Day 93: Love in All Circumstances

Reading: Psalm 40:9-17

With love comes truth and with truth comes love. When we have only truth, without love, it is too hard. When we have only love, without truth, the love is too soft. David brings forth both in this reading as he begs God to send His love and mercy, but speaks truthfully about how his sins have piled up and he can no longer see clearly without God's love and forgiveness. When we go about life oblivious of our sin, failing to repent and confess them, the mercy of God may be hard to come by. He always loves us, but when our eyes need to be opened, He's going to pour out a little of truth on us until we realize our faults and make a change. Whether this is a result of our in, or a circumstance, He works through it. Don't forget to put love and truth together in your life too. Show love and show truth, but never separately. 

Reading: Luke 9:28-56

Love and mercy must always go together as well. Jesus displays this many times throughout this reading. We start out with the mountaintop experience of the Transfiguration. Peter, James, and John are left in awe and empowerment as they come back down the mountain and face real life again. Sounds like some of our mountaintop experiences. We can go off on all of these amazing retreats, conferences, youth rallies, camp, etc, but when we come back to real life, we are faced with many of the hardships we had before. However, when we do come back from those amazing experiences, we can be left empowered to make a change and tackle the issues in our lives. When they get to the bottom of the mountain, Jesus is faced with healing a boy with a demon, as the disciples had claimed they couldn't. After this experience, I bet James, John and Peter felt empowered though. 

Later, Jesus tells the disciples that the little children are the greatest, and should be welcomed. This kind of love and mercy was probably shocking in a time that children were better off seen and not heard. Jesus tells them they are the greatest, however, placing them above any religious leader and king. 

We also read of an incident where the disciples tell others to stop using Jesus' name to cast out demons because they are not a part of their group. Jesus reprimands them, however, telling them that if they aren't against Jesus, they are for Him. This should tell us to be accepting of others in the faith. Just because they don't attend your church, follow your traditions, or are even a part of you denomination, you should always welcome them. 

However, we must remember that we won't always be welcomed. As the disciples enter the Samaritan village, they are definitely not welcomed. The disciples become defensive, asking if they can call down fire from heaven to burn the people, but Jesus displays an example of mercy, rebuking the disciples, simply continuing on to another village. This can be a lesson to not seek revenge and even show love and mercy on those who don't accept us. I believe many Christians make this mistake, being defensive against people they don't agree with. This can even happen among Christians. Just because another Christian doesn't read the same Bible as you or prefers the traditional music over the contemporary, doesn't give any reason to pick a fight. The war is not about these things, but about bringing people to Christ, no matter their lifestyle. Seeking revenge and shunning them will definitely not get them there.

Reading: Numbers 35:1-36:13

We go into a whole reading about the laws, pertaining to accidental killing and murder. In this reading, we can see how serious it was to take a human life, but a trial was to be held for accidental killings, providing refuge for the people who did it from family who wanted revenge. Murder, however, required that person be put to death.

 Once Jesus came, however, we see that revenge and justice fell into God's hands. When we seek to take revenge, no matter what it may be, we need to stop and put trust in God that He will have the ultimate judgment against the person who's wronged you, instead of taking our own revenge. With justice, God calls for an element of love and mercy. What better testimony would there be for the person who did wrong against you then to show them love instead of hate? 

With many things in life, there needs to come love. Truth alone won't move a heart. Mercy alone would have no reason behind it. And justice alone would have no testimony. Love must cover all things. When we apply love in all circumstances, the mountains it can move are great.