Consistent Forgiveness...

Dear Friend,

Check out today's devotional with my friend D. Andrews,

GiG, as I read Gwen’s words, a multitude of thoughts came to mind, but the strongest of all took me to John 13:34-35 NLT.

34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. 35 Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

GiG, can we say that our testimony to the world is the evidence that Jesus’ love is being expressed through our life? Or are we giving lip service alone. OUCH or Amen!

One way the love of Christ is demonstrated is in consistent forgiveness despite personal betrayal and rejection. Remember, Jesus said that He was giving a “new commandment”—to love with a self-sacrificing love. In other words, love others as much as He does. It is that kind of love that set His followers apart from the rest of the world, helping them to serve God and build His kingdom. This kind of love draws the broken, needy, and lost to the Savior. And Jesus mandate wasn’t just for the disciples of old, but to us today too. Let me make this crystal: Jesus was shifting the focus of witness from theological debates to ethics and lifestyle. Christ’s love moved him to act with actions that restored and healed others. So, we too, have been called to live this way—search, rescue, restore, and rebuild those in our circle of influence because love covers a multitude of sins.

May we be encouraged to live lives loving like Jesus. Such love will not only bring unbelievers to Christ, it will also keep believers strong and united in a word hostile to God. Jesus was a living example of God’s love, as we are to be living examples of Jesus’ love.

God’s Got It…so we can DRAW NEAR—Jesus says that our Christlike love will show we are his disciples. Do people see petty bickering, jealousy, unforgiveness, and division among us? Let this not be so Lord, let it not be so.

DEA