LIKE AND LOVE

Liberia: Liberia is well watered with abundant natural resources of rubber, iron, diamonds and timber but is a very poor country still recovering from civil war which ended in 2003. The jobless rate is as high as 75% and the majority survive on less than 1 US dollar a day. The country is slowly rebuilding. Training Leaders International is committed to training 100 enthusiastic Pastors to preach and teach and bring hope to this devastated land. Pray for Liberia this week.

 I may not like you but I am committed to love you in Jesus Christ. The Bible does not call us to unconditional like but it does call us to unconditional love in Jesus Christ, and especially unconditional love to fellow saints.
I hope God is continuing to convict and call you to conformity to Christ. Here is one area that God has pointed out in my life over the last number of months. By the grace of God I noticed how my natural reaction to the personality, attitudes and actions of others was influencing how I viewed them and responded to them. My response to them was very conditional based on my own standards of assessment which can be very critical and petty. As I continued to evaluate my thinking and behavior in this area and to pray about it I came across this quote by Oswald Chambers which was a great help to me. "Beware of living according to your natural affections in your spiritual life. Everyone has natural affections - some people we like and others we don't like. Yet we must never let those likes and dislikes rule our Christian life". This common sense insight has really freed me in my conditional liking. So I may not like you but I can at the same time totally commit my prayers, my resources, my words, and my actions to bring you to Christ and better your life in Christ. I can love you unconditionally even if I may not like you unconditionally.
"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." Philippians 2.3-4.