LOVE GOD - THEN OTHERS
Ivan Pattison,
Seeking God's will first brings perspective
What happens when we fail to set priorities?
In those days
Scripture is from the New Living Translation (Tyndale
House Publishers, 1996). From God’s Daily Promises
Our priority for us,
should be to love God first, and to do that, is to love one another. There is a
song and some of the words are; Jesus first, yourself last, and others in
between. When we follow these rules, it
brings us J.O.Y.
When we fail to set priorities, we will stop doing what is right in God's eyes.
How many of us have this, enduring, unemotional, and unconditional Love, the
Love that God the Father has for us.
1 Corinthians 13:4-6 Love suffereth long, and
is kind; Love envieth not; Love vaunteth
not itself, is not puffed up, Love doth not behave itself unseemly, Love seeketh not her own, Love is not easily provoked, Love thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not
in iniquity, but Love rejoiceth in the truth;
Reading the Amplified version of this brings out
more than I have here.
Those who have Love, then it fails
them not. We should be growing in love, that is the Love God that He has for
us, and when we do this, we will not embarrass ourselves in front of others. We
will not rejoice at injustice, we will not insist on our own rights, but we
will be silent, when we are wrongfully blamed.
It is said that the guilty person will insist on
their innocence, or make excuses, while the blameless one will not answer the
accuser. Jesus when accused before the crown on that wonderful day He was
crucified, was like a lamb going to the slaughter, He answered them not a word.
Isaiah 53:7 He was
oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as
a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
Such Love of endurance, patently Jesus waited for the executioner,
patently He suffered the wrongs, with much Love, and the undying Love He had
and has for you and me. O for a thousand Tongues to sing my great Redeemers
praise, Jesus has earned our praise, He suffered in Love for it, so lets give Jesus the praise He deserves and has earned.
Love
I ask for, love I claim,
A dying love like thine.
A love that feels for all the world,
Saviour, give me a love like thine.
From the Salvation Army Song Book.
Do you and I have this undying Love for Jesus and
for those He died for, but better still do we have this Love for each other, that we should have. The Church should be known for
unity and Love for each other, and not for it’s
ungodly behaviour towards each other.
In 1 John chapter 2, we read that if we love the things of this world the Love
of the Father is not in us, and how much we love the things of this world. Like
in one song the words say, the world grows faintly dim. The more we are drawn
closer to God, the more the things of this world does
not affect us as much.
Romans
8:6-7 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be
spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against
God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
How far have we, that is
you and I, to go, before we are spiritually minded without the carnality of our
mind cutting in.
2
Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing
into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Let us continually cast down those thoughts that satan puts in our mind, and be
above the powers of that will lead us to wickedness, if we harbour
them, and not cast them down. These
thoughts do not belong in our mind, so lets
continually cast them down until they do not come back again. here are those who can read our mind, and God said to me
some time ago, if I put the Word of God into my mind, that is what they will
read.
God’s Blessings, and His Love
Shalom and Love, Ivan
