Uncommon Love

Although God causes the sun to rise on the evil as well as the good, and although He waters the land belonging both to the righteous and the unrighteous, it does not mean that God approves of their evil or unrighteous behavior.

If unconverted people would really pay attention, they would recognize that the whole earth is actually full of the lovingkindness of the Lord (Psalm 33:5).

At times, evil people advance in this world quicker than the righteous, which seems totally unfair to us. As humans, we would take a totally different approach. We would zap our enemies and annihilate them.

Yet, God often makes sure that unbelievers experience the same joys and benefits from His love that Believers do. He draws them by His love, just as He drew us by His love, even while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8).

At times, we are frustrated by the sinner's blindness to the goodness of God, and we lament that they do not praise Him for His love and kindness (Psalm 107:8).

They know about God; yet, most of them reject Him or even accuse Him for everything that goes wrong in their life. Their foolish hearts get darker and darker in the midst of God's obvious wonders (Romans 1:21).

Nevertheless, God pours out His blessings on the unjust as well as the just (Matthew 5:45). Then, He calls us to mirror His love to our unsaved friends, relatives, associates and neighbors by laying our life down for them (Romans 5:7). 

Prayer:

Father God, give us the same mercy and grace toward sinners that You showed to us. Keep us from expressing the frustration we often feel towards their resistance to Your love. Help us not to judge them, but to accept them right where they are; knowing that You will convict them in your timing and way.

Remind us often that we are no better than the sinner, because the only difference is that we are already saved by Your grace. Let us lay down our life for them. Give us the chance to prove to them that our motivation for serving them is nothing more than Your love for them in us.

Thought for the Day:

God desires that we continually pray for the salvation of the sinner; and that we utilize every opportunity to take as many of them to heaven with us as will have the humility to surrender to God's love.

Do Not Be Deceived

 

The Bible warns us in several passages to be aware of deception (2 Corinthians 11:3). Evil people and impostors will increase, especially in the last days, both being deceived themselves and deceiving others (2 Timothy 3:13). Satan's mission is to deceive millions through his lies, such as humanism and liberalism to mention a few (Revelations 12:9).

Cults prey on people who know very little about Biblical truth. These unwitting people rarely read the Bible, have a private devotion or compare what people say with Biblical Truth (Acts 17:11). Without discernment from God's Spirit, they are easy targets. They accept many a false teacher at face value and are deceived (Matthew 24:4-12).

Satan also uses comedians, commentators, newscasters, bar tenders and the man on the street to cheat people out of a relationship with God. The ungodly fill innocent minds full of human philosophy, empty deceit, vain traditions and the principles of the world, which are the antithesis of Christ's teachings (Colossians 2:8).

However, God made creation as a silent preacher. Nature declares God's eternal power and the invisible attributes of His glory. No one has a real excuse for not believing in God. It is their foolish heart, which darkens their understanding and causes them to think they know the truth, when they actually believe and live a lie (Romans 1: 18-22; Obadiah 1:3; Proverbs 28:26, Jeremiah 17:9).

Prayer:

Father God, You never tempt us to sin. We are drawn away by our own deceptive thoughts and desires. Help us to make the choice to walk away from Satan's fraud, to focus on Jesus and to accept Your eternal gift of Salvation (James 1:12-17; John 3:16-18). Remind us that walking in Your Spirit helps us to live in Your eternal plans for our life (Galatians 5:15-25; Ephesians 2:10).

Thought for the Day:

If we practice a lifestyle of sin, we will not inherit the Kingdom of God as co-heirs with Christ, because only those who are washed by the blood of the Lamb, justified in our spirit and sanctified in our soul by God's Spirit will have a place in God's eternal Kingdom.

- 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; Revelation 21:8; Matthew 7:21-23