28 Days of Loving God=Day 12
Beloved, our word today is caring-care is in the Bible 248 times, and the idea of the word is in verse found in Ephesians 4:32.
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4:32. NIV.
As we break down this verse, how can we be kind to one another? How can we be tenderhearted to one another? Is there someone you are harboring bitterness?
Bitterness is similar to unforgiveness.
Sweet friend, unforgiveness is like acid. It is like poison, and it will eat away at you. The acid will destroy a container–it eats away from the inside out. Lack of forgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. I do my best to walk in forgiveness by keeping a shortlist of wrongs. Trust me. These words will change your life. “I choose to forgive ______for _____and it made me feel_____.” Don’t shortcut the feeling because we need to feel the emotions; we need to visit the pain to forgive truly. We must visit the core of the emotion. Then we can release that person to God and ask God to bless them, something that we cannot do in our strength.
Conversely, another verse is about care.
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7
Who cares for you? What are you supposed to do? The disciple Peter is writing this, and he had followed Jesus, denied Jesus, and was redeemed by Jesus, so who is better to tell us what to do. So Peter tells us to give our anxiety to Jesus, to God, because they care for us.
We can be tenderhearted and forgiving. We can be loving and kind. However, without Jesus as our Savior, these traits are missing in our lives.
Beloved, we are loved with an everlasting God. He cares for you.
Father God, thank you for loving us. In Jesus’s name, amen.
