You're in Debt for a Lifetime

Ok, A couple things I have been learning recently, (or should I say relearning....again!)

1. Ok, for some reason I have been hearing a lot about sacrificial loving lately. I guess its something the Lord thinks I need to work on! ;) We studied sacrificial love in our Bible Study last week and then today I found this verse in Romans 13:8 "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law." Paul is basically telling us that we shouldn't owe anybody anything, except love, because love is a debt that can never be paid off! No matter what the circumstances we are always to keep on loving! He even goes as far to say in verse 9, after he lists a bunch of commandments, that if we love those around us as much as we love ourselves we won't even have to even worry about keeping the law! We just will!!! Does that ever give you an image of how much you must love yourself or what!?!?!? I have come to realize too that loving your neighbor does not just apply to your friends. It also applies to your family. And that is probably where it is the hardest for me to love sacrificially. Mainly because that means in order to love sacrificially I have to be unselfish. Its a whole lot harder to be unselfish with your family when your'e around them 24/7, than it is to be unselfish when youre around your friends for maybe an hour or two. Paul says that love does not want to do anything to his neighbor that would be wrong in any way. Therefore if we are loving the way we should, we will be obeying the law! Its that simple. Ok, so its not really that simple to do, but it does make sense!

2. The second thing I read about today goes along with what kristin posted and is something I really need you to pray for me about. And that is about sharing Christ. Paul wants us to understand the urgency of sharing the truth and so he says in verse 11 "And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed." I love how Paul tells us to stop sleeping and get to work! If Paul was feeling the need to tell others about Christs return and our need of salvation hundreds of years ago, how much more should my urgency be? Paul goes on to say in verse 12 "The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. " This verse reminds me of the song we used to sing a lot when we were little. "Hide it under a bushel? NO! I am going to let it shine! Let it shine till Jesus comes! I'm going to let it shine!" Ok, moving on to verse 13 "Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying." What is a way that we can let our light shine? First off, Paul says for us to walk honestly. Then he says "Stop Wasting Your Time! Stop wasting it with rioting (to live in a wild,loose, carefree way) stop wasting it with drunkeness, wantoness (unrestrained play, to frolic heedlessly), stop wasting it with strife and envy! Our time is too short to waste it on these things! So what ARE we supposed to do? Romans 13:14 "But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof." Paul says arm yourself with the armour and protection of the Lord Jesus Christ and don't even leave one tiny little crack open in your armor that your flesh might take control of and get the victory over.

Love the way you should and you will live the way you should.


Keep learning!
Chrystal