We discover the truth of Scripture not by intellect, but by obedience. Mans approach to spiritual life has always been learn, that you may do. The divine formula is, Do, that you may know.
Lawrence O. Richards
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with Gods people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Romans 12:9-13 NIV
If I had to pick out of all Scripture what I would consider to be the code of behavior for Christians, what Paul wrote to the church at Rome would be high on my list. When Jesus quoted the Old Testament by saying, love your neighbor as yourself, we find a code of behavior that pretty will sums it all up. But coming from the heart of someone other than Jesus, who loved the Lord and his fellow man, Paul, has laid down a pretty good list that could be called our code. Love must be sincere. I am guilty as I am sure many others are of saying I love you and not really meaning it. In my life somewhere during the 1970s the word love got all stretched out of proportion and I found myself using it very loosely. I found myself using it for words such as like, lust, friendly, kind, pretty, and so on. My heart knew that I was not sincere when I expressed love, and to keep the same thing from happening to myself by others, I put up a love proof shield. I dont think I consciously put up a shield around my heart, but the hardness of my own heart towards others created the shield. Hard got harder. One day my heart was so brittle and because of my alcoholism I fell again for the umpteenth time and shattered it. Only then was sincere love able to reach my soul. That love entered in by the testimony of Smitty, a guard at Leeds Prison Farm, Kansas City Missouri. Also I was able to get a Bible, and with the crusty hard shield around my heart shattered, the grace and love of God was able to enter in. Today I still find myself trying at times to say the word love without meaning it, and I still from time to time find myself building up a shield around my heart. But with the reading of the Word which brings about spiritual fervor, serving the Lord by serving others, and practicing prayer I can work on not having a hard heart. Its a daily thing and the work is all on the inside. Thanks for letting me share, God is still doing for me what I could not do for myself ..JRE
********************
This stubborn, adolescent will of mine
Is making me a spiritual delinquent!
It drives me recklessly about on lifes freeways,
At times endangering both myself and others along the way.
If I bring it daily unto God in prayer,
Surely He can curb these tendencies
With His understanding love
And gently bend it to His will and way
During this difficult period of growing up
Toward spiritual maturity.
Carolyn N. Rhea
Lawrence O. Richards
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with Gods people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Romans 12:9-13 NIV
If I had to pick out of all Scripture what I would consider to be the code of behavior for Christians, what Paul wrote to the church at Rome would be high on my list. When Jesus quoted the Old Testament by saying, love your neighbor as yourself, we find a code of behavior that pretty will sums it all up. But coming from the heart of someone other than Jesus, who loved the Lord and his fellow man, Paul, has laid down a pretty good list that could be called our code. Love must be sincere. I am guilty as I am sure many others are of saying I love you and not really meaning it. In my life somewhere during the 1970s the word love got all stretched out of proportion and I found myself using it very loosely. I found myself using it for words such as like, lust, friendly, kind, pretty, and so on. My heart knew that I was not sincere when I expressed love, and to keep the same thing from happening to myself by others, I put up a love proof shield. I dont think I consciously put up a shield around my heart, but the hardness of my own heart towards others created the shield. Hard got harder. One day my heart was so brittle and because of my alcoholism I fell again for the umpteenth time and shattered it. Only then was sincere love able to reach my soul. That love entered in by the testimony of Smitty, a guard at Leeds Prison Farm, Kansas City Missouri. Also I was able to get a Bible, and with the crusty hard shield around my heart shattered, the grace and love of God was able to enter in. Today I still find myself trying at times to say the word love without meaning it, and I still from time to time find myself building up a shield around my heart. But with the reading of the Word which brings about spiritual fervor, serving the Lord by serving others, and practicing prayer I can work on not having a hard heart. Its a daily thing and the work is all on the inside. Thanks for letting me share, God is still doing for me what I could not do for myself ..JRE
********************
This stubborn, adolescent will of mine
Is making me a spiritual delinquent!
It drives me recklessly about on lifes freeways,
At times endangering both myself and others along the way.
If I bring it daily unto God in prayer,
Surely He can curb these tendencies
With His understanding love
And gently bend it to His will and way
During this difficult period of growing up
Toward spiritual maturity.
Carolyn N. Rhea
