Have you ever had the experience of going through life and its seemingly never-ending hardships, the painful actions of others have gotten the best of your thought life, and you feel rather justified in your “righteous anger” against them? Maybe this is making it hard to pray for them any longer, maybe this is making you wanting to jump up and down screaming with frustration like a two-year old; And then, in the quiet, early morning hours, while reading the Word to your slipping down the self-righteous path soul, God just absolutely aggravates the heck out of you with a life lesson reminder to LOVE AS CHRIST LOVES????? OH!
As you probably have guessed, I am there. Yes, I have dealt with this irritating, rubbing the flesh right off of my heart, Word this morning. I feel the need to share simply to make sure Deanna gets it!
Gal 5:6 truly just speared me through the flesh this morning.
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.”
and…
2 Cor 5:7 ” For we walk by faith not by sight.”
And of course
1 Cor 13:4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends.
“But God, Am I not right in feeling anger towards the pain that sin causes?”
”Deanna, if it stays there, yes. But I am afraid child, that it hasn’t, you have let anger seep in to even steal the joy I have given you, and this must stop! You are walking a thin line right now, and I need you to step back over into my grace and walk this out by faith.”
“But God…..”
“No, Deanna, I have given my Spirit to you so that I may be glorified by you, and I am most glorified when you are doing what only I can do through you, loving the ones you are angry with, pouring my love into your heart so that you may act it out by faith and that this action does not bring me or you shame. Now, my daughter, it is up to you on the choice; Will you choose to bear the fruit of my Spirit or your flesh?”
“Oh Father, I choose You. Thank you for Your discipline that brings the comfort along with the rebuke. Thank you for your grace on and in and through my life, I choose to love, by faith.”
Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.