God’s Perfect Love

You can operate your business without Christ. You can make it run well. You can raise your family without Christ. You can even pastor a church without Christ. But if you do, you will find that there will be no fruit, no Christlikeness, no manifestation of that beautiful character which arrests the attention of others. Instead there will be a sham, a phony imitation of the real thing, which will drive people away from Christ and will produce nothing but a dull, mechanical religiosity.  Ray C. Stedman

Christlikeness is your eventual destination, but your journey will last a lifetime. Rick Warren

Do you struggle with other people’s imperfections?  I know I do.  The more I get to know God the more I understand how imperfect we humans are in this life.  Our expectations of other people can hinder our relationship with God.

There is only one perfect love and that is God’s love.  When we figure that out, we stop expecting perfection from other people. There was a time in my life many years ago, when I expected Christians to be perfect.  If someone claimed to be a Christian; which means Christlike, then they should live up to my expectation and act Christlike.  The problem is other people are human not God.  So we all fail and make mistakes and hurt other people even in the midst of trying to be Christlike. 

When we figure out that there is not another human being on this earth, except Christ, who deserves God’s love, then we can begin to understand God’s perfect love.  When we learn that we can have God’s love in our imperfectness; we are one step closer to understanding what God’s perfect love is.  I think I am going to start calling myself something different from now on just so other people won’t get the wrong impression that I am Christlike.  My new handle is Sinner.  If I am a Sinner then I am at the bottom and there is nowhere to go but up. 

    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I want to be Christlike but I so often fail at it.  I want to claim the name of Christian but when I fail at it, I am showing others how not to act.  I think I will claim the name Sinner and work towards Christian.  If I claim to be a Sinner it puts me on equal footing with everyone else in the world.  Thank you for loving this Sinner.   

  

Scripture: Behave Like a Christian

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord.  Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:9-21