Perfect Love.
God's Love and Ours
1 John 4:
10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.
18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19We love because he first loved us.20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.
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I just got back from Katherine's place. We discussed 1 John 4:18 (she read it out last Wed). Coincidentally, I received it from Jess the day before that, and had also read it sometime before that..*lolz*.
The thing is, Aaron, it is not easy to show love......yes, I am trying not to shut my colleague out. I had another row with her today, and this is due to differences on methodologies!
She, as I say, thinks herself smarter than the rest of the staff (not so much through words, but the way she speaks and her intonation). And she is SO *FAKE*, (which I am not the only one to have observed).which can absolutely drives me nuts..
It is not easy to show love, more so to someone who shares the same faith (and hosts a Home Fellowship as well!) as you do, as you would expect them to be humbler and do the same as you do, but she apparently seems "blind" to all this....*sigh*.
Comments
Be in peace, o sister! The Lord looks upon His people and engraves the history of earthly events in the Book of Life. There is no easy way across the path of thorns and rocks, but preseverence with your intentions of embracing your enemies and forgiving them will know no bounds in the treasures of Heaven!
enemies? talk about my own flesh and blood that I have yet to speak to for the past one year.....*and* this case is because she refused to talk to me in the midst of relatives..*sigh*
If God wants to, He has to open the door to it. Regardless. There really is nothing much left I can do.> *sigh*.
A man was sleeping at night in his cabin when suddenly his room filled with light, and God appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin.
The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. So, this the man did, day after day.
For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all of his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.
Since the man was showing discouragement, the Adversary (Satan) decided to enter the picture by placing thoughts into the weary mind: "You have been pushing against that rock for a long time, and it hasn't moved."
Thus, he gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that he was a failure.
These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man.
Satan said, "Why kill yourself over this? Just put in your time, giving just the minimum effort; and that will be good enough."
That's what the weary man planned to do, but decided to make it a matter of prayer and to take his troubled thoughts to the Lord.
"Lord," he said, "I have laboured long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimetre. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"
The Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve Me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all of your strength, which you have done."
"Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to Me with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so?
"Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewy and brown; your hands are callused from constant pressure, your legs have become massive and hard.
"Through opposition you have grown much, and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have.
"True, you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. That you have done. Now I, my friend, will move the rock."
At times, when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what He wants, when usually what God wants is just a simple obedience and faith in Him.
By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but know that it is still God who moves mountains.
When everything seems to go wrong...
just PUSH!
When the job gets you down...
just PUSH!
When people don't react the way you think they should...
just PUSH!
When your money is "gone" and the bills are due...
just PUSH!
When people just don't understand you ....
just PUSH!
P = Pray
U = Until
S = Something
H = Happens