Wednesday... But what is really important, what is really real?

We have these ideas and these words that we throw around as important. Over in Proverbs 7:18 (MSG) a seductress says to a young man, who isn't her husband, "Come let's make love all night, spend the night in ecstatic lovemaking." Now love is so very important but it must be real and that isn't real. Without a doubt, that isn't real.

1 Corinthians 13 starts out in verse 1 (MSG) by saying, "If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate." Love is so very important but it must be real.

I love the English language but it can be so confusing. Here are two places where the same word is used but they do not mean the same. In the day that we live in today the word love is misused over and over. But not in God's world.

Verse 2 says, "If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all the mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, 'Jump,' and it jumps but I don't love, I'm nothing."

Real love is so important.

In verses 12 & 13 Paul the writer of this letter says, "We don't see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation. Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of these is love."

So what is real love? Verses 4-7 (NLT) says, "Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." We need that kind of love today. We really, really do.

Verse 13 in the NLT says, "Three things will last forever - faith, hope, and love - and the greatest of these is love." Now that is really important and really real. Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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Tuesday... It is so worth it. It really is!

Tuesday... It is so worth it. It really is! Look at this, Proverbs 5:21-23 (CEV) says, "The Lord sees everything, and he watches us closely. Sinners are trapped and caught by their own evil deeds. They get lost and die because of their foolishness and lack of self-control." That is true of so many. Now look at this, Luke 15:1-7 says, "Tax collectors and sinners were all crowding around to listen to Jesus. So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses started grumbling, 'This man is friendly with sinners. He even eats with them.' Then Jesus told them this story: If any of you has 100 sheep, and one of them gets lost, what will you do? Won't you leave the 99 in the field and go look for the lost sheep until you find it? And when you find it, you will put it on your shoulder and carry it home. Then you will call in your friends and neighbors and say, 'Let's celebrate! I've found my lost sheep.' Jesus said, 'In the same way there is mo...

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Todays Beginning

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