How to Treat One Another

Jesus explained the basis for strong relationships: He said that in everything, we should treat others the way we want to be treated.

 

When you think about your friends, relatives, and associates, do you see any of the following characteristics of a strong relationship?
 - Enjoyment and satisfaction.
 - Loyalty.
 - Genuine concern for the other person's welfare.  
 - Truthfulness.
 - Prayer support.
 - A desire for the best for the other person.
 - Protection of each other from emotional, physical, or spiritual harm.
 - Forgiveness.
 - Encouragement.
 - Support.
 - Generosity.
 - Respect and honor.
 - Acceptance of the other person for who he or she is.

Most of us would have to say we don't have all of these characteristics in every relationship. But is there a single quality that you would not want someone to display toward you? Do you have relationship problems in your marriage? With your children? With your employer or employees? At church or in your neighborhood?

Jesus made the solution clear. It is a command that we treat others as we want to be treated. It takes work and prayer, but God always gives us the resources to be obedient.

Are you willing to work at building strong relationships? Remember that Jesus commanded it, and therefore obedience is not optional. Ask God to give you the patience and wisdom you'll need to mend or strengthen the relationships in your life.

In Touch Daily Devotional by Dr. Charles Stanley © 2004. All rights reserved. (Please include this line to forward the message).

Jesus And The Jerks

 

"But God demonstrates his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8 NIV)

Jerk: A person regarded as disagreeable, contemptible, especially as the result of foolish or mean behavior.

One of the biggest jerks I ever knew was a 23-year-old college graduate whose anger and arrogance spilled into many of his relationships. His hypocrisy was astounding – one moment he claimed to be a Christian and the next he acted like a son of hell. If it had been my choice, I would have avoided him all together – but since that jerk was me, I was stuck being around him!

Most of us try to avoid jerks. We pat ourselves on the back for not telling them off. We applaud ourselves for putting up with them. We remind ourselves everybody has a cross to bear, and so we grudgingly accept certain jerks as our divinely ordained burden.

But is that what we're called to do?

Jesus embraced jerks; he graced them with love – while stilling telling them the truth in love. Now he had no qualms about pointing out a whitewashed tomb when he saw one, but the corporate evil of the Pharisees was a far more serious matter than mere human jerkiness.

The point is this: Jesus didn't shelter himself from the pain and heartache caused by jerks. In fact, he voluntarily stretched out his arms on the cross and allowed several jerks to slam nails into his hands and feet.

Behind all their stomp and snort, jerks are still spiritual beings, created in God's image and destined for heaven or hell. We're compelled to be ministers of reconciliation, willing to embrace the pain of a fallen world for the sake of our God. (2 Corinthians 5:16-21)

The heart of the gospel is that God loves the unlovely. Could it be that the jerks God places in our lives are there to teach us to be more like Christ, to teach us the God-like quality of loving the unlovely?

Most of us take for granted the incredible change God initiated in our own lives: We were once jerks to God, yet even while we were still jerks, Christ died for us!

Jerks are never easy to embrace. If it were easy to love everyone, then Christ need not have died; we could love them on our own. But in order to embrace the jerks in our life, we need the Life of Christ within us so that, as new creations, we can overwhelm jerks with God's grace, showing them the only power that will stop them from stumbling in the darkness, teaching them to cling to the only thing able to move them from being jerks to being Jesus-followers.

So what?
· Jesus loves jerks too – Even the most difficult people are spiritual beings in need of Christ.
· Jesus transforms you – Jesus can use the "jerks" in your life to transform you into a more Christ-like believer. Is it possible that the "jerk" who annoys you is God's instrument to show you areas where you should grow, areas where you have difficulty loving unconditionally, the way that Christ loves you?
· God's plan for you – If God allows a difficult person in your life, consider that he may want you to (1) pray for them and (2) show them by your own example how much God loves them, regardless of their behavior.
· Your mission – Who in your life seems disagreeable, contemptible, foolish, or mean? How would God have you approach them from now on? What can you do today to show them the love of Christ?

 

PURPOSE DRIVEN MINISTRIES by Jon Walker © 2007. All rights reserved. (Please include this line to forward the message).

Don't withhold your generosity

 

My new friend made me feel ashamed before the Lord because of his act of love. The story began when the snacks we ordered, special kind of snacks, were delivered to us. Not all of us in the room had ordered these snacks, there were some who didn't, and not all of those who had ordered were willing to share their snacks with those who didn't. Only one person showed love and generosity by sharing what he had. Regrettably, that person wasn't me.

 

It wasn't easy for me to just forget about the incident. It may be normal to most of us, but God had promptly reprimanded me. I could and yet I wouldn't share. I had withheld my generosity.

 

To share with those who are in need is not easy. Simple math would prove that if we divide, we would have less. This means sharing is a sacrifice that demands sincerity. It's not a sacrifice when reward is expected in return. Many Christians are willing to share, willing to sacrifice in return for a reward, at least from God. It's true that God has many promises for those who are willing to share, e.g. "Give, and it will be given to you" (Luke 6:38).

 

Nevertheless, from the many testimonies I have heard, none mentioned that blessings are poured out because of "sharing or giving in return for reward." The simple conclusion is that the Lord indeed wants us to share, to know how to give, a sacrifice made willingly and with sincerity without expecting a reward. Our blessing or "reward" lies in God's hand. But one thing is certain, giving willingly with a sincere heart will never escape God's attention. So, from this day on, don't hold back your generosity.

 

GOTN MINISTRY by John Hartman © 2006. All rights reserved. (Please include this line to forward the message).

Living Unselfishly

Give without expecting a return. (Luke 6:35 TM)

If you're serious about becoming like Jesus, pay careful attention to His words: "Ask yourself what you want people to do for you; then grab the initiative and do it for them...give without expecting a return. You'll never - I promise - regret it" (Lk 6:31-35 TM).

 

Love, expecting nothing in return. Give, though they'll never say thanks. Forgive, even though they won't forgive you. Come early, stay late, invest everything you've got even though nobody notices. Paul calls this "the high calling" (Php 3:14).

 

And there's a reason: none of us would set such a standard for ourselves! If you think some people are just naturally more loving than others, think again. Love is a choice - one that costs! You can't love others while you're staring into a mirror or give to others while you're clinging to what you've got. Love will cost you your time, your money and your preoccupation with self. If you think you'll just go to church some Sunday morning, read a book or atten d a 7-step seminar and turn into the kind of person we're talking about - good luck! There are no pre-packaged saints; no "add-and-stir" formula that makes God's love gush forth. To be loving you've got to take up your cross, deny yourself and make others your priority.

 

Remember the woman caught in adultery? Jesus stooped down to reach her, stood by her under attack, then sent her home redeemed and refocused. Do you want to be like Him? Go and find people who are hurting, hopeless, and even wrong. When you do, minister to them until they're redeemed, restored and right. That's living unselfishly!

Bible Readings: Deut 18:9 -18, Dan 2, Isa 47:5-15, Acts 16:16-34

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How much love do you have for sinners?

How much love do you have for sinners? That may sound like a strange question, but it's one I want you to think about today. All too often, once we get saved and get our lives cleaned up a little bit, we lose our compassion for those who are still lost. We look at the drunk stumbling down the street or the guy at the office who lies to the boss and tells dirty jokes and turn up our spiritual noses. But if we ever truly understood the heart of our heavenly Father, we'd never do that again. Jesus told a story that can give us a glimpse of that heart. It's the story we call the prodigal son.

You've probably heard it many times, how the son rebelled and dishonored his father, and how the father, in spite of it all, received him home with joy when he repented. But there's one phrase in it I want to draw your attention to today. It's this one: "But when [the prodigal son] was yet a great way off, his father saw him."

That phrase gives such a moving glimpse of the heart of that loving father. It tells us that even before his boy had repented, even during those long days when he was up to his eyebrows in sin, that father was watching for him, longing for him to come home. Every morning he scanned the horizon, hoping to see the silhouette of his returning son. And the last thing every night, he'd look again... straining his eyes in hope. His son was constantly on his mind, and his heart was always full of love for him. The kind of gut-wrenching love that, on the day his son came home, drove that father to run to him and kiss him.

That's the kind of heart our heavenly Father has for those who are lost. It's the kind of heart He had for you while you were still wandering in the world. It's the kind of heart that embraced you with open arms even when you were still covered with the grime of sin.

There's a whole world full of weary people out there who haven't yet found that embrace. They're more than just "sinners," they're our potential brothers... lost ones in desperate need of a loving heavenly Father. God forbid we should ever turn up our noses at them. May He help us instead to start bringing them home.

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How much love do you have for sinners? written by Senior Pastor Timothy Satryan WILMINGTON first assembly of God

Do It "as To The Lord!"

Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men. (Colossians 3:23 NKJV)

When Nicholas Herman entered the Carmelite monastery in Paris in 1666, he expected to live a life of penance because of his wild and sinful past. But instead Herman, who was given the name Brother Lawrence, found God's forgiveness and peace, plus a joy he could never have imagined. But his faith was sorely tried in the process. Clumsy by nature, he was very upset at being assigned to the monastery kitchen. Then something happened. There in his kitchen he found that even the humblest, most mundane tasks become significant - when they're done out of love for God! In his classic little book, The Practice of the Presence of God, he wrote: "The time of business does not with me differ from the time of prayer...in the noise and clatter of my kitchen while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great tranquility as if I were upon my knees...We ought not to be weary of doing little things, for God regards not the greatn ess of the work but the love with which it is performed." Talk about adding dignity to your job!

So, what's the job you hate most? Cutting the grass? Doing laundry? Putting out the garbage? Walking the dog? Coming home from work tired and having to cook dinner? Care-giving? Paul said, "Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men" (Col 3:23 NKJV). The truth is, there's no difference between the secular and the sacred when it's done "as to the Lord and not to men."

Bible Readings: 1 Sam 4-7, Mark 16:1-8, Ps 68:19-35, Pr 22:6

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This publication is brought to you by the Rhema Broadcasting Group Incorporated in association with The Vine in association with, New Zealand. "The Word for Today"® is copyright © Bob Gass Ministries