Sunday, August 12, 2007

IT"S HARD TO LOVE A STRANGER THAT"S RUDE (but it can be done) By Elaine Davenport (Monday, August, 13, 2007)

I love God. That much is clear, but I have a responsibility to do more than that. I recently went to a Faith Conference and it was oh so wonderful. The Message Bible greatly describes a recent challenge that I faced:

1 Peter 1:6-7 (The Message)
The Message (MSG)

I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.



I left a Healing line to go back to my seat and a lady from another country told me to go all the way around because she did not want for me to go past her. Of course, I was shocked but I did as she instructed. I remember thinking how rude that was and that I had never encountered that before. As I traveled the long way around, I was instructed by ushers because of the volume of people to go even another direction and it seemed to go on and on.

When I arrived at my seat, I was surprised when a young school teacher whom I did not know told me not to lose my joy. I realized that she was so right and I began to ask God to forgive me for not loving the lady (instead of dwelling on why she did that) that would not let me pass by her. I began to ask God to Bless her and I still will continue to pray that He will do this. She will likely stay on my prayer list for the rest of my life. It was a test and though I did not get 100%; I passed. Next time I'll ace it. You see, we are required to "LOVE" even if they are a stranger and no matter how they act. God doesn't love them any less than me or you. Blessings

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

11When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

12We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.


THE MESSAGE BIBLE