Galatians | Kristi's Morning Devotional

September 10, 2019September 10, 2019

Growth – A Good Thing

This morning I would like to talk to you about growth. Facebook reminded me that five years ago we were just starting construction of our front courtyard wall. There were only a couple native plants, a short little sidewalk and no wall. It was a blank canvas, a barren land.

But Dave and I had a vision of what we wanted it to become and the work was started…

Fast forward to today – five years later we have a beautiful courtyard wall, a long sidewalk, gates, tons of vegetation and benches so we can sit out front and enjoy the view and the solitude.

Change is good! Growth is good!

That got me to thinking. I can look at our front courtyard and our back patio and see growth. How much growth can I see in my spiritual life? I read once that if we aren’t growing everyday in our relationship with the Lord we are regressing because living things grow.

“My dear friends, you have been warned ahead of time! So don’t let the errors of evil people lead you down the wrong path and make you lose your balance. ¹⁸Let the wonderful kindness and the understanding that come from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ help you to keep on growing. Praise Jesus now and forever! Amen.” II Peter 3:17-18 CEV

Peter had written a letter to Christians everywhere and the verses above were his final admonishment in that letter. This is how he started the letter:

“From Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ. To everyone who shares with us in the privilege of believing that our God and Savior Jesus Christ will do what is just and fair. ²I pray that God will be kind to you and will let you live in perfect peace! May you keep learning more and more about God and our Lord Jesus.” II Peter 1:1-2 CEV

He wanted us ALL to keep learning about God the Father and our Lord Jesus. It is a continuing growth process; the deepening of our relationship. It’s change that is good.

We may not notice the daily growth but it’s happening. Sometimes we hit a “grow spurt” and it seems that we have shot up over night in our knowledge and relationship with the Lord. At other times the growth is gradual, almost unnoticeable until we look back and see how things used to be.

Our responsibility is to stay attached to Jesus. He is the vine from which we draw our life.

“Get your life from Me and I will live in you. No branch can give fruit by itself. It has to get life from the vine. You are able to give fruit only when you have life from Me. ⁵I am the Vine and you are the branches. Get your life from Me. Then I will live in you and you will give much fruit. You can do nothing without Me.” John 15:4-5 NLV

When we stay in our relationship with Jesus good fruit will grow! It’s a natural occurrence, just the same as apples and oranges grow on the branches of the tree we will see fruit growing in our lives. Good and beneficial fruit.

“But the fruit that comes from having the Holy Spirit in our lives is: love, joy, peace, not giving up, being kind, being good, having faith, ²³being gentle, and being the boss over our own desires. The Law is not against these things.” Galatians 5:22-23 NLV

Branches naturally grow when they are attached to a strong trunk. There is no stronger trunk (or vine) than Jesus. We can trust Him to produce spiritual growth in us.

Grow today – grow strong – grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour!

July 31, 2019July 31, 2019

All Good Things

You know how the old saying goes when making comparisons “Apples to Apples, Oranges to Oranges”. I’m sure I have used it before some where in my teachings so it should come as no surprise to you that I will be using it again this morning.

Last week I heard a very good teaching on the character of God. I have been mulling it over all week. I keep going back to it because it isn’t what some prophet or Bible character is saying about God, it’s what God is saying about Himself.

Moses wanted to see God. God had been giving him messages of provision for the Israelite people and Moses had seen the burning bush, all the plagues and the Red Sea part. He had seen the cloud covering by day and the fire covering each night but he hadn’t seen God.

“Then the Lord came down to him in a cloud, stood there with Moses, and spoke his own name. ⁶That is, the Lord passed in front of Moses and said, “Yahweh, the Lord, is a kind and merciful God. He is slow to become angry. He is full of great love. He can be trusted. ⁷He shows his faithful love to thousands of people. He forgives people for the wrong things they do, but he does not forget to punish guilty people…” Exodus 34:5-7 ERV

Look at what God says about Himself. I am merciful, kind, gracious, good tempered, loving, trustworthy, faithful, forgiving and just! Sounds very similar to the Apostle Paul’s description of what Love is.

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous, it does not brag, and it is not proud. ⁵Love is not rude, it is not selfish, and it cannot be made angry easily. Love does not remember wrongs done against it. ⁶Love is never happy when others do wrong, but it is always happy with the truth. ⁷Love never gives up on people. It never stops trusting, never loses hope, and never quits. ⁸Love will never end…” I Corinthians 13:4-8 ERV

These are love’s characteristics and since God is love then these are His characteristics too. Love is patient, kind, unselfish, good tempered, forgiving, loyal, trustworthy, hopeful, committed and eternal.

As I was studying these verses together I realized that these are also the characteristics that the Holy Spirit brings out in our lives, the fruit of the Spirit. That was the focus of yesterday’s blog and it also ties in with the teaching on our spiritual DNA that I wrote about a week ago. Because we are children of the Father, his DNA shapes our lives. God’s word always dove-tails together giving us a true perspective of His character.

God’s Character	Love’s Character	Fruit of the Spirit
Faithful	Hopeful	Faithful
Forgiving	Supportive	Gentle
Good	Faithful	Good
Gracious	Forgiving	Joy
Loving	Truthful	Kind
Merciful	Not Rude	Love
Patient	Patient	Patient
Trustworthy	Selfless	Peaceful
	Kind
	Not Boastful
	Good Tempered

God wants His character to overflow in our lives so that we look and act like Him. The Father is pleased when people look at us and say “Oh they must be a Christian, they look and act just like their Father”.

“Whatever you say or do, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus. Give thanks to God the Father through the Lord Jesus.” Colossians 3: 17 NLV

May our lives be an “apples to apples” comparison with Father as we grow in our daily walk with Him.

July 30, 2019July 30, 2019

Producing Beauty

When we lived in Spokane we were only a few blocks from the Manitou Park. It was a beautiful, peaceful place. There was a large duck pond (which the kids ice skated on in winter), walking trails, the famed flower gardens, the orchid hot house, a Japanese garden, large shady trees and rock building that had been used to house animals in the early 1900’s when it was used as a zoo. The sloping hills made a great place to sled in the winter and the bike paths encouraged you to stay fit in the spring and fall.

Each time I went, I would marvel at the beauty of those gardens and of the dedication of the staff to keep it lovely and inviting at all times. Hundreds of manhours went in to the cultivation and care of the grounds.

I, on the other hand, am a fair weather gardener and grounds keeper. I do love working in my yard but I become reluctant in the hot days of summer. I was noticing yesterday how I’ve let the mesquite beans and hollyhock stalks and seed pods make a mess in my front courtyard. It needs attention but the answer I gave myself is “I’ll get too it one of these cool mornings, not right now”.

Life’s like that.

We see how we want to be; the person we desire to become, but if we aren’t diligent in pulling out the weeds, picking up the debris, tilling the soil and watering what we’ve planted it will fall into disrepair.

A little sprout of anger comes up and we don’t pull it out because we justify our right to be angry. Then the leaves of sarcasm fall and make a mess but we don’t rake them up because “everyone knows I was just kidding”. The trash of unforgiveness blows in and it’s over in the corner against the wall and we say I’ll get to it next time I’m on that side of the yard so we leave it to rot and decay. And then before we know it we look across the yard and it’s a mess – little white lies, impatience, selfishness, greed, and anxiety are all spoiling the beauty of our garden.

“Put out of your life these things also: anger, bad temper, bad feelings toward others, talk that hurts people, speaking against God, and dirty talk. ⁹Do not lie to each other. You have put out of your life your old ways. ¹⁰You have now become a new person and are always learning more about Christ. You are being made more like Christ. He is the One Who made you. ¹¹There is no difference in men in this new life. Greeks and Jews are the same. The man who has gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew and the one who has not are the same. There is no difference between nations. Men who are servants and those who are free are the same. Christ is everything. He is in all of us.” Colossians 3:8-11 NLV

Time to get the wheel barrow out and begin cleaning up the mess. It will take effort to get it all cleaned up. A rake, shovel, pruners, and some good old fashioned elbow grease and sweat will be the tools to use. But don’t despair, we’re not in this alone. Christ is in us and He has provided all we need to make our life a beautiful garden.

The “want to” and desire are up to us and once we make that decision the Holy Spirit steps in and empowers us to get the job done!

“If Christ is in you, your spirit lives because you are right with God, and yet your body is dead because of sin. ¹¹The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. If the same Holy Spirit lives in you, He will give life to your bodies in the same way.

¹²So then, Christian brothers, we are not to do what our sinful old selves want us to do. ¹³If you do what your sinful old selves want you to do, you will die in sin. But if, through the power of the Holy Spirit, you destroy those actions to which the body can be led, you will have life. ¹⁴All those who are led by the Holy Spirit are sons of God. ¹⁵You should not act like people who are owned by someone. They are always afraid. Instead, the Holy Spirit makes us His sons, and we can call to Him, “My Father.” Romans 8:10-12 NLV

Happy Gardening!!

July 24, 2019July 24, 2019

Twenty-Three and Me

I think it all started with Ancestry.com. You know the search of where we came from, what is our heritage and who we are related too. It all helps to answer the question “Who am I”.

I have a strong Norwegian heritage and I’m very proud of that. I’ve never really done a lot of research on my family tree nor do I feel compelled too. It’s enough knowing that my ancestors came from Norway.

However, I do spend considerable amounts of time researching my DNA. But the DNA I refer cannot be run for chemical analysis; instead it is revealed in the pages of Scripture. I know I’ve told you this before but the DNA I am speaking of stands for my Divine Nature Ability.

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” II Corinthians 5:17 NLT

A completely new life has begun.

This morning I was reading in I John and once again evidence of my DNA jumped off the pages of my Bible.

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. ²We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. ³Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. ⁴For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. ⁵And who can win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.” I John 5:1-5 NLT

Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ? Then these verses are referring to you. First off, the Christ, means that Jesus is the Anointed One. Not just a man, but one who has been selected as perfect and set apart by God, the Father, to bring new life to us. He gave us the right to be a child of God.

Then our DNA gives us the power to obtain victory in this life through faith. Our DNA causes us to love. Just as naturally as a duck floats on water because it’s his nature, we keep God’s commandment to love. It’s been programmed into us – it’s what we have inherited from our Father, who is love.

Do we ever act unloving? Of course, we do! But…God, through His word, reminds us that we have been given His nature and His ability to life that reflects his character. These are His words to us.

“God has also said that he gave us eternal life and that this life comes to us from his Son. ¹²And so, if we have God’s Son, we have this life. But if we don’t have the Son, we don’t have this life. ¹³All of you have faith in the Son of God, and I have written to let you know that you have eternal life. ¹⁴We are certain that God will hear our prayers when we ask for what pleases him. ¹⁵And if we know that God listens when we pray, we are sure that our prayers have already been answered.” I John 5:11-15 CEV

He has given us life; He has placed within us His ability, His character. We receive our natural DNA from our earthly parents and we receive our spiritual DNA from our heavenly Father and our life that comes through His Son.

“All of you are God’s children because of your faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷And when you were baptized, it was as though you had put on Christ in the same way you put on new clothes. ²⁸Faith in Christ Jesus is what makes each of you equal with each other, whether you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a man or a woman.” Galatians 3:26-28 CEV

Father, thank you for making us your children and filling us with your power. We have victory in this life because of our faith in what You have done for us and in us!

July 11, 2019July 11, 2019

Basket of Goodness

Yesterday Dave and I were out shopping and we stopped at a Sprouts. We were looking for a particular type of pepper that we had eaten recently, Shishito peppers, and we really enjoyed them but this isn’t about peppers.

It’s about fruit.

This was first time we had been in this store. Somehow, we had expected it to be larger and we remarked on that; we also remarked on the display of fruits and vegetables. Everything was so brightly colored – the arrangement of the fruits was like a big, welcoming, delicious fruit basket. We not only found the peppers we were looking for but several other fresh produce items as well.

So this morning in my reading I was reminded of my shopping experience yesterday morning. All that fresh fruit yesterday was attractive; it was pleasing to the eye as well as to the taste.

²⁵If the Holy Spirit is living in us, let us be led by Him in all things. ²⁶Let us not become proud in ways in which we should not. We must not make hard feelings among ourselves as Christians or make anyone jealous.” Galatians 5:22-26 NLV

The Holy Spirit will cause us to produce attractive, delicious fruit that is pleasing. When we are led by the Spirit our lives will draw attention; we will be different from the rest and people will be drawn to the characteristics we display and in turn, they will be drawn to Christ.

This fruit isn’t something we develop on our own. It comes through our relationship with Christ and it’s available to everyone who allows the Spirit of God to work in them. God doesn’t just reach out to the “good people” of life and make them better, He reaches out to ALL and makes us new.

“God treats everyone alike. He accepts people only because they have faith in Jesus Christ. ²³All of us have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. ²⁴But God treats us much better than we deserve, and because of Christ Jesus, he freely accepts us and sets us free from our sins. ^25-26God sent Christ to be our sacrifice. Christ offered his life’s blood, so that by faith in him we could come to God. And God did this to show that in the past he was right to be patient and forgive sinners. This also shows that God is right when he accepts people who have faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:22-26 CEV

Everyone of us, everyone, can and will produce the beautiful fruit of the Spirit as He works in our lives. We should look for opportunities everyday to share our basket of fruit with those around us.

July 3, 2019July 3, 2019

I Am Blessed!

This morning I woke and my regular Bible reading took me to a place I am very familiar with and it seemed the Lord was saying, “Happy Birthday, these are my gifts to you”.

“Now, if you will be careful to obey the Lord your God and follow all his commands that I tell you today, the Lord your God will put you high above all the nations on earth. ²If you will obey the Lord your God, all these blessings will come to you and be yours:

³“He will bless you
    in the city and in the field.
⁴He will bless you
    and give you many children.
He will bless your land
    and give you good crops.
He will bless your animals
    and let them have many babies.
    He will bless you with calves and lambs.
⁵He will bless your baskets and pans
    and fill them with food.
⁶He will bless you at all times
    in everything you do.

⁷“The Lord will help you defeat your enemies who come to fight against you. Your enemies will come against you one way, but they will run away from you seven different ways!

⁸“The Lord will bless you and fill your barns. He will bless everything you do. The Lord your God will bless you in the land that he is giving you. ⁹If you follow the Lord your God and obey his commands, he will do what he promised. The Lord will make you his own special people. ¹⁰Then all the people in that land will see that you are called to be the Lord’s people, and they will be afraid of you.

¹¹“And the Lord will give you many good things. He will give you many children. He will give your cows many calves. He will give you a good harvest in the land that the Lord promised your ancestors to give you. ¹²The Lord will open his storehouse where he keeps his rich blessings. He will send rain at the right time for your land. He will bless everything you do. You will have money to lend to many nations. And you will not need to borrow anything from them.” Deuteronomy 28:1-12 ERV

Now that’s quite a birthday present!

All those blessings weren’t just for the Israelites, they are for me…and they are for you too!!

“You belong to Christ, so you are Abraham’s descendants. You get all of God’s blessings because of the promise that God made to Abraham.” Galatians 3:29 ERV

“The Son of God, Jesus Christ, the one that Silas, Timothy, and I told you about was not yes and no. In Christ it has always been yes. ²⁰The yes to all of God’s promises is in Christ. And that is why we say “Amen” through Christ to the glory of God. ²¹And God is the one who makes you and us strong in Christ. God is also the one who chose us for his work.” II Corinthians 1:19-21 ERV

The yes to all God’s promises come to us through our relationship with Jesus Christ. The promises that He made in the Old Testament are for us today because of our relationship with Christ.

What a wonderful gift we have – we have God’s unchangeable word!

And then when I finished reading I looked out my window and saw a beautiful sunrise. It was the Lord smiling on my day. I feel very blessed and I love that I get to share His blessings with you.

June 5, 2019

Everyone Needs a Cheerleader

And the fans go wild…

Do you remember your high school or college years when you would go to the “big game”? The teams would be engage in battle; the rivalry would be intense. Often the home team would be down in points and the cheerleaders would do their best to get everyone in the stands up on their feet and cheering for the players.

Hearing the crowd cheering for you can be game changing!

The thought of a cheering crowd is what came to mind as I was reading my Bible this morning.

“Think about what we have in Christ: the encouragement he has brought us, the comfort of his love, our sharing in his Spirit, and the mercy and kindness he has shown us. If you enjoy these blessings, ²then do what will make my joy complete: Agree with each other, and show your love for each other. Be united in your goals and in the way you think.” Philippians 2:1-2 ERV

Can you hear it from the grandstands of heaven? The cheers of encouragement coming from the mouth of Jesus; the Holy Spirit calling us in to the huddle and speaking words of kindness and mercy into our lives as he sends us out on the next play.

We are never in this Christian walk alone. God, our Father, owns the field, the lights, the ball and we can keep playing until we win!

“You used to be far from God. Your thoughts made you his enemies, and you did evil things. ²²But his Son became a human and died. So God made peace with you, and now he lets you stand in his presence as people who are holy and faultless and innocent. ²³But you must stay deeply rooted and firm in your faith. You must not give up the hope you received when you heard the good news. It was preached to everyone on earth, and I myself have become a servant of this message.” Colossians 1:21-23 CEV

We are on the winning team. There’s no greater coach than the Holy Spirit. His job is to strengthen us and give us proper training through the power of God’s word. We are on a team with other Christians. We need each other to accomplish the goal that God has given us.

“…But if you live to please the Spirit, your harvest from the Spirit will be eternal life. ⁹We must not get tired of doing good. We will receive our harvest of eternal life at the right time. We must not give up. ¹⁰When we have the opportunity to do good to anyone, we should do it. But we should give special attention to those who are in the family of believers.” Galatians 6:8b-10 ERV

You may feel like it’s fourth down and you’re still nine yards from the goal but your front line is strong; there stands faith, joy, hope, mercy, peace and the Word. The gates of hell and all its players cannot prevail.

“But you, Lord, are a mighty soldier, standing at my side. Those troublemakers will fall down and fail— terribly embarrassed, forever ashamed.” Jeremiah 20:11 CEV

Run forward – all of heaven is cheering you on! You WIN!!!

May 25, 2019May 25, 2019

A New Set of Clothes

Everyone likes a new set of clothes. When we were kids, it was fun to go to the store and get a new dress or jeans and shoes for the first day of school. Or perhaps you’re memory bank takes you to a particular dress you wore for Christmas or Easter. I know guys, you didn’t wear a dress but you looked spiffy in your new trousers and shirt.

You might still be in your jammies like I am this morning. Have you decided on something red, white and blue to wear to commemorate the Memorial Day remembrance?

What are you wearing?

The Apostle Paul uses a phrase in several of his letters to the Christian churches; put off and put on. In the verses I read today he explains his thought behind that phrase.

“All of you are God’s children because of your faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And when you were baptized, it was as though you had put on Christ in the same way you put on new clothes. 28 Faith in Christ Jesus is what makes each of you equal with each other, whether you are a Jew or a Greek, a slave or a free person, a man or a woman. 29 So if you belong to Christ, you are now part of Abraham’s family, and you will be given what God has promised.” Galatians 3:26-29 CEV

“Putting on Christ” like a new set of clothes.

Have you ever been out in the snow and gotten really wet and cold? First thing you want to do is get in and get warm; maybe take a warm/hot shower and then put on some clean, warm, dry clothes. Oh that feels good! Draw that flannel or fleece shirt around you, put on some sweat pants or maybe a pair of long johns and then get some fuzzy socks or slippers – yes, warm clothes are the best!

But how did you get out of those old, wet, cold clothes? Don’t over analyze – the answer is simple. Think – how did you do it? Answer: you took them off! See, I told you it was simple. You didn’t wait for the clothes to magically fall off or for some great force or power to overwhelm you and remove them from your body; you took them off.

That’s how it is in our Christian life, it’s up to us to take off the old and put on the new. It’s not going to be a miraculous or magical overpowering act of God. It’s up to us. God says I have planned a new life for you. Here’s your new self and with it will come the blessing of being in right relationship with me. Take off that dirty, sinful, cold, destructive lifestyle and put on your life “in Christ”. This new life is offered freely to all; it is inclusive, it’s for whosoever will. No one is bigger or better than anyone else, we all must come through Christ and we all receive the same place of sonship.

“Only those people who are led by God’s Spirit are his children. 15 God’s Spirit doesn’t make us slaves who are afraid of him. Instead, we become his children and call him our Father. 16 God’s Spirit makes us sure that we are his children. 17 His Spirit lets us know that together with Christ we will be given what God has promised. We will also share in the glory of Christ, because we have suffered with him.” Romans 8:14-17

Those clothes that you took off may have been your favorite outfit; they have defined you to your family and friends but let them go. Let your new outfit define you – people will say “they used to always act that way but now there’s something different”. Yes, there is – it’s that you have put on your new life “in Christ”.

“You were told that your foolish desires will destroy you and that you must give up your old way of life with all its bad habits. ²³Let the Spirit change your way of thinking ²⁴and make you into a new person. You were created to be like God, and so you must please him and be truly holy. ²⁵We are part of the same body. Stop lying and start telling each other the truth. ²⁶Don’t get so angry that you sin. Don’t go to bed angry ²⁷and don’t give the devil a chance.

²⁸If you are a thief, quit stealing. Be honest and work hard, so you will have something to give to people in need. ²⁹Stop all your dirty talk. Say the right thing at the right time and help others by what you say. ³⁰Don’t make God’s Spirit sad. The Spirit makes you sure that someday you will be free from your sins. ³¹Stop being bitter and angry and mad at others. Don’t yell at one another or curse each other or ever be rude. ³²Instead, be kind and merciful, and forgive others, just as God forgave you because of Christ. ” Ephesians 4:22-32 CEV

Take off the old and put on the new, enjoy your life in Christ!

April 21, 2019April 21, 2019

Where To Now?

I’m sure that must have been a question on the mind of the disciples as they talked among themselves after the crucifixion. Where do we go from here?

I ask that of myself. Where am I going? What do I depend on to guide me through life? Jesus has the answer for me and for you also. He said “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me.” John 14:6 ERV

The whole purpose of His ministry was to bring us to place where we would put our faith in God’s love and be brought into relationship with Him.

“But Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much he loves us.

⁹We have been made right with God by the blood sacrifice of Christ. So through Christ we will surely be saved from God’s anger. ¹⁰I mean that while we were God’s enemies, he made friends with us through his Son’s death. And the fact that we are now God’s friends makes it even more certain that he will save us through his Son’s life.” Romans 5:8-10 ERV

There are four verses that are the basis for my daily walk. In some way or another, each day I remind myself of my foundation in the Scripture. These verses guide my life and my relationship with the Lord.

“But without faith no one can please God. We must believe that God is real and that he rewards everyone who searches for him.” Hebrews 11:6 CEV

“…Anything that is not done in faith is sin.” Romans 14:23b NLV

“When someone belongs to Christ Jesus, it is not important if they are circumcised or not. The important thing is faith—the kind of faith that works through love.” Galatians 5:6 ERV

“Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or rude. Love isn’t selfish or quick tempered. It doesn’t keep a record of wrongs that others do. 6 Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil. 7 Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting. 8 Love never fails!” I Corinthians 13:4-8 CEV

So here’s the progression of thought.

I want to please God the Father so I must have faith and believe that He wants relationship with me.
I recognize whatever I do that is not done in faith is sin.
In order for faith to truly work it must have love as its foundation.
Finally to have effective faith I must be walking in love and love is kind, patient, unselfish, not rude or jealous, boastful or proud. Love assumes the best and is supportive, loyal and trusting – it never fails.

My decisions, actions and reactions need to be based on knowing God’s amazing love for me; His character is love and He shares that with me so that I can walk in faith and please Him. My faith is never in my own works or abilities but always in His! Then and only then is my day truly successful!

This Easter morning is a good time to examine and evaluate our path in life. Let’s walk in faith and please the Father today!

March 28, 2019March 28, 2019

Sibling Rivalry

Anyone who has kids knows from time to time they will bicker and squabble. Parents offend wonder “why can’t you guys just get along”. It hurts our hearts when our kids, who we love so much, have times when they fuss and say hurtful things.

The scripture tells us that God wants us to get along with our brothers and sisters also. He is our loving heavenly Father and He doesn’t like it when His kids quarrel. Doctrines, traditions, rituals may be different but that doesn’t have to be a reason to sever relationship or to talk badly of one another.

“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” Psalm 133:1

Jesus spent a lot of his final hours and days talking to his disciples about loving one another. And for good reason – one of them was going to betray Jesus, one was going to deny him and the rest were going to scatter. I think Jesus was trying to prepare them for what was ahead. He wanted their hearts set on forgiveness and not blame; for them to walk together in unity and love so that they could draw on strength from one another.

“I give you a new command: Love each other. You must love each other just as I loved you. 35 All people will know that you are my followers if you love each other.” John 13:34-35

A real sign to the world around them would be the love Jesus disciples had for one another. The love Jesus was talking about is supernatural – the unconditional, never ending love of God in their lives would be a sure sign that Jesus had impacted their lives. There is verse after verse written about our loving one another, letting the love of God flow through us; Jesus spoke many of them and then the whole book of I John is devoted to our loving one another.

“This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” Jn 15:12

“These things I command you, that ye love one another.” Jn 15:17

“Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;” Romans 12:10

“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.” Romans 13:8

“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13

“And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.” I John 3:23

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” I John 4:7

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” I John 4:11

Anytime God, the Father, puts this much time and teaching into a subject you know it’s important. These are but a few of the verses that I found on love. I’m not sure what any of us will encounter today but I know God’s message for sure – He wants us to walk in love.