Reading your Bible for Today August 3

August 3: Philippians 1:9-11

KJV Key Verse: Philippians 1:9
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;

Devotion:
You may hear people talk about “learning to love someone”, but have you really thought about what it means – or what it should mean. We often will get annoyed with people because they do not do exactly what we think they should be doing without thought for what they would like to do. We do this through our own selfishness or pride instead of bending a little to accommodate them into our lives.

What we should not be doing is bending in our lives just to please people if it is going to take us away from God. That is far too easy! We will quite often get caught up in our lives and ways and leave out the one who should come first in everything – God! We do it because we may want to be more popular or ever to win the affection of someone we like – but in doing that we are hurting the one who should mean most to us in our lives.

But you don't learn about these sort of thing unless you read about them in God's Word, or unless you experience them for yourself (both in good or bad ways). We are able to learn from our mistakes and to make sure we apply what we have learned. What use is all God's instruction if we are not going to listen to it! Learning how to love someone whilst walking with Christ in your life is not easy unless you are willing to listen to and apply the knowledge which The Holy Spirit is giving you all the while.

If we are able to listen to Him, we will be able to discern between what is good and bad in our lives as well as in our friends lives. We will be able to help others walk closer to God – assuming that is where we are walking! We will be able to encourage others to find the love of Christ – as long as we are showing them we have found it. We will be able to show them brotherly love is a strong relationship between friends and encourage them to know their relationship with Christ can be even stronger than a simple friendship. Above all we should be doing this all to make sure Christ comes first in all of our lives!

Points to Ponder:
How often do you bend the rules to please friends?

How often do you say NO because that is what God wants you to do?