In the last devotional, I shared about the importance of eating a balanced meal from the word of God to ensure we eat everything we need to grow healthy and strong. I also wrote about the fact that generally in the body of Christ we have two camps. We have the camp of performance-driven people and the “love” oriented individuals.
I shared in the last devotional about the performance-oriented individuals and the type of food they like to eat, and in this devotional I’ll share about the “love” camp and what they enjoy.
The “love” oriented group likes to concentrate on the grace and mercy of God, but they really don’t see His statutes as top priority for an intimate relationship with Christ. The focus is on forgiveness, grace, turning the other cheek, & the love of God. The “love” group can pick and choose the rules they deem necessary or important to follow. Love is more important than following the rules in their world because obedience is not the foundation of the faith.
The “love” camp has great expectations of God and others. There is a feeling that we are so special to God that He makes exceptions for us. We also feel the freedom to say anything we like in the name of being “real”. We are more concerned with the presence and a touch of God than developing our character and allowing God to change us through obedience!
Jesus stated that if we love Him, we will obey Him. Our love cannot be just an emotional experience towards God or others, but it has to be based on the truth of the relationship established through our covenant with Christ. That gives us stability in our faith and in our relationship with the Lord and others.
The performance oriented and the “love” group can offend each other. The “love” group will criticize the performance-oriented people by saying they are harsh, insensitive, and judgmental. The performance-oriented camp will accuse the “love” group as irresponsible, presumptuous, and non-repentant. Both groups can be demanding and critical of each other for their own specific reasons. Those criticisms and accusations keep us bound in carnality because both groups would claim they love and follow Jesus! Both groups need the balanced word of God.
The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever. Psalm 119:160
God desires to feed us with the entire word. His word is sweet to our soul and spirit. He gives us a balanced meal to grow us in a healthy way. If we concentrate on one part of the Bible at the expense of other parts of the scripture, It is inevitable that we will become unhealthy and imbalanced!
Some scriptures are going to be hard to swallow, but they are still good for us to take in and allow God to do His work in our lives. We don’t have to like everything, but we know everything in the Word of God is good for us. If we eat a healthy and balanced meal, we grow in health and vibrancy, and in the process we can feed others with a balanced meal as well.
Lord, help us to take in and receive the entirety of your word. Surround us with people who are like us and those who are opposite of us. Give us the grace not to get offended by others but to learn from them what we lack. We desire to be full of truth and grace!
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