Reading your Bible for Today August 6

August 6: Psalm 5:2-8

KJV Key Verse: Psalm 5:8
8 Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.

Devotion:
One of the hardest things to do is to work out what is right or wrong with our own love for others... until we stand back and have a long look at where we are with Christ. Far too often we start to drift away from Christ and we find out our relationships are affected in ways we did not see.

Love is one of those things which we have to make sure we have throughout our lives, not just in the parts where we think it belongs or where we think it needs to be. Christ would show this all the time with the way He would show His love to all around Him, both Jews and Gentiles. He would not let things stand in His way – something which we find almost impossible because of our nature. But this does not mean we have an impossible task! Our love just needs to be directed by God and not by us.

We will never know the meaning of true love until we are with Christ in heaven – and until then we would be wise to allow Christ to lead us in our earthly feelings through The Holy Spirit and not to try and guide ourselves. Our feelings are far too selfish to be able to make sense of. Our love, if not held up to The Lord, will consume us. Our selfishness will then take us away from Christ and our walk with Him then becomes broken. If we hold Him first in our lives and continue to be led by Him, then He will make sure we are able to love others and to be loved by others too.

So when we try to separate their love from Christ's love, what we are doing is separating ourselves from God. We are His people and withholding love from any one of our brethren is just the same as withholding our love from Him. Trying to love without loving Him first is simply not love at all. He tries to remind us how our love should be pure – as it has to be with Him. He tries to remind us how our love needs to be secure – as it is with Him. And He tries to remind us that His love is everlasting...

Points to Ponder:
Do you think your love is different to everyone else's?

Have you taken it to Christ first?