Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good.-—Romans 12:9
One of the first things I remember taking place when I committed my life to Jesus Christ was the erosion of bitterness and anger and the growth of a love I had not known before. Years of bitterness and anger that had been building up just began to dissolve.
If we claim to be followers of Christ and harbor bitterness or hatred in our hearts toward someone, there is something very wrong. John was very distinct when he wrote, "If someone says, 'I love God,' but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don't love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?" (1 John 4:20, NLT). John was saying that if we have hatred in our hearts toward fellow members of the body of Christ, fellow Christians, there is something wrong in our spiritual lives.
Maybe someone has wronged or hurt you. Even so, God calls on you to love and forgive that person and not to avenge yourself. Here is why: that bitterness and hatred will do more harm to you than the person to whom you are directing it. It will eat you up inside. It will destroy your life. It will hinder your time of prayer with God. It will hinder your worship. It will, for all practical purposes, act as an obstacle in the relationship God wants to have with you.
There is no room for hatred, bitterness, or prejudice in the heart of a child of God. God wants our love to be honest and without hypocrisy.[Today's devotional is an excerpt from Every Day with Jesus by Greg Laurie, 2013]
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Why there's no room for this in the heart of a Christian. . . .
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Today's Bible Reading:
1 Samuel 19:1 Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, greatly delighted in David. 2 Jonathan told David, saying, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Now therefore, please take care of yourself in the morning, and live in a secret place, and hide yourself. 3 I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will talk with my father about you; and if I see anything, I will tell you.”
4 Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Don’t let the king sin against his servant, against David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you; 5 for he put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine, and Yahweh worked a great victory for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?”
6 Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan: and Saul swore, “As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death.”
7 Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. Then Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as before. 8 There was war again. David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and killed them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him.
9 An evil spirit from Yahweh was on Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand. 10 Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he stuck the spear into the wall. David fled, and escaped that night. 11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning. Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you don’t save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through the window. He went away, fled, and escaped. 13 Michal took the teraphim,[a] and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head, and covered it with clothes. 14 When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”
15 Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16 When the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats’ hair at its head.
17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus, and let my enemy go, so that he is escaped?”
Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’”
18 Now David fled and escaped, and came to Samuel at Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and lived in Naioth. 19 Saul was told, saying, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.”
20 Saul sent messengers to seize David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, God’s Spirit came on Saul’s messengers, and they also prophesied. 21 When Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. 22 Then he also went to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Secu: and he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”
One said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.”
23 He went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then God’s Spirit came on him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 He also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
Footnotes:
a. 1 Samuel 19:13 teraphim were household idols that may have been associated with inheritance rights to the household property.
1 Chronicles 7:1 Of the sons of Issachar: Tola, and Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four. 2 The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, heads of their fathers’ houses, of Tola; mighty men of valor in their generations. Their number in the days of David was twenty-two thousand six hundred. 3 The son of Uzzi: Izrahiah. The sons of Izrahiah: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah, five; all of them chief men. 4 With them, by their generations, after their fathers’ houses, were bands of the army for war, thirty-six thousand; for they had many wives and sons. 5 Their brothers among all the families of Issachar, mighty men of valor, listed in all by genealogy, were eighty-seven thousand. 6 The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, and Jediael, three. 7 The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri, five; heads of fathers’ houses, mighty men of valor; and they were listed by genealogy twenty-two thousand thirty-four. 8 The sons of Becher: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these were the sons of Becher. 9 They were listed by genealogy, after their generations, heads of their fathers’ houses, mighty men of valor, twenty thousand two hundred. 10 The son of Jediael: Bilhan. The sons of Bilhan: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar. 11 All these were sons of Jediael, according to the heads of their fathers’ households, mighty men of valor, seventeen thousand two hundred, who were able to go out in the army for war. 12 So were Shuppim, Huppim, the sons of Ir, Hushim, and the sons of Aher.
13 The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, Shallum, and the sons of Bilhah. 14 The sons of Manasseh: Asriel, whom his concubine the Aramitess bore. She bore Machir the father of Gilead. 15 Machir took a wife of Huppim and Shuppim, whose sister’s name was Maacah. The name of the second was Zelophehad; and Zelophehad had daughters. 16 Maacah the wife of Machir bore a son, and she named him Peresh. The name of his brother was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem. 17 The sons of Ulam: Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh. 18 His sister Hammolecheth bore Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah. 19 The sons of Shemida were Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam. 20 The sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eleadah his son, Tahath his son, 21 Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, Ezer, and Elead, whom the men of Gath who were born in the land killed, because they came down to take away their livestock. 22 Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brothers came to comfort him. 23 He went in to his wife, and she conceived, and bore a son, and he named him Beriah,[a] because there was trouble with his house. 24 His daughter was Sheerah, who built Beth Horon the lower and the upper, and Uzzen Sheerah. 25 Rephah was his son, and Resheph, and Telah his son, Tahan his son, 26 Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son, 27 Nun his son, and Joshua his son. 28 Their possessions and settlements were Bethel and its towns, and eastward Naaran, and westward Gezer, with its towns; Shechem also and its towns, to Azzah and its towns; 29 and by the borders of the children of Manasseh, Beth Shean and its towns, Taanach and its towns, Megiddo and its towns, and Dor and its towns. The children of Joseph the son of Israel lived in these. 30 The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah. Serah was their sister. 31 The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel, who was the father of Birzaith. 32 Heber became the father of Japhlet, Shomer, Hotham, and Shua their sister. 33 The sons of Japhlet: Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath. These are the children of Japhlet. 34 The sons of Shemer: Ahi, Rohgah, Jehubbah, and Aram. 35 The sons of Helem his brother: Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal. 36 The sons of Zophah: Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah, 37 Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera. 38 The sons of Jether: Jephunneh, Pispa, and Ara. 39 The sons of Ulla: Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia. 40 All these were the children of Asher, heads of the fathers’ houses, choice and mighty men of valor, chief of the princes. The number of them listed by genealogy for service in war was twenty-six thousand men.
Footnotes:
a. 1 Chronicles 7:23 “Beriah” is similar to the Hebrew word for “misfortune”.
Psalm 59: For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A poem by David, when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.
1 Deliver me from my enemies, my God.
Set me on high from those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity.
Save me from the bloodthirsty men.
3 For, behold, they lie in wait for my soul.
The mighty gather themselves together against me,
not for my disobedience, nor for my sin, Yahweh.
4 I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me.
Rise up, behold, and help me!
5 You, Yahweh God of Armies, the God of Israel,
rouse yourself to punish the nations.
Show no mercy to the wicked traitors.
Selah.
6 They return at evening, howling like dogs,
and prowl around the city.
7 Behold, they spew with their mouth.
Swords are in their lips,
“For”, they say, “who hears us?”
8 But you, Yahweh, laugh at them.
You scoff at all the nations.
9 Oh, my Strength, I watch for you,
for God is my high tower.
10 My God will go before me with his loving kindness.
God will let me look at my enemies in triumph.
11 Don’t kill them, or my people may forget.
Scatter them by your power, and bring them down, Lord our shield.
12 For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips,
let them be caught in their pride,
for the curses and lies which they utter.
13 Consume them in wrath.
Consume them, and they will be no more.
Let them know that God rules in Jacob,
to the ends of the earth.
Selah.
14 At evening let them return.
Let them howl like a dog, and go around the city.
15 They shall wander up and down for food,
and wait all night if they aren’t satisfied.
16 But I will sing of your strength.
Yes, I will sing aloud of your loving kindness in the morning.
For you have been my high tower,
a refuge in the day of my distress.
17 To you, my strength, I will sing praises.
For God is my high tower, the God of my mercy.
Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry afterward. 3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
4 But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”[a]
5 Then the devil took him into the holy city. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you.’ and,
‘On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’”[b]
7 Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord, your God.’”[c]
8 Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory. 9 He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will fall down and worship me.”
10 Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me,[d] Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’” [e]
11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and served him. 12 Now when Jesus heard that John was delivered up, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 Leaving Nazareth, he came and lived in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying,
15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
toward the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles,
16 the people who sat in darkness saw a great light,
to those who sat in the region and shadow of death,
to them light has dawned.”[f]
17 From that time, Jesus began to preach, and to say, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”
18 Walking by the sea of Galilee, he[g] saw two brothers: Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 19 He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers for men.”
20 They immediately left their nets and followed him. 21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them. 22 They immediately left the boat and their father, and followed him.
23 Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people. 24 The report about him went out into all Syria. They brought to him all who were sick, afflicted with various diseases and torments, possessed with demons, epileptics, and paralytics; and he healed them. 25 Great multitudes from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and from beyond the Jordan followed him.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 4:4 Deuteronomy 8:3
b. Matthew 4:6 Psalm 91:11-12
c. Matthew 4:7 Deuteronomy 6:16
d. Matthew 4:10 TR and NU read “Go away” instead of “Get behind me”
e. Matthew 4:10 Deuteronomy 6:13
f. Matthew 4:16 Isaiah 9:1-2
g. Matthew 4:18 TR reads “Jesus” instead of “he”
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Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie
P.O. Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514-4000
Phone: 1(800)821-3300
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