Aren't you glad that God never stops teaches us new things? That he continually is working to change us, conform us, complete us?
God is teaching me lately that how I treat others is a matter of obedience to him. Whether it be my husband, my family, my friends, my neighbors, or stangers, God had told us specificly how to treat each other. It doesn't matter how those people treat me - there are no excuses for treating others badly.
The passages that most strike me are Romans 12 and Ephesians 5:33. Romans 12 speaks to a lot of things, but all are to-the-point commands. I love the Amplified Bible's version of Ephesians 5:33: "However, let each man of you [without exception] love his wife as [being in a sense] his very own self; and let the wife see that she respects and reverences her husband [that she notices him, regards him, honors him, prefers him, venerates, and esteems him; and that she defers to him, praises him, and loves and admires him exceedingly]." Look at all those other translations! That certainly makes things very clear. Thankfully, I am blessed with the most wonderful of husbands, so to do all that would be a joy!
Anyway, I suppose all this comes out of last week's Vacation Bible School. Andy and I had a rough week. We had to send a kid out of class for the first time ever. We know the kid - he's been coming to our church for about a year. I think it was more traumatizing for us than it was for him. He told us he gets sent out of class at school all the time. But as traumatizing as it was, I recognized a small amount of satisfaction in my heart as we sent him away. Immediately the double-edged sword pierced the part of my heart that felt the satisfaction. The Spirit spoke to me: "See him how I see him." Oh, how ashamed I was! I should send myself out of class!
How precious we all are in the sight of God and how I ignored it. All this does not make what the kid did okay; I'm talking about my own heart in the matter. Again, regardless of how other people act, God has told me to act in a certain way. By not acting that way, I act in disobedience to His word to me. Loving others is a matter of obedience. And since others are hard to love, I must start by putting on God's eyeglasses so that I can correct my vision.
What is God teaching you lately?
1 comment:
Heather, great post! Loving others has also been the heartbeat of a lot of the things KC and I have been learning as well. IT's easy to have an emotional experience with Jesus all by yourself in your closet with your worship cd and your bible, but it gets hard, really hard sometimes, to love our brothers and sisters. It's amazing to step outside of our own shoes and seek to be other oriented in love. It's freeing to stop focusing inward and to start looking outward - outward to those that are poor, those that are less fortunate, and those that are in need. What a challenge it can be living in community and having relationships and maintaining them in a godly fashion. It makes sense that Jesus' theme of unity within his body was such a pertinent application of his ministry...look at John 17. The church worldwide has a long way to go. I'm thankful that I can be a part of it though, in loving and seeking unity with others, even though I fail at this over and over.
Thanks for sharing Heather,
Ker
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