Maranatha Chapel: Daily Devotional

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May 15th 2008 - HOPE FOR MY HEART
1 Peter 1:22-

1 Peter 1:22
"Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart."

I think most of us like to think of ourselves as loving people. We try to do good and think charitable thoughts. But there are those people who just bug us...or hurt us...or make our lives uncomfortable or even miserable. Them we would just as soon live without. But—and if you read today's verse, I think you know where this is going–that's not possible if we wish to have a relationship with God. As we truly worship an incarnate God, we learn to humble ourselves enough to love one another.

The quality of our spiritual life is no better than the quality of our human relationships, and the way we connect with people is a picture of our connection to God. God is love, and in knowing Him, we cannot escape the people He puts in our lives—as much as we want to at times!

Part of the process of being born again into God's Kingdom and becoming "a new creature in Christ" is about how we relate to people. The apostle Peter correlates "obeying the truth" not to rules and regulations or church rituals, but to "loving one another, deeply, from the heart."

"Your life may be morally sound and you may be a good churchgoer with all the right theology, but if the result is not a clean, free conscience overflowing with pure love, then something is wrong," writes Mike Mason.

I preach the Gospel every week. I've prayed over the sick and officiated at weddings and funerals of people I know. But I have to confess, I don't always find it easy to love hard and difficult people. Then I ask God to fill me with His Spirit, to help me see people through His eyes. I think of the words of Peter—that living in the truth results in sincere love—and I know there is hope for my heart because of God.