FWD: Morning Manna (Dec. 3); BP: Gal. 5:13-15; RBTTY: I Jn. 2; Ez. 45-46

 
Samuel D. High
sdhigh@aristotle.net

 

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-----Original Message-----
From: Apostle Tom <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Sent: Sun, 2 Dec 2007 15:39:41 -0600
To: <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Subject: Morning Manna (Dec. 3); BP: Gal. 5:13-15; RBTTY: I Jn. 2; Ez. 45-46
 
December 3                                                                     "The Dearth and Death of Love"  
"For, brethren, you have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another—for all the Law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But, if you bite and devour one another, take heed, that you be not consumed one of another."
                                                                                                                                      Galatians 5:13-15
      When His love is lacking in our lives, we lose and the devil wins.
      Liberty and love.
     Those two themes resonate in today’s Manna as the Apostle Paul seeks to show their relationship to each other. How we need to hear and heed what our Lord’s saying to us through this anointed admonition.
 
     We know we’re "free indeed" (Jn. 8:36) when we’re "saved from God’s wrath through Christ. . . reconciled to God by Jesus’ death on the Cross. . .and able to rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have now received the atonement" (Rom. 5:9-11). Likewise, we "rejoice and leap for joy" (Lk. 6:23) when we realize "we’re redeemed from the curse of the Law because of Jesus’ having been made a curse for us" (Gal. 3:13). Hallelujah!!
 
     However, Paul reminds us that "love’s liberty" is not a license to do as we please, just because we’ve been "saved by grace through faith" (Eph. 2:8-9). A thousand times no! In fact, when we view it as such, we’ve violated the essence of "agape" love and reveal we really don’t understand what it’s all about.
 
     Oh, dear Pilgrim, how much damage has been done to God’s Kingdom work by "loose lips and wagging tongues!" We all know "loose lips sink ships," but do we also realize "loose lips hurt hearts"—including God’s heart?
 
     "Liberty in the Spirit" doesn’t give us permission to engage in wholesale criticism of each other, even though we may preface our remarks by "I’m telling you this in love." No, "Words fitly spoken are as apples of gold in picture frames of silver" (Prov. 25:11). Likewise, "There’s a season for everything and a time to every purpose under the heaven" (Eccl. 3:1). And, there’s a time to "Answer not a fool according to his folly" and a time "to answer a fool according to his folly" (Prov. 26:4-5)—and it will take the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to know when that time is and what should/shouldn’t be said.
 
     Paul didn’t leave God’s intention to our speculation, for he wrote "Just make sure you don’t use your liberty in Christ for an occasion to act in the flesh; instead, by love serve one another." In so doing we "fulfill the Law’s admonition to ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’" (Lev. 19:18) and Christ’s command to "love one another as He has loved us" (Jn. 15:12).
 
     Our failure to do this will cause us to act like a bunch of wild animals, "biting and devouring one another," which reveals a dearth of love and lead to its death if we do not repent. May we allow the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts today and see if His love is free to work in us; if not, may we repent and say, "Have Thine own way, Lord."