I'm going to be doing things a little bit differently today. Normally I pray at the end of all my blogs, but for this one, I want to just start off with a prayer. So if you would just close your eyes and pray with me, Lord, I pray that you'd be with all of the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. I pray that you wrap your arms around them and show them with so much love and give them peace in knowing that you're in complete control. Lord, I pray that justice is served for each and every single one of these families. And also for just the way that things are going in this world. Lord, we need justice right now, and we all need to learn to have a heart like Jesus. I pray that we as a nation come together and stand up for what is right, that we don't show hate towards each other, that all the violence stops, and we just come together, love one another, stand up for what is right, for basic human rights, that we all show love to each other, and help one another to the best of our abilities. In Jesus' name, Amen.
I love you guys so much. And I'm so appreciative of every single person that's reading this right now.
Today I am going over love, light, judgment, and what it means to have a heart like Jesus. I'm going to pair it with some scripture from the book of John.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him, all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world." -John 1: 1-9
If you haven't guessed already, the light of the world is Jesus Christ. Now before I continue further, I just wanted to say that if you haven't read the book of John, or it's been a while, or you haven't really studied it and really soaked in all of the words, I would highly recommend that you read it this week and really just take out the time to study it and soak in all of the words.
Now I'm going to write a couple of different scriptures pertaining to how Jesus is the light of the world. The first one says:
"This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been through God." -John 3: 19-21
Okay. I'm just going to stop right there for a minute because there has been a lot of evil in this world lately. Actually, there's been a lot of evil in this world for generations. This world has been a very dark place and we have to come into the light. We as Christians, we, as the church, have to guide others to the light, let them know about Jesus Christ, how he saves, and how he died on the cross to forgive us of our sins.
We have to learn to have a heart like Jesus and love every single person. All of this hate in the world today, all the hate that has been going on for years and years, and the judgment of judging people by the color of their skin and their culture, is just ridiculous. I'm going to be getting into judgment, love, and all of that in a minute, but we have to come into the light. We have to guide people into the light and let them know that Jesus is the light of the world.
Another scripture in the book of John about light is:
"I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness. As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it."
-John 12: 46-47
I'm just going to go straight into judgment from here because it goes hand in hand with these verses. The first scripture I'm going to discuss is:
"For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man."
-John 5: 26-27
So if God, the Father gave the authority to Jesus, the Son, to judge, then he has every right to. But we see here in the scripture in verses 46-47 of chapter 12 of John, that in verse 47, he says "as for the person who hears my words but does not keep I do not judge him for, I did not come to judge the world, but to save it." So if Jesus had the authority to judge, but instead he wanted to save the world and not pass judgment, who are we as mere humans in this world to judge others?
The next verse about Judgement is:
"By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me."
-John 5:30
So in everything that Jesus did, he did it to please the Lord. He didn't come to pass judgment on people and spread hate, even though he had the authority to judge people, he came to spread love, performed these miraculous signs, and he died on the cross to forgive us of our sins so that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
The Bible doesn't say that only a specific race that believes in him shall have eternal life, It says "whoever believes in him shall have eternal life." Not one person in this world is better than another because of their skin color, their culture, their finances, their job, or anything for that matter. We are all, we should all be equal. If we believe in God, if we believe in Jesus Christ, we will not perish, but have eternal life.
We as Christians, we as the church, should be focusing on loving every single person and getting every single person that we know to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and to have a relationship with God and to know about Jesus and what he did for us. We should not be judging anyone, because who are we to judge? We should be living our life to please God, to please the Lord almighty by spreading love, light, the gospel, and the truth of God's word to every single person that we come across.
Another scripture about judgment is:
"You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are right, because I'm not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own law It is written that the testimony of two men is valid. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me."
-John 8: 15-18
In the verses before the ones above, Jesus was in the Mount of Olives at the temple courts and the teachers of the law and Pharisees brought a woman that was caught in adultery and they made this woman stand before the group. They said to Jesus:
"'Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?' They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up to them and said, 'if anyone of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.' Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and he asked her, 'Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'no one, sir.' 'Then neither do I condemn you,' Jesus declared. 'Go now and leave your life of sin.'" -John 8: 4-11
I say these verses because, in the world today a lot of people are trying to cast stones on each other and saying, "well, these people are doing this" or "this person's doing that." Have you lived a life without sin? If you haven't, then you should not be trying to cast stones on anyone or trying to judge anyone else for anything that they've done. It's not your place to judge. It's not my place to judge. God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is the only one that has a right to judge.
Now I'm going to talk about love. All throughout the book of John, Jesus Christ is showing so much love to everyone and performing miracles. He even dies on the cross for our sins, willingly, because the Father sent him to forgive the world, to save the world, that whoever believes on him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Here is a scripture about love:
"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last. Then the Father will give whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other." -John 15: 9-17
So this is what Jesus is saying to his disciples. His command is that they love each other. We as Christians, as the church, as disciples of Jesus Christ, we should also love each other as Jesus has loved us. He gave up his life for us. He died on the cross for our sins to forgive us and there's no greater love than that.
In chapter 17 of John, Jesus prays because he knows that the time has come for him to be crucified. He prays for himself and his disciples, but what I want to read, is in chapter 17: 20-26, and it's where Jesus prays for all the believers. He says:
"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me, through their message, that all of them may be one, Father just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one. I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." -John 17: 20-26
If this prayer right here does not speak on the character of Jesus, how humble he is, and the love that he has for all of us, for all believers, then I don't know what does.
So what does it mean to have a heart like Jesus?
A heart like Jesus is a heart that is full of compassion, love, grace, mercy, and righteousness. A heart that seeks to please the Lord. That wants to save the world and not condemn the world, not to judge, but to save. A heart that serves God, that wants everyone to know about God, be able to see the glory of God, and be able to, when is their time to go, to go to heaven and see God's glory. And a heart that helps others. So that's what it means to have a heart like Jesus.
We, as Christians should all seek to have a heart like Jesus, to love each other, be compassionate, not judge, let as many people as we can know about Jesus Christ, and how amazing he is, to help them have a relationship with him and be saved so that when it's their time to go, they will go to heaven and see his glory.
So let's make a decision right now, to strive to have a heart like Jesus, and to stop all of this hate, all of this judgment, and love one another.
If you have really been struggling with judging others, really accepting others, and loving others, then you need to pray as much as you can, as hard as you can, for God to soften your heart to others and open up your mind, your heart, your body, and your spirit to him, and pray that he gives you compassion, mercy, grace, and love.
We also need to stand up for what is right, for basic human rights, and not just sit idly by and let things that we know are not okay happen. Violence is not the answer, but just by speaking up, speaking the truth on what is right, and what is just, standing our ground, coming together, loving one another, being there for each other, helping one another, and really trying to make a change in this world; that's what we should all be doing right now and continue to do.
I love you guys so much.
I'm gonna end this with a prayer. So if you would please just close your eyes and pray with me, Lord, I pray that you be with every single person in this world. Lord, I pray that you open up their heart, their eyes, their mind, their body, their spirit to you Lord. I pray that justice is served. I pray that you wrap your arms around each and every single one of us, shower us with love, soften our hearts to every single person in this world and that you give us a heart like Jesus. I pray that we live to serve you, to spread the gospel, let every single person know about you, be saved by you, and seek your glory. I pray that you give us guidance, direction, knowledge, and understanding to be able to make an impact in the lives of others. Use us as a vessel for your work Lord and work through us to make an impact. We love you so much. In Jesus' name. Amen.
Never forget to choose faith over fear.
-Lorena Camille (Faith Fuels My Fire)
p.s. If you'd rather listen to Faith-based, business, mindset, and mental health tips, then check out my podcast. There I will share my personal experiences, stories I've never told before, and bring you along this hot mess life of mine. New episodes every week.
For past Bible Studies of Jeremiah (1-15), check out my YouTube Channel.
For weekly Bible Studies, tune in each week to my podcast. Each week, I go over a new chapter/s of the Book of Jeremiah.
You can also follow me on Instagram (_lorenacamille_) I'll be posting frequently and doing daily stories.
Want to be apart of a community of Christian women coming together, supporting, motivating, inspiring, and loving each other? Join our Facebook Community
Comments