Hi every one:) I just wanted to talk a little bit about forgiveness and love, but mostly love. It came up last night in small group, and has been on my heart and mind for a while. It breaks my heart to see so many people hurt by people who claim to be Christians, and it breaks my heart to see the way Christians treat each other. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40,"You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 A second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'40 All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." (Read Luke 10:25-37 to see Jesus talking about who your neighbor is)

In this passage Jesus doesn’t say, "Love your neighbor if you want to," or "Love your neighbor unless they hurt you." He says, "Love you neighbor as yourself." So what is love exactly?

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 says this:

"4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails....."

So, there is a lot to be said about love, but I want to specifically talk about the "no record of wrongs" part. We can’t love our neighbors and keep a record of the "wrongs" they have done to us. In 1 John 4:20 it says, "If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom He has not seen." Looking at that most of us will probably have to question our level of commitment to God. I mean, how many times have I said, "I can’t stand her! She did......" You fill in the blank. That is keeping a record of wrong. How many times have I ignored someone because I was mad at them? How many times have I decided I don’t want to be friends with someone because I’m not getting what I want from them? I’m not just talking about everyone else because God has really convicted me while I’ve been praying about this.

Basically, if we are going to claim to be Christians, we need to start treating people the way Jesus did. If we don’t people will continue to see the church as a bunch of hypocritical people who are no different or are worse than everyone else. I realize we can’t do everything perfectly and there will always be people you like to be around more than others. I just hope and pray that if anyone reads this they will think a little bit about how they treat people and let God use them to make a difference. Thanks for reading, and I hope you all have a wonderful day:)

jenny:)

Proverbs 4:25-27