What has God called you to do???
What is God’s purpose for your life???
Even if you haven’t figured out exactly what God is calling you to do-whether He is calling you to pray, sing, preach, make movies, or do something else-HE IS CALLING YOU TO LOVE PEOPLE!!!!
God is calling you to LOVE people and to minister HIS LOVE to OTHERS!!! That is how folks know that we are HIS CHILDREN!!!
1 John 4:7-12, 20-21 (NCV)
7 Dear friends, we should love each other, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has become God's child and knows God.
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 This is how God showed his love to us: He sent his one and only Son into the world so that we could have life through him.
10 This is what real love is: It is not our love for God; it is God's love for us. He sent his Son to die in our place to take away our sins.
11 Dear friends, if God loved us that much we also should love each other.
12 No one has ever seen God, but if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is made perfect in us.
20 If people say, "I love God," but hate their brothers or sisters, they are liars. Those who do not love their brothers and sisters, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have never seen.
21 And God gave us this command: Those who love God must also love their brothers and sisters.
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 This is how God showed his love to us: He sent his one and only Son into the world so that we could have life through him.
10 This is what real love is: It is not our love for God; it is God's love for us. He sent his Son to die in our place to take away our sins.
11 Dear friends, if God loved us that much we also should love each other.
12 No one has ever seen God, but if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is made perfect in us.
20 If people say, "I love God," but hate their brothers or sisters, they are liars. Those who do not love their brothers and sisters, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have never seen.
21 And God gave us this command: Those who love God must also love their brothers and sisters.
Others know that we are GOD’S CHILDREN by watching how we live!!! They watch how we treat each other and others. If we don’t show love to others and treat them with compassion and mercy, then they know that we are NOT really saved!!!
If we don’t live saved, and we do the same things that everyone else does, then why do we even dare to proclaim that we are saved???
To be truthful, ALL we are really doing is giving a bad impression to others of what a CHRISTIAN IS!!! We are giving those that are living saved a “bad name” and making those that aren’t saved doubt that there really is a GOD who can save them!!!”
So, even though I have said this before, but I am going to say it again!!!
Why would anyone want to know Our God, if we can’t act right and if we can’t show them LOVE???
If God can’t change us and we act the same as those folks out in the world, then why would they want to try HIM???
Ephesians 2:1-3 (NKJV)
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
Here are these same verses in The Common English Bible. And here is what the rest of that passage says.
Ephesians 2:1-5 (CEB)
1 At one time you were like a dead person because of the things you did wrong and your offenses against God.
2 You used to act like most people in our world do. You followed the rule of a destructive spiritual power. This is the spirit of disobedience to God’s will that is now at work in persons whose lives are characterized by disobedience.
3 At one time you were like those persons. All of you used to do whatever felt good and whatever you thought you wanted so that you were children headed for punishment just like everyone else.
4-5 However, God is rich in mercy. He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. He did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God’s grace!
Ephesians 2:6-7 (NCV)
6 And he raised us up with Christ and gave us a seat with him in the heavens. He did this for those in Christ Jesus
7 so that for all future time he could show the very great riches of his grace by being kind to us in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:8-10 (CEB)
8 You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed.
9 It’s not something you did that you can be proud of.
10 Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.
2 You used to act like most people in our world do. You followed the rule of a destructive spiritual power. This is the spirit of disobedience to God’s will that is now at work in persons whose lives are characterized by disobedience.
3 At one time you were like those persons. All of you used to do whatever felt good and whatever you thought you wanted so that you were children headed for punishment just like everyone else.
4-5 However, God is rich in mercy. He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. He did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God’s grace!
Ephesians 2:6-7 (NCV)
6 And he raised us up with Christ and gave us a seat with him in the heavens. He did this for those in Christ Jesus
7 so that for all future time he could show the very great riches of his grace by being kind to us in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:8-10 (CEB)
8 You are saved by God’s grace because of your faith. This salvation is God’s gift. It’s not something you possessed.
9 It’s not something you did that you can be proud of.
10 Instead, we are God’s accomplishment, created in Christ Jesus to do good things. God planned for these good things to be the way that we live our lives.
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