Bitterness is The Devil
Meaningless Talk
(#321 from Suffer Well Devotional Series©)
www.sufferwell.org
My family, my friends, my pastors, my church brothers and sisters, my business partners, my colleagues, my clients, and my ministry recipients, all of them confidently affirmed His ways.
The greatest sign of love would be to lay down my life for others. (John 15:13)
Evidence of renewal would be proven by forgiveness towards others. (Matthew 6:14-15)
All of our sins are equal in His eyes? (Romans 3:23)
Yahweh has appointed both prosperity and adversity. (Ecclesiastes 7:14)
Yahweh gives and takes away. (Job 1:21)
Consider one another to stir up love. (Hebrews 10:24)
Do nothing selfish but consider others better than yourself. (Philippians 2:3)
You often praised me for my efforts and vision, and said that you trusted me. Wasn’t that a curse for us both? (Jeremiah 17:5) I have since learned of One who did all that the Father said and He was despised and rejected (Isaiah 53). He has become all things to me. If He had not, I would have perished in sorrow a thousand times over.
He gave me permission to share what He whispered to me about all of us. “You imposters; you hypocrites, you whitewashed tombs filled with dead men’s bones and all sorts of impurity. (Matthew 23:27) Can I now be everything you claimed to be? I will do everything the Father commanded and it will heal your broken soul.” Until it happened, I would have never imagined that accepting this about myself would open the door to my own healing. And now I can proclaim to all the other imposters:
No greater love has any man than to lay down his life for another. I forgive you all and hold no record of your wrongs. I too am an imposter, a hypocrite saved by grace. I lost everything that once mattered more than anything, but I don’t blame you for anything. I look at you as He sees you, and I see beauty in you. I will always try to encourage you if possible, but I will not trust you and bring curses to our lives. I have not heard from any of you in a long time, but I pray you are doing well. I hope you become everything He dreams for you. I’ll see you in eternity and I look forward to meeting you again there.
The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless [idle] talk. They want to be teachers of the Law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. (1 Timothy 1:5-7)