Best or Worst

When it comes to the thoughts you have toward others, are you willing to think the best or the worst about them? When you hear something or see something are you willing to go the distance and consider better or will you let your thoughts run away with you and consider only the worst?

When a friend shares a perceived offense, likely skewed a bit by her emotions, are you willing to steer her toward grace-filled thinking or will you go with the flow of her feelings, thoughts and words, thereby adding insult to injury? When you see the person responsible for the angst will you hold back, be less than personable to them, etc...?

What is the plain and simple truth we are called to in these situations? What does the Word of our God and Maker command? Very simply, we are commanded to love.
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself." ~ Matthew 22:37-39 (NKJV)

And just so we don't confuse love, we have it laid out for us in I Corinthians 13:4-7: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (NIV)

Put another way:
"Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, doesn't have a swelled head, doesn't force itself on others, isn't always "me first," doesn't fly off the handle, doesn't keep score of the sins of others, doesn't revel when others grovel, takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end." (The Message)

We all want love, don't we?

My hope for us all is that we begin today to show the love of God which He demonstrated at so great a price. It's possible, you know. But maybe, just maybe, some of us need to start with confession and repentance: confessing the error in our thinking; confess a willingness to linger in stinking thinking; confess how we've allowed our "feelings" to run amuck; confess how wrong we have been to allow anything but love to reign in our hearts and minds. Then repent! Turn away from doing that thing any longer! When our flesh automatically wants to drift back in that direction (downstream if you will), refuse to give an inch! Fall face down before God, crying out for help in the midst of need - if that's what it takes - and pursue love with a spirit of grace and truth.

Selah

Stephanie Paul

Stephanie Paul, wife and mother of two grown children. An "instrument of change" in the Redeemer's Hand; in the lives of wounded and hurting women. Currently serving as a part of the Addiction Recovery Team at America's Keswick as Woman of Character Program Administrator.

DIGGING DEEPER
James 5:12
But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your "Yes" be "Yes," and your "No," "No," lest you fall into judgment.
~~James 5:12 (New King James Version)

And since you know that he cares, let your language show it. Don't add words like "I swear to God" to your own words. Don't show your impatience by concocting oaths to hurry up God. Just say yes or no. Just say what is true. That way, your language can't be used against you.
~~The Message