Good morning all!

Father, we pray the only expectation we have come from You. We know Your son came to serve and not be served, give us the strength and the confidence to serve just like Him, Amen. We all wake up with certain expectations in the day, starting with your special cup of coffee just the way you like it, right? And what happens when that cup falls a little short?

2 Corinthians 6

3 – Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:
We live in a way that would not offend anyone, so that our faith would not be blamed for wrong doing:

4 – But in all [things] approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
But in everything we patiently endure through pain, and in need, and in distress,

5 – In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;
In beatings, in being held captive, in turmoil, in much work, in sleepless nights, and in doing without;

6 – By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned.
We see clearly the grace of God by understanding, by suffering long, yet being kind, and by His spirit loving without expectation.

Bottom line

If you’re like me some scripture seems tougher to grasp than others, right? This is one of them, we’re NOT to offend in anything? That includes a whole lotta of stuff in life. Here’s where it gets real interesting, Paul calls out ten different difficult experiences he’s gone through and yet he was still able to love without any expectation in return. Now, why did Paul do that? According to scripture he didn’t want the ministry to get blamed…to get a bad rap sort of speak, another words he was going to take one for the team. Doesn’t that sound like Jesus Christ to you?

[Mat 18:7 KJV] 7 Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh! You and I will face being offended in this life, this is according to scripture a MUST NEEDS situation…translation…it’s a must that needs to happen to us so we will learn how to truly love through all the trials. Think about it, how do you know how strong your love is if it’s never tested? Parents, have any of your children tested the strength of your love? What wins?

[1Co 13:7 KJV] 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Love never fails. Why does God mention “all things” 4 times? Hmm…who, what, where, when? Who- ALL people, What – ALL situations good & bad, Where – ALL heaven and earth, When – ALL the time. He did say love NEVER fails, right? So never has to include ALL! The second part of this verse is the tough part, and that is to love without looking for anything in return. This is why our love has to be tested, not to see it fail but to show us how to truly love one another…love unfeigned.

[Mat 5:46 NLT] 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. Most of us if we’re honest learn to love based on what we receive in return, and that is a measure of love it’s just not the measure that Jesus Christ loves us with. His measure of love is not merit based at all, it was based only on the pureness of His heart toward mankind. This is what the religious folks of his day didn’t understand, everything they knew, taught and lived was based on merit. Good gets good and bad gets bad, that makes us nothing more than a tax collector…we measure everything we see and experience and run a balance sheet on everyone in our life. As though Christ would reduce his ministry to some cheap form of accounting? He was a carpenter Not an accountant, we should quit trying to collect from others and start building a bigger house instead.

Point to Ponder

Did Jesus build a house? [Heb 3:4 KJV] 4 For every house is builded by some [man]; but he that built all things [is] God. He built a bigger you, now go show the world what big looks like.

Let’s all be the bigger person and love, In Him Phil

Faith – Family – Friends