Daily Devotions
A Family That Won't Give Up on You
Reading for September 8th: Ezekiel 28-30
Weekly reading for September 6-12: 1 Thessalonians 1-5
And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.
1 Thessalonians 5:14-15
You would think that in a church family you would find a safe haven from all of the selfishness, pride, envy, jealousy, anger, gossip, and complaining that you find in the world. It's a rude awakening (especially to someone who is new in the faith) to find out that all of those things exist in the church.
Every church has problems, because every church is made up of people. We're not perfect. We're not sinless. We are seeking perfection and we earnestly desire to live without sin in our lives, but we all fall short of that standard. So, as long as churches are made up of people, there will be problems.
However, one of the key differences between the church and the world is that we don't walk away from those problems. In the world, if you don't like your job you can just walk away from it. If you don't like your spouse you can divorce and find another. But in God's family we aren't allowed to think that way. We love one another. We forgive each other. We show compassion in the face of hatred. We are patient when wronged. We turn the other cheek. We go the extra mile. We offer a helping hand. We pray. We plead. We even weep. We never give up on each other.
And we do all of that because God has done the same for us.
Father, thank you for showing mercy to us and making us a part of a spiritual family who won't give up on us.
