“I want us to help each other with the faith we have. Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you.”
Romans 1:12 (NCV) Jesus believes in you. There is plenty of proof in the Bible! “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20 NIV). “Everything is possible for one who believes” (Mark 9:23 NIV). “If you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more” (Matthew 21:21 TLB). Jesus believes you can do great things because when you place your trust in him, his Spirit lives inside you. He also wants you to help others believe this about themselves. The apostle Paul offered this encouragement: “I want us to help each other with the faith we have. Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you” (Romans 1:12 NCV). Each day you encounter people with low self-esteem. Everybody has insecurities. And many people are repeatedly playing a tape in their mind of how someone said to them long ago that they wouldn’t amount to anything. How can people reverse that curse? You can help them start believing what Jesus says about them instead of believing what other people say. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:7, “If you love someone, you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best of him, and always stand your ground in defending him” (TLB). That’s what God wants you to do. He wants you to show faith in others so they can believe what God says about them. One of the best ways we do this in the church is by being part of a small group. When you have a really tough week and you’re doubting and down and discouraged, you need a group of trusted people who will believe for you. And you can do the same for them! Followers of Jesus don’t just believe in Christ. We also believe in each other. Your faith can help grow the faith of others as you believe in them like Jesus believes in you.
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“Treat everyone you meet with dignity.”
1 Peter 2:17 (MSG) Loving like Jesus means you must value others the way Jesus values you. You are a child of the king. God created you, and Christ gave his life for you. The Bible says in 1 Peter 1:18-19, “God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. It was the precious blood of Christ” (NLT). How much are you worth? Look at the cross. Jesus was willing to die for you. God was willing to give his Son for you. That’s how valuable you are! Jesus wants you to give that kind of value to everybody else—even the people you can’t stand. When Jesus spread his arms wide on the cross, it’s like he said, “I love them this much, so I expect you, my child, to love these people the same way I love them—because I died for them, not just you. Treat them the same way I treat them. Value them the way I value them.” The Bible says it very simply in 1 Peter 2:17: “Treat everyone you meet with dignity” (MSG). How do you do that? One way you treat others with dignity is by looking at them, giving them your attention, and listening to them. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Mark 10:21. Jesus was walking down the street, and a young entrepreneur came up to him and asked him a question. Jesus’ response was that he “looked at him and loved him” (NIV). Jesus looked, and he loved. You can’t love without looking! Think about the people you come across every day—like the restaurant server, grocery store cashier, or coworker you pass in the hallway. When those people try to speak with you and you don’t give them your attention, you’re not being very loving. Love looks, and love listens. When you look and listen in love, you remind people of their value to you—and, ultimately, of their value to God. “The Father gives me the people who are mine. Every one of them will come to me, and I will always accept them.”
John 6:37 (NCV) Followers of Jesus ought to be the most accepting people in the world—because they are the most accepted. John 6:37 says, “The Father gives me the people who are mine. Every one of them will come to me, and I will always accept them” (NCV). You may have accepted Christ into your life, but do you understand that he’s accepted you? He doesn’t love you because of who you are or what you’ve done but because of who he is. Titus 3:7 says, “Jesus treated us much better than we deserve. He made us acceptable to God and gave us the hope of eternal life” (CEV). How does Jesus make you acceptable? It’s not that you changed or got any better. It’s not that you never sin. It’s by his grace alone. God wants you to show grace and acceptance to other people, but the problem is most people don’t know the difference between acceptance and approval. They are very, very different. Jesus Christ accepts you completely, but that doesn’t mean he approves of everything you do. One day Jesus was walking down the street when some religious leaders who were trying to trap him brought a woman to him who had been caught in adultery. Jesus looked at all of the accusers and said, “Anyone here who has never sinned can throw the first stone at her” (John 8:7 NCV). And, of course, they all walked away. What did Jesus do? He gave acceptance, not approval. He didn’t approve of what she had done, but he accepted the woman and restored her dignity. That’s what you need to do with the people around you. You don’t have to go around approving of everything everybody does. But you do have to accept them—because that is a mark of love. The Bible says in Romans 15:7, “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you” (NIV). How do you do that? One of the ways you can show acceptance to other people is to listen to them. Love pays attention. Love listens to the fears and the doubts of others and treats them with respect. Love accepts others the way Jesus accepts you. |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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