God's Love and Christ's Endurance

 What should we set our heart upon to remain steadfast and faithful to the Lord every day? There are so many things competing for our attention. We can be easily distracted from the most important things. Also, it is a constant danger for us to allow our flesh, our human nature, to gain control of our life. Then, we will be saying and doing things that do not honor the Lord, at all. We need to make sure we keep our heart directed toward the main things. Paul gave us a great insight into this. (II Thessalonians 3:5) He prayed for the believers at Thessalonica that the Lord would direct their hearts to God's love and Christ's endurance. I would say that is an excellent focus for each of us every day. 

God's love is perfect, unselfish love. God loves everyone all the time. He always does what is best for every person, and He extends grace to all of us, no matter how sinful we might be. When we have a heart that is directed to God's love, we will love Him well, and we will love all of those around us as we should. That is what life should be for us, as believers. God so loved us that He gave His Only-Begotten Son for us to be saved from our sins. We should so love those around us that they might come to see God's love in what we say and do, so they will be saved. Then, once we are set on God's love, we do need Christ's endurance. Each day has its challenges. Life can be very draining. People can be cruel to us. Things can go wrong. However, Christ endured all of His trials and temptations without sinning, so He showed us what we need to do. We keep trusting the Lord and we keep being loving, no matter what comes. We endure like He did. Now, that is a winning combination. I pray that all of us will ask God to direct our hearts like this. Then, let's see what He does in us and through us.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read I Timothy 1-3.