the
cruelties I’ve committed as I’ve become insensitive to their suffering. Help me
exhibit Your nurturing love to those I have resented, so I may be prospered in
my work and nothing will block my prayers. I trust You to meet my needs. Teach
me to appropriate Your strength at my point of need. In Jesus’ name, amen.
~~~
Is not this the fast that
I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the
yoke,
to let the oppressed go
free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless
poor into your house;
when you see the naked,
to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
Then shall your light break forth like the
dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear
guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he
will say, ‘Here I am.’
Isaiah 58:4-9
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