With Kindness Receive One Another

"Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:

That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God."                                                                                 

                                                                               (Rom 15:5-7 KJV)

Be likeminded toward one another. Be nice! Receive one another as a brother or sister instead of attacking one another because you don't believe like them or live like them work together that you might live together in peace and glorify our Father in heaven.

God's Peace - Pr. J.

Our First Love

And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.

And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,

Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;

A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. 

                                                                                     (Luke 2:25-32 KJV)

Believe it or not there are people in this world whose greatest desire is to see Jesus; to be near to him. Both Simeon and the prophet Anna had waited for that day. When Jesus was brought to the temple for the purification rites, their greatest desire was fulfilled. Simeon was overjoyed. At long last, he had met the Savior face to face.

I know that for many people it may be hard to believe that Jesus really is the center of some of our lives. He is our hope and our salvation. We trust in none other than Jesus for our salvation; for life. We are able to trust others; because we trust him first. We are able to love others; because he first loved us. He is our life and our salvation. Because of him, we can live in peace.

For some of us, it is difficult (at times) to understand how anyone would not put Jesus first. Why anyone would not give thanks to God as often as possible for the precious gift of our beloved Jesus is impossible to fathom. Life just goes a whole lot better when Jesus is at the center of our lives.

In St. John's Revelation, he is told to write to the angel of Ephesus and warn the people that Jesus holds the fact that they have forgotten their first love against them. (Rev 2:1-7)  Our first love is (or should be) our Lord and Savior. You shall love the LORD your God above all things. In this you will know peace.

May God grant that we should all have the faith of Simeon as we wait for the day when we shall see Jesus with our own eyes.

God's Peace - Pr. J

If The World Hates You

 

"If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world—therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Servants are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me." (John 15:18-21 NRSV)

Being hated or persecuted when you have done nothing wrong can be very tiring. But, there is a consolation in it. We are hated because we belong to the Kingdom of God and not the world. The world rejects Jesus. Those who follow in worldly ways have rejected "The Way" that Jesus would have us go. The world has rejected our Father in heaven. The world will persecute; the world hate the followers of Jesus. That is just the way it is. That may be hurtful at times. But, it is also a reason to rejoice for we know that the world hated Jesus first.

It we are to be hated; then let us rejoice that the reason we are despised (even feared) is on account of the name of Jesus.  Let us rejoice; also, that there are multitudes of brothers and sisters in Christ who do not reject or hate us because they do, in fact, love Jesus. They do not reject the Good News that we would share with others. They do not reject our word; because our word is the Word given to us, Jesus Christ our Lord.

God's Peace - Pr. J