Sadly, many children of God today believe that they are living a life that is pleasing to God, based on criteria that men have established in their gatherings. God's standard is that we Love Him and Love Our Neighbors, Matthew 22:37-40. That love encompasses all of mankind, just like Christ, we must love the sinner (as we all are) but hate the sin. We must share in acts of love not just with our congregation members and not just with other Christians but where ever our feet tread. We must submit ourselves wholly unto Christ so that He can wash us, so that we are presented to Himself without stain or wrinkle, Ephesians 5:26-28. Fulfilling requirements in attendance of services or by exercising gifts in arenas of service to please other men, is less than what God has established for His children. The world shall know us by the love that we have one for another. That's not just limited to the body of Christ, but they will know us for the love that we have for them as well. We must stand out in this dark world, the light that is shining through our vessels does that. That light is coming from the source of Christ which is not limited to but encompasses freedom, love, boldness, compassion, joy, kindness, meekness, self control, patience, long suffering, and peace. But above all is love!!! A lifestyle of love for all of God's creations is the standard that the Father has set through His perfect Son Jesus Christ, as salvation was not just for the Jew but also for the Gentile. Christ's sacrifice was for all mankind, which mean His love was for all mankind. To have any other attitude towards another man that is not of love is not the standard of God. We may not all be there as we are all being processed through sanctification, but that is not an excuse to disregard His standard, it is the constant cross that is placed in each one of our faces. The passage below speaks directly to this as it has been taken out of context by many weddings, but it is actually talking about a conduct that should be experienced by all believers. Today, do not settle for what is less than God's standard, press towards the goal of your calling!!! Be Encouraged!!! Have a wonderful life of obtaining a lifestyle pleasing to God on purpose!!!!!
1 Corinthians 13
1 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Job 1
Prologue
1 In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. 2 He had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.
4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular custom.
6 One day the angels[a] came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan[b] also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”
Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”
8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
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