[Faith-talk] loving others

[Amy Ragain]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Stephen Smith <stevesmith1943 at me.com>
> Date: March 22, 2011 8:03:16 AM CDT
> To: Morning Thoughts 1 <stevesmith1943 at me.com>
> Subject: Morning Thoughts for Tuesday, March 22, 2011
> 
> Friendship: I have no one else like him, who takes a genuine interest in your welfare.
> (Philippians 2:20, NIV)
> 
> - From Bible Promises for iPhone
> http://biblepromises.reigndesign.com/
> 
> How can I best demonstrate the Love of Christ?  Paul has written much about the character of Christ and the need to pursue holiness as Christ is Holy.  He wrote to the Philipians of the character of Timothy, one they knew and observed.  He described the character of Timothy as worthy of note, as he imitated the character of Christ on earth.  Timothy was characterized as one interested in the welfare of others.  
> 
> Transition, now to us, today.  The same challenge confronts each one of us: To show ourselves as taking a genuine interest in the welfare of others.  How can we possibly accomplish this task??  We, who perceive ourselves as so needy and so powerless in this world.  Can it be that we have so successfully compartmentalized our lives that we leave Christ in church.  Do we come home from a service, change clothes, and with them, change our very character to the one of personal focus and attention?  May it never be; but, how frequently we may find that it is.
> 
> Today is the day of opportunity!!  Today is the day to show the genuine love of Christ to someone else.  Let us walk in the path of faith in Jesus Christ, caring more for the welfare of others than of our own.  We who claim to be believers in Christ are liars if we do not act as we profess to believe.  The path of faith, I believe, contains the same characteristics as the path of true love.  Just think of your first experience in true love, when your heart was consumed by the object of that love.  We did not think of oruselves, we thought of the other, we found it hard to focus on any subject in school when the object of our love was near.  We counted the moments until the bell rang, ending one class and beginning the rush to the next.  Will we see the object of our love during that transition?   Will they have a note for us, as we have for them?  Will we make plans for lunch?  
> 
> Today, let Jesus bring back those days of excitement and expectation as you focus on His Will for your life, and as you treat others with the same love and compassion Christ showed for us all, through His life, death, resurrection and ascension.  As God the Father professed His pleasure in Christ, may we each strive to please the Father by emulating the life of Christ on earth.
> 
> With great love and compassion for Christ and for you,
> 
> <3Steve:-))