It's A Cruel World!

Monday's Devotion (2-28-05)

"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." Luke 6:31 (KJV)

So, this is how we love our neighbors as ourselves? You don't want someone to throw bricks through your window, do you? If your answer is, "No!" then you shouldn't do that to other people. It's a pretty simple concept. I remember some of my sister's boy-friends. They would set down a set of rules to abide by in their house, or with their stuff. If you broke something of theirs' then they'd get mad, but they would be less careful with other peoples' stuff. This kind of behavior is so annoying to me. Think about this: Are you the type of person to steal from someone else or break someone else's goods, then get mad if the same crime was committed against you? What kind of person does that make you? First off, it makes you a hypocrite and more importantly; It makes you a person who breaks one of the greatest commandments to love your neighbor as yourself!

This subject brings us to another important topic, revenge. When we act out to get revenge, we start a cycle that can be never-ending. Let's say that someone flattens your car tires, then you go out and flatten theirs. Most likely, they're going to want revenge on the revenge you got and so forth. My point is this: Even if someone does something bad to you, you still need to uphold this rule to treat others as you want to be treated! If you don't follow this rule, then you will never be treated the way you want to be treated. We can use the terrorists as an example as well. These terrorists who are attacking their neighbors, better not be mad when their neighbors retaliate... what else should they expect? Revenge is stupid, but we live in a world where there are more people seeking revenge, than there are people seeking peace and grace. I remember plenty of times, where people have wronged me. They wronged me with things that I would've never done to them. How did this make me feel? It made me want to do what they did to me to them. It made me want to stop treating them nicely in that certain area. A lot of the time, I am able to fight off the temptation to get them back and show them how I feel. If I being a Christian, can't abide by this rule all the time with my want to do it, then how much more will people of the world break this rule? With that in mind, you better be ready to treat others the way you want to be treated... because it's a cruel world!

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins and we forgive all those who've wronged us. Please help us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to treat everyone the way we would want to be treated, regardless of what they've done to us. Help us to be bright shining lights. In Jesus name. A-men!

God bless!

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