Where is the Love?

I was just wondering tonight, where is the love of Christ, the Golden Rule, in how we treat unbelievers?

Are we not supposed to be like Christ?

Didn't he heal the ear of the servant that Peter attacked and rebuke Peter?

Did he admonish with hate and sarcasm or did he admonish with love and scripture?

Did he seek out to destroy, or did he meet them halfway?

Did he give all glory and honor to his Father or did he seek honor for himself?

I hurt when I see my sin, and I apologize to anyone whom I have hurt with my tone or attitude on this blog. May God forgive me if any post I have made has turned people away from Him.I want to be a reflection of Him. I want to know Him more. He is my rock, my redeemer, my savior, my friend. I want Him to be pleased with me when I see Him. I want Him to tell me, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

The path set out in the beatitudes is not a one time path, but a path we must consistently repeat. Humbling ourselves is not a one time event, but a lifetime commitment. A permanant recognition of what we lack before God. As we continue through our lives, Christ has taken our sins upon himself, but we still need to humble ourselves, and repent, to receive His mercy.

We are a 'work in progress' I think. The work is not complete until our death (and then, we are no longer of flesh and we no longer have that temptation). I don't necessarily agree that striving to show God's love through works does not help to conform us.

Let me explain, the more I act in God's Will, the more I see how you and I are His creation and the more miracles I witness. The more often I hear, "You were an answer to a prayer." The more often I ask God to help me bear fruit for him, the more I know Him, what He desires for me and from me. The more love I show, the more I pray for my family and friends to come to Christ and have Him intimately in their lives, the more I tamp down my pride by recognizing my humanity is what caused His death, others can see that change in me. That change makes them ask me, "What changed you?" and THAT gives me the opportunity to say, "I turned my life over to Christ!" In these ways I see how the Bible is inerrant. When I follow the path of Christ, I witness even MORE of God's grace and mercy, both in my life and in the lives around me.I trust God to do a good work in them, I merely wish to plant a seed. Eventually, I hope it will fall on fertile soil. If not from my testimony, then when they see another person living the same life, the same way, with the same blessings. That is true evangelism. That is trusting God to do a good work in them.

Sin is part of our flesh, but not one that we should be reveling in. Every sin I commit is another stripe that "I" have put on Jesus' back and I cry to think that He loves me so much that he accepted that for love of me. When I attempt to excuse my sins, those are the times that I do a huge disservice to God because I am not showing the difference between me and a non-believer. I might not always be able to help the fact that I sin, but I can make the effort to avoid it when I know I am doing it. I can ask God to help me not continue that sin. When I turn that part of me over to God, He does it for me and I am one step closer to being a reflection of Him. If I fail, I know the failure is mine and by confessing it to Him, I humble myself and accept how unworthy I am of his Love, but I can count on the fact that He still loves me anyway.

God bless and may the light of Jesus fill all of us with the warmth and beauty of his love.