A wrong temper of mind about another soul will end in the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment, and the end of it is hell in you. (http://utmost.org/classic/today/)
This message from "My utmost for His Highest" is very profound.. try and get your mind around it. It has implications that reach down into the dregs of my soul. How easy it is to judge one another carnally. Little do we realise that it festers deep within us and the person most affected then is ourselves.
Love your enemies is not an injunction wrapped in toffee paper to make us all sweet and holy. It is an injunction that is our only hope to be delivered from the pit of self destruction. It is an injunction for survival and so little do we realise it. It is like a life jacket that can save our soul.
How can this even emerge onto our horizon of being humanly possible? I can begin to understand and grow the germ of acceptance and love by understanding 2 Timothy 1:7 which says that we have not been given a mind of fear but of power, of love and self control.
We often approach our contenders from the point of self control. "I will control myself when I speak with them" is a common decision that crashes and burns. Even if it does not, it adds fuel to the fire smouldering within.
But if I approach it from the perspective that God has everything in His power anyway, then I can begin to relax my grip on the situation, and begin to learn about love, and what Paul is instructing Timothy when he says in Verse 25 of chapter 2 ... "speak gently, perhaps God may bring them to repentance..."
He controls the wind and the waves, so no matter the boat may rock, He still is asleep in the bow.
Do we have our life jackets on?
Life preservers are little regarded till the ship begins to sink.
Let us strive to survive.
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