James 3:13 Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.

I was about to speak out in boldness about an issue I have with error. Then I opened my bible software and here is the verse for today. Man, what a conversation killer that was to see. I knew in a moment that what I had planned to write was not to be written.

Was I wrong? No. Was my lesson worth learning? Yes. Was it of God? For me yes, for you no. God can and does impress on me strong words. It isn’t like He is shouting at me, but the impact is bold. That does not mean I get to turn and act the same towards you. You are not me and God treats you differently than He treats me.

God treats us as individuals; that is what having a personal relationship with God means. I do not get to lay on you everything that God lays on me. Luckily for you I recognized the staying hand of God. I have a gift but I do not get to wield it like a weapon. My hand may be upon the hilt, but the arm is not mine.

Even my speech here in these words could use a touch more grace. I know this because I know the Lord. Even in writing that, I can see those words lack meekness in wisdom. Yet that is how I know the Lord and how can I tell you about His entreaty of me without confessing my faults as they relate to our relationship? We only have this relationship because you read these words.

Yet the Word of the Lord yields a relationship which goes beyond mere words. His Word is not convincing, it is transformative. I can convince, exhort, encourage and burden you with my words but only His Word transforms. Only His Word speaks deeper than rational thought, deeper than conscience, deeper than emotion and changes your heart, for it is His dwelling place.

I speak from that heart.

John 13 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

Do you have more than one child? Perhaps you were one of many brothers and sisters. I have three children. If I were to tell them what I want for them in this life, it would be this, love one another. I wonder at times if God the Father feels the same way about all His children? If so, what a huge disappointment this world has been.

Mankind has been killing and wounding, using and abusing each other ever since the very beginning. While there are more people on this earth today than in all of recorded history, we are killing each other at a faster pace than ever. Worse than that, we have failed to find a way to love one another.

Matthew 25:45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

If we haven’t loved them, we haven’t loved our Lord. Now I understand that very few in the world believe this, even if they have heard it. We have heard and should believe it. If we believe it, we should live it. But do we know how? Well yes, if you are in Christ Jesus because He said “as I have loved you”.

No one knew how to love until God the Father sent the Son into the world to show them what love not only looked like but how it acted. We say we are not Jesus and we are not perfect so how can we be that love in this world.

Ephesians 3:16-19 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

I cannot, but He is able.