Thought for wk/ending 25 July

 

Hebrews 6:10

¹⁰ For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do.

I came across this reading from the daily readings provided by Bible Gateway.

Only two lines of text but we learn:

1.       God is fair, he is not unjust

2.       He won’t forget how hard we have worked for him.

3.       He won’t forget how we have shown our love for him.

4.       He won’t forget how we have cared for other believers and how we still do.

When we read things like this in our bibles, we need to remember that this isn’t directed to somebody else, it’s not about someone we know or someone we don’t know.  This is fairly and squarely speaking to us directly, so how can we possibly ignore it and just move on?  We can’t.  At least if we’re serious about our faith as Christians, we certainly can’t.

The third point stuck with me.  God won’t forget how we have shown our love for him.  Exodus 20:6 says ‘But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands’.  In Matthew 22:37-38  ‘Jesus replied to the Pharisees who had tried to trick him by asking what was the most important commandment in the  law of Moses by saying, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.

Much has been written about the subject of love, and it can be very complicated and very intense.  There is the love we receive and the love we give to our parents, our children, our grandparents, other relatives, our partners and our friends.  In each of these relationships, love can be shown in many different ways.  It might be in lavish gestures, or it may be in a very subtle manner.  The important element is that love is shown and that it is genuine, well-meant, honestly given and heartfelt.

So, when it comes to showing our love for God, I assume that the way of doing so as per today’s reading i.e. work for him and care for other believers is important and it is something we should all aspire to do but surely, there must be many other ways and it is essential that each of us finds a way that we are capable of and a way that is acceptable in the eyes of our Heavenly Father and a way that is every bit as genuine as the love we show to others in this life.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, you are a fair and righteous God whose faithfulness continues from one generation to the next.  We thank you for the great salvation offered through the willing sacrifice of your Son at Calvary and in the victory over death itself in the days that followed.  We thank you for the opportunity to love others with the love that you first gave to us.  May our lives be a daily witness and living sacrifice to your grace and goodness and may our love for you be genuine.  This we ask in Jesus' name, Amen

(with thanks to knowing-jesus.com)