While We Wait for Christ’s Return – Our Churches Should be Models for Others Not only are individuals held accountable for how we live, but churches are accountable for their testimony in their communities. “We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, since your faith is flourishing and the love each one of you has for one another is increasing.” II Thess. 1:3 How would you rate the church’s relationship with God? Is faith continuing to grow? Is your church consistently trusting God? How would you rate relationships within the church? Is love increasing? …
Love — Protects, Trusts, Hopes, Perseveres
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. I Corinthians 13:6-7 If asked to define love, many of us would use words like joy, delight, and acceptance. Some might describe butterflies in the stomach, floating on air, or extreme happiness. But when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he talked more about what love does than about how it feels. And he also used an extreme qualifier: always. He tells us that love protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. And he added that love always does these things. In …
God Never Gives Up
As I watched the small video of a daring water rescue of two small children I involuntarily held my breath. And as I heard a bystander crying out “Jesus give them breath, Jesus help them breathe” I wept. It was an impossible situation and yet the impossible was accomplished. Regular ordinary men tore open the submerged upside down car doors and tore open seat belts to get those babies out of that car. They didn’t care what else happened, they just didn’t give up. Turns out the two babies were rescued and one is already out of the hospital. The …
Perseverance
If you haven’t read the previous four devotionals, I encourage you to go back and read them. Today’s devotional is about perseverance, particularly as it relates to spiritual warfare. I don’t know about you, but living a life devoted to Jesus is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I can easily get off track, frustrated or weary. So perseverance has become an important aspect of my faith especially when faced with a spiritual battle. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines perseverance as “the continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition”. Has your faith in Christ ever …