This post is part of the series His Encouragement
Other posts in this series:
Welcome! Welcome, dearest friends, to His Encouragement: Biblical Inspiration for Your Thursday. Every week, I join a few blogging friends to bring you a Bible passage and a little hope-filled discussion. We pray that these devotionals help you end your week strong in God’s love and purpose for you.
Today’s Scripture
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:9, ESV
In our last Thursday encouragement post, we discussed how to truly know God, we must love others. Today we are continuing with that train of thought by taking a quick look at 2 Corinthians 12:9.
God calls us to love others as much as we care for ourselves even though it does not come naturally and easily to us in our sinful condition.
Whether by personality or life experiences, many of us go about our lives in a self-centered manner. Some people focus on satisfying desires or greed at the expense of others. Others may be “looking after number one” as a defensive mechanism after being hurt by someone else in some way.
Few people many to grow old with a genuinely kind, selfless heart of their own doing. Since Adam and Eve’s origin sin, people – each of us – are born with an inclination to selfishness.
Nature vs nurture
In a high school class, I remember the teacher facilitating a debate on whether we become who were are through nature or nurture. Many years later, as a mother of three children, I can say that it is both.
Our innate nature is fundamentally flawed. At the same time, each of us has a unique personality and inclinations, which means we don’t all act and react the same way. Therefore, we are also molded by our environment: our upbringing, our life experiences, our decisions, etc.
So how can we love others as the Lord commands us when we have so much against us?
It is through God’s power
We cannot love others through our own power and strength. It is through God’s power and His alone that we can move passed the jaded lens of our nature or life experiences and see others as the Lord sees them: precious.
After all, “we love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). God knows our flaws and our weaknesses, and He still chooses to work through us… if we allow Him to.
God is clear: “…my power is made perfect in weakness”. So give your weakness over to the Lord and let Him perfect you. It is in that way that we are able to learn to love others.
What verse has touched your heart this week? Share in the comments below!
Be sure to also visit my fellow bloggers and read their encouragement for your Thursday as well:
- Trisha of Joy of Reading
- Nicole of The Christian Fiction Girl
- Jessica of A Baker’s Perspective
- Becca of The Becca Files
- Gina of Stories by Gina
- Rev. Rebecca Writes
Hi there, blogger. Would you like to join us in sharing encouragement from the Word of God every Thursday? Don’t be shy! Contact Trisha or Nicole today!
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Continue reading this series:
His Encouragement: Rejoice and be glad
Love is so hard. I was just thinking about this yesterday as I was driving on the freeway. It’s really hard to love narcissistic people who truly do not care if they kill you in a car crash as long as they’re first. It’s crazy how bad people drive. But I am commanded by God to love. So, I’ve started praying for God to show me people the way He sees them. Perhaps if I see how God sees the man who nearly killed a van filled with kids then flips them off as he speeds by I’ll be a little less likely to judge? I don’t know, but there’s got to be some way to love better. It’s getting harder and harder the more self-centered our society becomes.
Yeah, it is getting harder to see as God sees and love as God loves. Two years ago, I was driving my baby over to my in-laws before work one morning when a lady became extremely aggressive. I was yielding (as the sign said) to traffic exiting the highway and that apparently made her angry. She pulled up next to me at the red light. There was no one was in front of her. She could have made her right turn and gone about her business. Instead, she idled her car next to mine for three minutes cussing me out and gesturing very threateningly.
My first react was one of anger and outrage myself, but after the shaking stopped, I realized that I needed to pray for her. She clearly did not have the peace and love of God in her life, but she was in desperate need of knowing Him. And we, unlike God, cannot see the whole picture. We don’t know what someone is going through or has been through that brought them to that place and moment.
But loving others as God loves them (and us) is not easy. I fail at it over and over again, but I trust that He will cover my weakness with His power and strength.
Amen! Beautifully said! <3