Thought of the Day !!

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.
2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV)

Often times we Christians can be too timid. Of course the opposite is true too. We have been know to beat people over the head with our Bibles, go on Crusades (or wage war) in the name of Christ, and to condemn folks for their sins while hiding our own. So we can go too far in either direction.

But in the things that Paul is speaking of here, we can never go too far. God gave us a spirit of power. If we have God's Holy Spirit in us, then we have a power unparalleled by any other. We have the power to serve, to forgive, to love. This kind of power knows no bounds and is greater than any of the negatives that the devil tries to throw at us.

God gave us a spirit of love. This means that we are capable of loving no matter what. Here is one of the places we are too timid at times though. Many feel embarrassed to show love in today's world. It's not the "manly" thing to do. Or even for women, it may not be proper in places. But we have been given the spirit of love of neighbor, and the Bible teaches us to use this gift generously. I've seen this in several ways in the past like after 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina or recently with the Haiti Earthquake relief. But don't let it come down to a disaster occurring to give you a reason to show love to others.

God also gave us a spirit of self-discipline. Look deep inside yourself. It's there. For some of us though, we just have to look a little harder.

In the love of Christ,
greg