Thought of the Day !!

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 

                                                          1 Peter 1:22-23 (NIV)

Have you truly accepted Jesus?  Have you fallen in love with Him and His ways for your life?  One test of this is to ask yourself, "Do I have a sincere love for others?"  Go ahead.  Ask yourself that question.  Do you love those who love you back?  Do you love those that are unloving or seemingly unlovable?

Jesus loves me.  I am a child of God, but also a sinful creature that has many times turned my back on Him.  But our God is a God of second chances because of His great love for us.  When we accept Him into our lives, we accept His ways for us.  His most important way for us is the way of love.  Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 13 that there are some great gifts, three of which are Faith, Hope and Love.  He also teaches us that the most important of these is Love.

Do I love my neighbor as I love myself?  Do I have sincere love for my brothers (and sisters) that comes from the heart?  Yes.  Why?  Because Jesus first loved me.  How?  By following (obeying) the truth of Jesus I've learned how over time, and the Holy Spirit dwells within me giving me the power to love unconditionally.  By the way, this is something I could never do on my own.

A true test to see if we are in accordance with God's will and if we truly have Jesus in our hearts is simply determining if we "have sincere love for [our] brothers (sisters)...."

In the love of Christ,

greg