It's the 5th of July...

And I'm Still Partying!

Happy Warm & Fuzzy Summer Wednesday!

((((HUGS))))

ML/LTOS

LOL! Love it!

“Berners”. Magnificent dogs. So sweet!

Thank you Kitty. :)

BIG

It's always great to see (((you)).

Love your darling post, ML. Thanks to all for coming by today.
*HUGS*

Freep mail me to be on or off the Daily Bread ping list

Going First

July 6, 2017

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

We worked patiently to help our son heal and adjust to his new life with our family. Trauma from his early days in an orphanage was fueling some negative behaviors. While I had enormous compassion for the hardships he experienced in his early days, I felt myself begin to withdraw from him emotionally because of those behaviors. Ashamed, I shared my struggle with his therapist. Her gentle reply hit home: “He needs you to go first . . . to show him he’s worthy of love before he’ll be able to act like it.”

John pushes the recipients of his letter to an incredible depth of love, citing God’s love as both the source and the reason for loving one another (1 John 4:7, 11). I admit I often fail to show such love to others, whether strangers, friends, or my own children. Yet John’s words spark in me renewed desire and ability to do so: God went first. He sent His Son to demonstrate the fullness of His love for each of us. I’m so thankful He doesn’t respond as we all are prone to do by withdrawing His heart from us.

Though our sinful actions don’t invite God’s love, He is unwavering in offering it to us (Rom. 5:8). His “go-first” love compels us to love one another in response to, and as a reflection of, that love.

Thank You, Lord, for loving me in spite of my sin. Help me to “go first” in loving others.

God loved us first so we can love others.

INSIGHT:

Have you found it’s easier to make up after an argument if the other person makes the first move? Maybe they don’t even apologize, but you see in their eyes and hear in their voice that they care about you. If Jesus went first and showed us His love, can we now make that first move and show love to someone else? Mart DeHaan

Good Morning To Amy's Place

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have A Lovely Thankful Day

Thankful for the rain we've had!
Happy Thankful Thursday!

Eddie Rabbitt~I Love A Rainy Night

Summer Rain!

Ain't Nuthin' Like It! :-)

(((HUGS)))

ML/LTOS

True dat!

Freep mail me to be on or off the Daily Bread ping list

The Ultimate Good

July 7, 2017

I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Philippians 3:8

As I was growing up in Jamaica, my parents raised my sister and me to be “good people.” In our home, good meant obeying our parents, telling the truth, being successful in school and work, and going to church . . . at least Easter and Christmas. I imagine this definition of being a good person is familiar to many people, regardless of culture. In fact, the apostle Paul, in Philippians 3, used his culture’s definition of being good to make a greater point.

Paul, being a devout first-century Jew, followed the letter of the moral law in his culture. He was born into the “right” family, had the “right” education, and practiced the “right” religion. He was the real deal in terms of being a good person according to Jewish custom. In verse 4, Paul writes that he could boast in all of his goodness if he wanted to. But, as good as he was, Paul told his readers (and us) that there is something more than being good. He knew that being good, while good, was not the same as pleasing God.

Pleasing God, Paul writes in verses 7–8, involves knowing Jesus. Paul considered his own goodness as “garbage” when compared to “the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus.” We are good—and we please God—when our hope and faith are in Christ alone, not in our goodness.

Dear God, as I seek to live a good life, help me remember that knowing Jesus is the way to ultimate goodness.

We are good—and we please God—when our hope and faith are in Christ alone, not in our goodness.

INSIGHT:

It can be easy to miss the phenomenal change of perspective Paul states in today’s passage. His claims of righteousness were not empty boasts; he had followed God-given laws meticulously—literally to the letter. For Paul to say that all of that was worthless signifies change at a fundamental level. He changed from outward performance—doing (vv. 4–7)—to knowing Christ and what He had done (v. 8).

For more on knowing Christ read, The Mind of Christ at discoveryseries.org/q0209. J.R. Hudberg