Like He Did

"Just be who He has become within us."

COMMIT TO GROWTH. Commit to maturity. Don't live in reaction. Let God reveal right (accurate, correct, godly) things to you. Hold your behavior up against the love of God, make it your standard. Love is patient and kind.

Strife is the basis for every evil work (James 3:16). We are to seek and pursue peace (Psalm 34:14). We are peacemakers, those who guard their speech and watch over their behavior to offend no one.

Anger is a red flag to change our reactions. That thing that upset us shouldn't. That person whose behavior we judge should send us to honest, fervent prayer from the love of God in us. Love one another is not a suggestion or a place of judgment.

Judgment has been misunderstood in the church. We read judgment as a place to condemn someone. God sees it as an opportunity for mercy. Who we are as children of God, loving people, generous in God’s good nature, is what will convict others of sin. We don't have to say a thing. Just be who He has become within us.

We are not the body of our loving Savior, His hands and feet, in order to kick people but to embrace them. He fills us with His meekness of heart, and we fill Him with more like us (Ephesians 1:23). Like He does, we look for the good in people. Would we have seen the good in Saul? He deliberately killed people who worshipped Jesus. Then, when he finally spoke to Peter and others in the church, he said they rejoiced that the one who had killed them now preached the good news (Galatians 1:23-24).

Years ago, I heard a sermon preached entirely against a popular singer. Not against sin but only sin in him. I ask you now, “Whose sin was greater, the singer's or the speaker's?” Our need for news has spawned the okaying of gossip. "Have you heard ...?" The better question is, "Have you prayed?" And specifically, about your need to gossip.

We lack God’s point-of-view. If we see through His love, all our need to share what is actually criticism will vanish. Over anyone. Jesus saw the good in Saul, who became Paul. He saw the strength in Peter and the truth in Matthew, a tax collector. People should come away from us encouraged. Hopeful. They should see Jesus and want more Jesus.

How can we die for them like He did?

“The church is Christ’s body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.” (Ephesians 1:23 MSG)

Image by Yor Ditsayakub from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com