Impartial Love

Scripture: James 2:1-13

The Savior did not treat people according to wealth or poverty divisions or perceived blessings or curses. Even James reminds us to refrain from displaying favoritism in the body of believers. Today we must listen to James' words as noted in James 2. As you read this Scripture, remember as believers, we can have joy without material possessions and faith without economic security. Because in Christ, such things are the rule, not the exception. So change your thought-process when you think wealth equates with faith.

Thought to Remember: Begin with LOVE

Sharing Love

Faith and fraud cannot coexist. For this reason, when we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us, we will become genuine givers like Barnabas. We want to avoid the deceitful intent as demonstration by Ananias and Sapphira. Dishonesty especially in the church will destroy the body of believers. Even the very thought of doing a good deed to receive kudos and honors violates the spirit of giving. When believers yield their hearts to the Holy Spirit, then blessings will flow. You share love by actions of giving whether by service or funds just give.

Thought to Remember: The Spirit works powerfully in the church.

Confident Love

The Apostle John inquires if we LOVE God, and he even insists if we claim that we love God and then hate our brother, we have lost all credibility as believers. We cannot claim to love other people without the demonstration of evidence of our love. Remember, the love of God in our hearts must result in acts of kindness toward others.

Thought to Remember: Loving God is shown by loving people.

Abiding Love

As believers this lesson reminds us of LOVE. Remember, we are not loved because we are obedient to God; we are loved because we are God’s creatures. We cannot earn God’s LOVE. The relationship begins with eternal LOVE of the Father toward us. Since, the Father’s LOVE for the Son has no beginning or ending, likewise, as believers we are obedient because we are loved and our way of returning that LOVE is through our efforts in keeping the Father’s commandants like His Son. Therefore, abiding, obeying, and loving are the essential elements of the believers. We follow Jesus’ example of abiding, obeying, and loving who demonstrated an intimate relationship with Father, Likewise; as believers we are motivated to follow His example by abiding in His LOVE.

Thought to Remember: When we LOVE, we OBEY.

Serving Love

Is your inner self truly clean? Yet, the Savior demonstrated washing the feet of his disciples as an act of cleaning by love serving. This type of love serving will keep your heart truly cleaned. The Savior ended this demonstration by stating that others will know you by demonstrating your love in service of others. The Savior rendered a simple demonstration of feet washing; yet, it is a powerful message for believers to practice even today in a technology dominated society.

Thought to Remember: Show your LOVE.

Love Never Fails

From the perspective of the world, LOVE is not an essential ingredient in performance. For instance, a larger financial donation to aid hurricane victims can give the donor a simply tax write off. A gifted teacher can instruct a powerful lesson just to bring attention to self. Yet, God’s perspective, these efforts are of no value to the individual when LOVE refuses to serve as the motive. God is not a dispassionate Creator. LOVE must become the driving force in all of life situations if you want to serve God.

Thought to Remember: LOVE never fails.

Love for Neighbors

By asking the question, “who is my neighbor?” the lawyer in our lesson was looking for a loophole of being able to choose whom he was responsible to care about and care for. Surely, God didn’t intend for him to love all people. Even today, we look for loopholes in our quest to perform Kingdom work, but God has given us a duty to bless all our neighbor by serving as the Good Samaritans..

Thought to remember: Good Samaritans ask, “How can I be an neighbor?”

Love Your Enemies

Our lesson today presents such a difficult text to practice, because the believer’s way of life runs counters to the fundamentals of human nature. For instance the deep-seated desire for revenge is always prevalent when someone does you wrong. So the Sermon on the Plain seems impractical or unrealistic when you try to practice such teaching. Yet, the words of the Savior to LOVE YOUR ENEMIES can reshape your heart and lives if you allow these words to resonate within. Therefore, I challenge you to seek the courage to pattern your lives after the teaching of Jesus rather than after what is acceptable according to our culture.

Thought to remember: The Savior calls us to a new way of life.

Love that Intercedes

Our three characters in the today’s lesson is Saul, Jonathan, and David. King Saul abuses his power in wanting to kill David who is an innocent victim of Saul’s fear and wrath. Yet, Jonathan is the one who risks sharing his father’s wrath by interceding for his friend, David. Please realize that Jonathan cares for both his father, the wrong doer and his friend, the victim. Yet, Jonathan seeks to end this conflict by becoming a peacemaker. Because of Jonathan’s bravery, we as believers must implement the same strategies with our loved ones, and use Jonathan as an example of a peacemaker.

Thought to remember: Peacemakers seek to turn others away from sinning.

Revealing Love

Joseph’s words unfolded a higher purpose than the ordinary when he quoted to his brothers, “God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” (Genesis 45:7) God is a God of reversals. What is meant for evil, God can easily work for good. Remember, the Pharisees killed the Savior to stop the influence and destroy the movement; yet the opposite occurred when the Savior died on the Cross. Even the Apostle Paul reminds us to be content whatever the circumstances. (Philippians 4:11) Just know that the Father has unique ways of revealing His love toward His children even during times of despair.

Thought to Remember: God has revealed His love to us. Are we revealing it to others?

An After Thought to Ponder

Do you agree with my reasoning of Joseph telling his brothers to come closer after running all the Egyptian out the room when he revealed his true identity?

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Genesis 45:3‭-‬4 NKJV

When they came near I believe that Joseph demonstrated proof of his identity by showing them that he was circumcised of which only a male-borne Hebrew was circumcised on the 8th day as a child. Circumcision was proof of his identity. Mainly, circumcision was more than a rite of passage. For the Hebrews, it was a sign of their covenant with God. Circumcision marked them as the chosen people – God’s special treasure. Remember before Isaac was born, God directed Abraham to circumcise all the males of his household, including himself, Ishmael, and his servants (Gen. 17:1-14). So this process was an ongoing practice even when Joseph and his brothers were born and their children. Every male born into this family was to be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. This circumcision bonded the brothers which immediately upon this revealing, Joseph reminded them to react joyfully instead of angry because God reversed my situation to save the clan.

What is God reversing in your life? What factors do you need reversing so you can bless others?

Victorious Love

Genesis 42:6-25

Now, Joseph is settled as the Governor and second-in-command of Egypt. He is married with two children when an unexpected family reunion occurs with his 10 brothers. Yet, Joseph’s motives toward his brothers were not rooted in selfishness or a revenge-like mindset, but with tears of remorse. Although Joseph tested his brothers to determine the welfare of his father, yet; they thought God was punishing them for the mistreatment of the one they hated. While Joseph was hiding his true identity, his confession “I fear God” revealed more than the brothers could comprehend. Likewise, we as believer must demonstrate the same in our action toward others.

Thought to remember: Fear of God must guide our decision.

Obedient Love

Genesis 41:25-33,37-40,50-52

The God whom Joseph served and honored is the same God that we serve and honor today. Even if we face circumstances that create despair, we must still find ways to serve our God.. Like Joseph, we must demonstrate radical faith in God. Remember, no matter the situation, our God does not change. Our God will always remain in control of our situation. HE never forgot Joseph even when he was in prison, likewise, HE will never forget us in our situation. We must embrace God as Adonai which signify HIS Lordship and sovereignty, Like Joseph, let us remain confident in our Obedient LOVE toward Adonai while realizing that HE is working on our behalf.

Biased Love

Genesis 37:2-11, 23-24, 28

Today’s lesson demonstrates what happens when favoritism occurs in a family. Jacob’s bias toward one son over the others created hatred in the other siblings that festered and was mixed with envy leading to extreme violence. Yet, God’s sovereign plan and purpose moved forward in saving a nation. In God’s providential work through Joseph, we are reminded that God’s plan lack any hinderances from evil scheme. God will always remain behind the scene orchestrating His ultimate intentions. Therefore, we as believers must remove any bias toward others and allow God’s plan to unfold.

Thought to Remember: God’s love favors ALL His children.