Love the unlovable

1 Thessalonians 5:15 (NLT)

     See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.

Matthew 5:38-39 (NLT)

     “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.

Levictus 19:18 (NLT)
     “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

Mark 12:31 (NLT)
     The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’No other commandment is greater than these.

These four verses have been so close the the front of my mind today. I have said many times at work that I know that I should love the people I work with through my job, but if only they wouldn't make it so hard. Simply said I have had a tough day at work, it started with my being late and just went down hill from there.

I don't want to dwell on the facts of today and there isn't much I can say due to the nature of the work that I do but the thoughts it has raised in my mind I feel are worth talking about. It has come to my attention over the last two days that in the job I do, working with the homeless and addicts, I am often at a fair amount of personal risk. At any moment these people could fly off the handle and cause considerable harm to myself or my colleagues. Time and again I am let down by their actions and behaviour and will be many more times in the future. Yet day after day I go into work with the desire and enthusiasm to make a difference and to help. 

The thing that keeps me going, the reason I can go in day after day, especially after a couple of terrible days is that I know this is what God wants us all to do. He wants us to love the unloved, to help them and through showing them this love they will see that the Holy Spirit is in us and that God too loves them, and in a way much better than the way we love them.

But that is the problem, a lot of these people really are unlovable at times, they do and say things that cause you pain in one way or another and at times do everything they can to drive everyone away. Some people actually do not want to be loved, do not want help and certainly do not want to change, at least on the surface. Deep down I believe we all have a desire to find God and to be loved, it is something I believe is inbuilt into humans.

Even so, when Christ came to earth He loved without measure or boundaries, He helped indiscriminately and despite the fact He was let down in the most painful and terrible way He continued to love us all. I know that we are not Christ, that we will never be like Christ, but to try is surely pleasing in His eye. I pray daily for the strength to continue to work with these people who seem humanly unlovable, who try their best to push everyone away. 

As a friend reminded me the other day, not everyone who is unloved who is lost or in need of the Lord is homeless, I just have a passion for them as it is what God is calling me to do right now. But we are all surrounded by people who need us to bring the light of Jesus into their lives, there are people in all walks of life who need to see us living our Christian lives and have this light in their lives. The unloved and lost are all around us, they are crying out for something, they just don't see that it is Christ.

See that as a Christian you love your neighbour, that you try to do good to all who cross your path. We need to realise that revenge, even in out own minds is not acceptable behaviour. 

Love your neighbour.

Do good to each other.

Do not seek revenge.

Turn the other Cheek.

Follow the teachings from God and follow the examples of Christ, for these teachings and examples are perfection. If we do these things and pray for the strength to follow them daily them the life we are living will be good and pleasing to God. To live a life pleasing to God, what greater thing could you do?

Worthy of Your calling

2 Thessalonians 1:11-12
    Because we know that this extraordinary day is just ahead, we pray for you all the time-pray that our God will make you fit for what he's called you to be, pray that he'll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something. If your life honors the name of Jesus, he will honor you. Grace is behind and through all of this, our God giving himself freely, the Master, Jesus Christ, giving himself freely.

A while ago I was at a service where this Bible verse was the focus of the sermon. It was during a time when I was on the cusp of realising and admitting what God wants me to do. During this period every service I attended seem to be almost written for me personally. Pretty much every time I walked into a Church or attended a religious event it seemed as though God was sending me a clear message.

God has a plan and a calling for each of us, and for everyone that calling is going to be different. It is only through following His plans that we will ever truly be happy. We can seem happy and present a happy face to the world, we can even think and believe that we are happy doing our own thing. But in following God's will in our lives there will be a peace and happiness that we will not find anywhere else.

I am ready to follow this plan in my life and I am looking forward to the path that lies ahead of me. I know this will not always be easy but it will always be with Him by my side. I wrote a blog not long ago about a song that I love called moving forward and the words sum up a lot in my life as it is currently.

I stand before, a road that will lead,
Into the unknown. At least unknown to me.
I want to go, but I'm paralysed with fear.
Fear of a choise, where the outcome isn't clear.

No, but still I go.

And I take, the first step of a million more.
And I'll make mistakes I've never made before.
But at least I'm moving forward.

I am standing at the beginning of a new road, I have no idea where the end is but I know what I must do to start walking it. I am frightened of taking this path because it will be the first time that I am out of control in my life and I don't know where I will end up. But I am taking the first step and there are going to be many many more to come in the future. But at least I'm moving forward.

We are all worthy of the calling God has for us, He makes us worthy of it. We need to learn to be obedient and loving, once we start trying to live our lives as God would want us to there is no danger of being unworthy. Don;t fear being what God wants you to be, because He will always be there and He will never let you down.

Wow, thanks guys

Well September is gone, all over and finished for another year. September has been a good month for me, I celebrated my birthday, I started a new job and thanks to you guys I had 350 hits on this web page. To some people 350 hits might not sound many, but I honestly thought I would have only a handful. When I first began in August I mainly intended this as just an outlet that a few friends would be able to keep track of. A way of expressing my thoughts and feelings on my journey with Jesus. It was a way for me to get things out of my head and recorded as much for myself to recap as anything else. Yet it seems that some people must be reading this, which is amazing for me to think about.  So really all I wanted to say in this post is thanks to any regular readers, welcome to any new readers (please visit again soon) and I hope that you continue to visit and enjoy reading my daily ramblings. I am interested to hear what you guys think about my posts or anything you may wish to say so please feel free to leave comments and ask questions either on here or via jerrathorn@gmail.com. Once again thanks for your support and comments so far you have made this foray into blogging fun, exciting and hopefully it will continue far into the future.

James 1:17
    Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle.

1 Thessalonians 5:18
    thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.

Psalm 107:1
        Oh, thank God—he's so good!
            His love never runs out.