Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Orange Moon Cafe “More Blessed”

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…


"More Blessed" 


      "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).

     Our Savior not only verbally expressed the truth of giving's superiority over receiving.  He lived and died to confirm the fact, and to redeem us from our native tendency to exalt reception over giving.  "The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).  The Lord Jesus revealed the very heart of the God who "is love" (I John 4:8).  He also bore witness to the true nature of Divine love: "Charity (love) seeketh not her own" (I Corinthians 13:5).  Our Lord redeemed those who believe by His devotion to others, first by providing forgiveness for our devotion to ourselves, and then by infusing His very nature into our innermost being: "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).

   Such grace makes possible a lifetime - and this day - of devoting ourselves to God and others, as empowered by the indwelling presence of the Christ who provided by both word and life the definition of love, and then the dynamic enabling for us to live accordingly.  "Walk in love, even as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us" (Ephesians 5:2).  Indeed, God's love for us came to us in His Son, and now dwells in us to pave a path of self sacrifice that involves much challenge, but far more, provides a heart of genuine peace and joy in all who realize the greater blessing of giving over receiving.  This supplies the greatest aspect of our salvation.  Our Heavenly Father so loves us as to conform us to the image of the Lord Jesus, thereby rescuing us from the dark abyss of "I, Me, and My" into the bright light of seeking the glory of God and the blessing of others.  This is the "more blessed" path that glimmers with the Footprints of our Lord's earthly journey so long ago, and that beckons us to our own journey of joy in giving both now and forevermore.

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height,  And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."
(Ephesians 3:17-19)

Weekly Memory Verse
    "His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue."
 (II Peter 1:3)

























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