"The tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire..." (James 3:6)
I got an email from Amazon today. I put in an order weeks ago and hadn't gotten it. The message read: "A shipment from your order has been returned to our fulfillment center as undeliverable..."
Some dribble about problems with my mailing address. I have no idea what the issue could be; after all, I order books regularly from Amazon and have NEVER had any trouble. I almost hit the reply button and started to type:
Dear Idiots! What the h....is your problem? You have my money! Give me my books, NOW!!! I know, I know. That would have been rude. Luckily I didn't type it, or send it. Especially given the fact that the order consisted of:
ESV Compact Bible (TruTone, Wild Rose, Floral Design)
Devotions for a Sacred Marriage: A Year of Weekly Devotions for Couples.
Sheesh, that would have been just great, huh? Jesus said, if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. How about cutting off your fingers so you can't type? What we write, type, or say with our tongue. It's all the same. They can ALL be a fire burning out of control.
Lord, help me to control my tongue - as well as what I type. May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight. Amen (Psalm 19:14)
Family is, well, complicated to say the least. Why? Because the people we LOVE the most have the power to hurt us the deepest. Family members can push our buttons like no one else can. And with day-to-day annoyances, misunderstandings, hurts and frustration going on while living in close proximity to each other, let's face it, some days it's hard to love our families. Especially the way Jesus wants us to.
"My command is this," he says, "love each other in the same way I have loved you." (John 15:12-13)
That's so tough to do! Especially when some of our family members are teens or young adults, and they are walking all over our boundaries. Do you ever get tempted to take scripture out of context and twist it to suit your own emotions? I know I do. How about Luke 14:26? "If anyone comes to me and does NOT hate his father and mother, his wife and CHILDREN, his brothers and sisters...he cannot be my disciple..." There you go. If we take Christ's words out of context, we can justify hating those annoying little buggers. (Though that wasn't really what he meant; he was talking in a broader sense about being wiling to leave everything - and everyone behind - to follow him). But back to feeling hate. Hate's easy. It just pops up and rears it's ugly head as soon as we let our guard down.
Love, on the other hand, that takes a lot of work!
In The Necessary Enemy, Katherine Anne Porter points out that "Love must be learned, and learned again and again; there is no end to it. Hate needs no instruction, but waits only to be provoked."
So how can we practice love? Here's the famous recipe according to 1 Corinthians 13 (The Message)
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.
Well, that's it I guess. Love never gives up, especially on family...(even though they are a pain in our butts!) Lord, your word promises that all things are possible in your strength. Please help me to not only love my family, but to be loving towards them in my thoughts, words and actions as well. Amen
2 Corinthians 3:18 ~ "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit"
Many people believe that the more time we spend with someone, the more we start looking and acting like them. Can it be true? Do married people really begin to look like their spouses as the years go by?
An even more hilarious idea is the notion that some people begin to look like their dogs!
Although the above photos make me chuckle, I like this idea even better: the more I spend time with God, the more I am transformed into HIS likeness. Now there's something to aspire to. God's characteristics are amazing. For starters, he is perpetually loving. Add to that patient, good, and merciful. He is also gentle, righteous, just, faithful, perfect and holy...the list is as endless as he is.
If only I could possess some of those qualities!
Lord, please continue to help me look like you! May you transform me into your likeness with ever-increasing glory. Amen
