Big Rocks for Strong Christ-Followers
Today’s Big Rock: Doing Everything in Love – Part VII
Scripture Foundation: 1 Corinthians 16:14
And do everything with love.
As we conclude this section, let’s come back to our Scripture Foundation: “Doing Everything in Love”. This is a Big Rock for strong and mature Christ-followers.
If you did not read the introductory comments for this month’s devotional, go back and read why I’m calling these truths “Big Rocks” (Big Rocks for Strong Christ-Followers An Introduction – Part I and Part II).
True Christ-followers believe that the Bible has all we need for salvation and spiritual maturity in Christ. (If you question this, read 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:3-8).
If we are right, and the Bible is the inspired Word of God, then we must know that there are NO lies or exaggerations.
Thus, when the Bible tells us to do everything in love, it means we must examine our words and our behaviors to our spouse, kids, friends, and church family.
We must be brutally honest about the failures we see in treating anyone with less than Christ’s love (remember, we are not examining our “feelings” toward people, we are examining our actual words and behaviors toward all people).
It is true that some Christ-followers do not have a personality that makes this an easy thing to do. It is also true that some do have a personality that lets things “roll off their backs” easily.
But if this Big Rock is easy for some, there are other Big Rocks that are not easy for others. The issue is not whether a truth is hard or easy, it is whether we want to be strong and mature in Christ.
Even in Jesus’s ministry, many of his followers did walk away because his teachings were too difficult:
On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you? From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him”. (John 6:61 and John 6:66).
Do not walk away from Jesus, just keep trying. As Apostle Paul wrote:
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. (Philippians 3:12).
Father, I am never going to stop trying to be more like Jesus in ALL my ways! Help me to make this true in my life. In Jesus’s name I pray, amen.