Our first "ministry" or job is to the Lord:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength."
That's the first and greatest commandment, as Jesus called it (Matthew 22:37-38, echoing Deuteronomy 6:5).
Then, our second job is to love each other. The key to each is that word "love" which is not optional, not "nice to have" not something to do when we "feel" like it. Its a commandment thats in their persistent, repetitive and with emphasis. It starts with the King. We are to walk with Him, talk with Him, serve, love and obey Him. Once we get that right we can correctly do the second job which is to love each other (impossible without Him first).
We were created for Him:
Isaiah 43:7 puts it directly:
“Bring all who are called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made.”
The Lord is at work daily, getting His people right and ready for His unexpected arrival. When that will be, only the Father knows. We can be comforted by the thought that He is at work in this world, in us, and everywhere else. He is not sitting up in Heaven with His feet kicked up on the table whistling the time away.
He loves us. He loved us so much He died for each and every one of us personally. He did not die for some faceless nameless mass of humanity. He stopped time and looked at each one of us individually, by name. He saw every wicked, terrible, ugly thing we would ever do. And only after knowing how fully rotten we all were, then, and only then in love and mercy He died for us. We are to love Him back for that. Fair trade? We are to love Him with all of us, then we are to overflow that love to each other.
We have to get this right. This is not only a Kingdom, eternity thing, it is also how we "win" down here on earth. We are not going to shout, argue and arm twist our enemies into loving our Lord and His Kingdom. We are going to love them in.
That it for today, the Lord was insisting this go out this morning so here it is. May the Love, Mercy, Grace and Peace of the Lord be upon you today in abundance.
Please join with your brother in praying over the prayer targets today.
Glory to God
grace and peace
