Be yourself was the first impression I got this morning as I woke up. I don’t have to strive to be someone I am not. My Father loves me for who I am. I don’t have to impress Him with anything. Just be me. I have always been a loving and caring person. Growing up I didn’t like how others were being treated. Here is one thing that much Christian miss. Jesus told His disciples that they would catch men because they were fishermen. How do you catch men? What bait would you use? Anger won’t catch men, insults won’t. Doing evil to another won’t catch men, so why do we do these things? Doing good and loving others is the bait we use to catch men. I hope you now understand that you must first love God. You get to use that love upon others, loving your neighbor as yourself.
Acts 10:37 that word you know, which was proclaimed throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
Peter was teaching this very thing about loving your neighbor as yourself. One of the first scriptures that God impressed on my heart was 1 Peter 3:9. We are not to repay evil with evil, or insult with insult, but rather a blessing so you can inherit a blessing. Peter was trying to explain what Jesus taught in the sermon on the mount. Jesus taught us to love our enemies, and pray for those who use us. It doesn’t matter what happens to you. What matters is that you love others regardless of what they do to you. The enemy would love it for you to make it about you. But if we make it about others, God will make it about us.
Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
When David sinned, he wanted God to punish him, not man. David understood that men don’t have mercy, God does. Men seem to have alternative motives, but God wants what is right in His sight. You can see how things are twisted today where men want things right in their sight, not God’s. This is a grave mistake. When it’s time for everyone to sit on the judgment seat of Christ, they won’t be judged by what they thought was good in men’s sight, but rather by what was good or bad in God’s sight. Everyone knows God is real. Some choose to believe He is not discounting creation as a big bang theory. They don’t discount the creation, they discount who did it. My Father is an amazing person. He has always wanted to live in His creation. He has always wanted to live in your heart. Will you live for Him and through Him in your heart as Jesus did? Be blessed, my friends
2 Samuel 24:12 “Go and tell David, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.” ’ ” 13 So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.” 14 And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
