RECEIVE FIRST

RECEIVE FIRST

If you’ve never received love, how can you love others? In other words, we can’t give what we’ve never received. But oh how we try! Our typical strategy? Try harder. “I don’t care how much it hurts, I’m going to be nice to that bum.” So we try. Teeth clenched, jaw firm.

Could it be we’re missing a step? Could it be that the first step of love is not toward them but toward Him? In 1 John 4:19 (NIV) the apostle writes, “We love, because he first loved us.” Long to be more loving? Then consider how you’ve been forgiven. Paul said in Ephesians 4:32 (NIV), “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.”

We want to. We long to. But how can we? By living loved. By following the principle: receive first, love second.

Devotion by Max Lucado | The Almighty Jehovah | https://thealmightyJehovah.com

Where Joseph Stood

On the night when Jesus was born, I wonder if Joseph prayed, “Father, this all seems so bizarre. The angel you sent? Any chance you could send another?”

You’ve stood where Joseph stood. Each of us knows what it’s like to search the night for a light. Not outside a stable, but perhaps outside an emergency room or the manicured grass of a cemetery. We’ve asked our questions. We’ve wondered why God does what he does. If you’re asking what Joseph asked, let me urge you to do what Joseph did: obey. He didn’t let his confusion disrupt his obedience.

What about you? You have a choice: to obey or disobey. Because Joseph obeyed, God used him to change the world. Can he do the same with you? Will you be that kind of person? Will you serve, even when you don’t understand?

Out on a Limb

”After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18 NKJV).

Joseph was perched firmly on his branch in the tree. Predictable and solid, Joseph had no intention of leaving it. That is, until he was told to go out on a limb. “Conceived by the Holy Spirit? Come on! Who will believe me?” Pride told him not to do it, but God told him to do it.

Have you been called to got out a limb for God? I have a feeling you can relate to Joseph. One foot in your will and one foot in his. His or yours? Disrupting, isn’t it? You can bet it won’t be easy. Limb-climbing has never been. Ask Joseph. Or better yet, ask Jesus! He knows better than anyone the cost of hanging on a tree.

RECEIVE FIRST

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Where Joseph Stood

Out on a Limb

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