Bible League: Living His Word Love is never happy when others do wrong, but it is always happy with the truth.Love is central to the Christian life. In Christ, our lives are meant to be lives of love. When Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment He replied, "'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.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments"' (Matthew 22:37-40). In I Corinthians 13 the Apostle Paul fleshes out what it means to live the life of love. Since all the law and the prophets hang on the two love commandments, since every other law and moral principle in the Bible are examples of how to love, this was no easy task. Paul's approach is to give us some idea of what it means by providing us with a list of characteristics. Our verse for today includes two of them. First of all, love is not happy when people do wrong. That is, love hates injustice. All of us know what it is like to be treated badly and none of us like it. It is unfair and it hurts. People filled with love for God and other people won't just ignore it when they see injustices around them. In so far as they are responsible and able, they will do what they can to remedy the situation. It may amount to nothing more than calling the police or informing the proper authorities, but it will be the right thing to do. Second, love is always happy with the truth. That is, love is happy when that which is just and true prevails. We live in a world where injustices and the deceptions that mask them are common. When the injustices are righted and the deceptions are exposed, people of love rejoice. Indeed, people of love do what they can to right the injustices and reveal the truth. Clearly, we cannot be the solution to every difficulty in this area, but we will do what we can. The life of love is a life of righteousness and justice. Live the life of love and God will not fail to reward you, for the Lord blesses the righteous and surrounds them with His favor (Psalm 5:12). Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingJeremiah 11, 12, 13 Jeremiah 11 -- Jeremiah Proclaims God's Covenant Is Broken; The Plot against Jeremiah NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Jeremiah 12 -- Jeremiah's Complaint and God's Answer NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Jeremiah 13 -- The Linen Belt and Wineskins; The Threat of Captivity NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading 1 Timothy 4 1 Timothy 4 -- Some Will Abandon the Faith NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.Insight The affects of alcohol are obvious, but what happens when we are under the influence of the Holy Spirit? In these verses, Paul lists three by-products of the Spirit's influence in our lives: singing, making music, and giving thanks. Paul did not intend to suggest that believers only discuss religious matters, but that whatever we do or say should be permeated with an attitude of joy, thankfulness to God, and encouragement of others. Challenge Instead of whining and complaining—which our culture has raised to an art form—we are to focus on the goodness of God and his mercies toward us. How would others characterize your words and attitudes? Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Psalm 104:16 The trees of the Lord are full of sap.Without sap the tree cannot flourish or even exist. Vitality is essential to a Christian. There must be life--a vital principle infused into us by God the Holy Ghost, or we cannot be trees of the Lord. The mere name of being a Christian is but a dead thing, we must be filled with the spirit of divine life. This life is mysterious. We do not understand the circulation of the sap, by what force it rises, and by what power it descends again. So the life within us is a sacred mystery. Regeneration is wrought by the Holy Ghost entering into man and becoming man's life; and this divine life in a believer afterwards feeds upon the flesh and blood of Christ and is thus sustained by divine food, but whence it cometh and whither it goeth who shall explain to us? What a secret thing the sap is! The roots go searching through the soil with their little spongioles, but we cannot see them suck out the various gases, or transmute the mineral into the vegetable; this work is done down in the dark. Our root is Christ Jesus, and our life is hid in him; this is the secret of the Lord. The radix of the Christian life is as secret as the life itself. How permanently active is the sap in the cedar! In the Christian the divine life is always full of energy--not always in fruit- bearing, but in inward operations. The believer's graces are not every one of them in constant motion, but his life never ceases to palpitate within. He is not always working for God, but his heart is always living upon him. As the sap manifests itself in producing the foliage and fruit of the tree, so with a truly healthy Christian, his grace is externally manifested in his walk and conversation. If you talk with him, he cannot help speaking about Jesus. If you notice his actions you will see that he has been with Jesus. He has so much sap within, that it must fill his conduct and conversation with life. Daily Light on the Daily Path Jonah 2:4 "So I said, 'I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.'Psalm 49:14,15 As sheep they are appointed for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd; And the upright shall rule over them in the morning, And their form shall be for Sheol to consume So that they have no habitation. • But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, For He will receive me. Selah. Lamentations 3:17,18 My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness. • So I say, "My strength has perished, And so has my hope from the LORD." Psalm 44:23 Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not reject us forever. Isaiah 40:27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God "? Isaiah 54:8 "In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you," Says the LORD your Redeemer. Psalm 43:5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God. 2 Corinthians 4:8,9 we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; • persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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