Nashville, Tennessee, United States - The Upper Room Daily Devotional "Yank Out That Weed!" for Thursday, 30 October 2014 - Romans 12:14-16 Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.
17-19 Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. “I’ll do the judging,” says God. “I’ll take care of it.”
20-21 Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.
See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled.(Hebrews 12:15 (NRSV))
After examining the moss rose I had planted again this year, I was not disappointed. The roses in all their varied colors had burst into bloom. These lovely flowers had never failed to spread out quickly to fill my flower patch.
Then I took a closer look to see that some of the space was filled with a weed that looked a lot like the moss rose, but they are real troublemakers and difficult to pull out. After I cleaned out the flower patch, I had to watch for those nasty weeds to spring up again. They weren’t finished making trouble for me!
The Bible tells about a weed, bitterness, that — if allowed to grow and develop in our lives — will cause us lots of trouble. If bitterness takes hold, we will use words that hurt others instead of helping and healing them. The only way to get rid of bitterness is to pull it out by the root. And to do that, we need God’s help. When we ask God to clean bitterness from our lives, we must watch and pray, or it might spring up again. Removing bitterness allows love and forgiveness to spread and makes life beautiful again.
Read more from the author.
"God Cares When We Can't Sleep"
Struggling with two bags and my purse, I climbed onto the night train to go visit my son and sell my Bible storybooks at a prominent festival. No one needed the seat beside me, so I curled up and tried to rest. The train was cold, preventing sleep. So I sat up and tried to see each station as it came up in the darkness.
At a station in Ohio, someone got on and claimed the seat across the aisle. Clothed in baggy pants and a backward baseball cap, the person stowed a bag in the rack above and settled for the trip. I thought it was a young man.
In a few moments I heard a sweet feminine voice say, "I think you need this more than I do." She tossed a sweatshirt over me, followed by a soft blanket. She turned quickly away, saying she would sleep fine without it. Once warm, I fell asleep for a couple hours.
When I awoke, I realized what a sacrifice she had made for me. I must find a way to thank her for her kindness, I thought. On the back of one of my business cards, I wrote: "Thank you and God bless you." I placed it on top of the folded warmers and handed them to her.
When she read the simple words I had written, she said, "I haven't heard anyone say that in a long time."
She stood up and took off her cap. I saw a head of attractive short blonde hair, but later I wondered if she had been an angel God had sent to care for me just like he did for Elijah when he was tired and discouraged (1 Kings 19:4-9). God had sent her to share her blanket when I was cold and extremely tired. I knew God would indeed bless her as she had blessed me. She said she was going home. I prayed she would find love and peace there.(Shirley Myers, www.GrandmasStories.com)
The Author: Shirley Myers (New York)
Thought for the Day: Tending the garden of life with prayer will produce the blooms of a beautiful spirit.
Prayer: O God, take away our bitterness and replace it with love and kindness. May your love spread to those around us. Amen.
Prayer focus: Gardeners
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