CityLight Church’s One Year Bible Reading Plan
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2016
Ezekiel 45:13-46:24
1 Peter 1:13-2:10
Psalm 119:33-48
Proverbs 28:11
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Commentary from Pastor Michael White:
Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart… – 1 Peter 1:22
We purify our souls with Spirit-led, obedient love. Obedient love means loving the people in your life who “deserve” your love and affection the least. Obedient love means loving others when it’s inconvenient. Obedient love means loving others even when it hurts.
Under the Old Covenant, our requirement was to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18). That was already a tall order! But under the New Covenant, Jesus raised the love standard even higher: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34). Jesus loved us infinitely! He gave His life for us! So our job as New Testament Christians is to selflessly sacrifice – to give our lives – to love people we have never even met!
The only way we can love like Jesus is by relying on His Holy Spirit. If we try to love others on our own, we will fail; but when we let God love other people through us, He will succeed.
Prayer:
Father, help me to love like Jesus. I am ill-equipped to love people the way You ask me to. I need Your help. Remind me to rely whole-heartedly on Your Holy Spirit to love other people through me, in Jesus’ name!
Archives
See commentary from this day in 2014: http://intelligentcharismatic.com/day-327-blood-christ/
See commentary from this day in 2015: http://intelligentcharismatic.com/day-327-blood-jesus/
© Michael D. White, 2016. All rights reserved.