Guiding Light!
Attitude!
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:29-32
What kind of attitude are we portraying? Are we full of bitterness, rage, or anger? Do we fight and argue and slander our neighbors when we don't agree with them? We should be showing love, calmness of spirit, and compassion to our fellow man. We are not to fight or argue or slander our neighbor, but we are to debate when necessary and agree to disagree when necessary. We can have a discussion of differences of opinions, but we are not to argue. When we disagree we may see a different side of the story that otherwise we wouldn't of seen without a difference of opinion. Never, never, slander anyone, remember we are all God's children and He has made all of us for a particular reason. We never know who we may be talking to, it just may be someone God has put in our life to test our faithfulness and obedience to God.
You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature ; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Galatians 5:13-14
As it says above, "Love your neighbor as yourself", when we do this faithfully then we won't have any of the sinful actions in our life. It is only when pride gets into heart that we sin and sin big. Put away pride and clothe yourself with humility and meekness and our Father who is in Heaven will reward you for your actions of love. Remember, God is Love! and we are to model ourselves after Him.
I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you....we are in charge of our attitudes. We are in charge as long as we make the correct choices, and these choices become a lot easier when we are following God's instructions. I have a sign on the top of my computer monitor that says, "Engage Brain Before Mouth." This is a difficult lesson to learn for some of us. Then I think of my young daughters and how they seem to have it all together, they were their WWJD bracelets all the time as a constant reminder of how to act. When we think of the same popular saying, "What Would Jesus Do?" choices become rather easy don't they?
I have an old friend that I have known for many years, a very Godly man full of wisdom, discernment and love. Howard is slow to talk but when he does he is full of compassion and all of his words edify God. I use to think to myself when in a conversation with Howard, come on Howard, spit it out. Howard always thought about what he was going to say before he ever said anything. A trait that I am still working on to be more like him, so that I may be more like Jesus.
So here we are adults, suppose to be learned in the ways of life and full of knowledge. But how are we using that knowledge? Now that we are adults we need to go backwards and learn the lesson that Jesus tells us; he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3
Rather confusing isn't it? Only to an adult that is, listen to the children, they don't complicate their life up, their heart is pure and innocent. Just as Jesus is calling us to be. Let us all return to that child like love and serve our Lord and Savior who died on the cross for us so that we will have eternal life with Him in Heaven.
Heavenly Father, thank you for showing us the way in such simple terms as you have that the children can understand them better than we can at times. Teach us Father how to come back to our childlike innocence so that we may better serve you and be more like your Son and our Savior Jesus. Teach us to have that unconditional love that you have for us so that we may be that light set upon the hill for you. Thank you Father for your many blessings and the great love you show us daily. Thank you for your forgiveness through the blood of Christ in whom we have redemption and the forgiveness of sin. Thank you also Father for the gift of eternal life. What an awesome God we serve. In Jesus name we pray.........amen
In Christ Service,
Kenny Millhouse
kenny@guidinglightministry.com
This is a weekly service brought to you by Guiding Light Ministry, if you enjoy receiving these messages, please send us an email sharing your thoughts and words of encouragement. Feel free to pass these messages on to your friends and neighbors. If you need personal help in learning how to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and Lord, send us an email and we will contact you immediately.
If you have received this devotion from a friend and would like to be added to our mailing list, reply with "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line and we will gladly add you to our list.
If at anytime you wish to be removed from our mailing list, reply with "REMOVE" in the subject line and we will immediately remove you.