“And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.” — 2 Peter 1:7.
Sometimes it’s easy to take the people we love for granted. We neglect to say thank you, I’m sorry, I love you, I care, or I appreciate you. We neglect to express simple acts of kindness, love, and appreciation. As Christians we should always be quick to show appreciation in word and deed.
The problem is, we often think about doing something but then don’t do it. We think about calling someone, we think about e-mailing someone, we think about lending someone a helping hand or taking someone to lunch. But it never goes further than a thought. When we don’t put the thoughts of kindness into action, we fail to show appreciation.
God wants us to always be thankful, be kind, be loving, and show our appreciation to people who have done nice things for us or showed us that they care. “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10).
Sometimes we’re good at remembering birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, but we do nothing special for the ones we love in between those times. Worse than that is if we don’t remember the significant events in the life of someone we say we love. When we truly love, we should care. And when we care, we should share. Maybe you don’t have the money to buy a big or expensive gift, but a simple phone call, card, or e-card to someone may be worth a thousand dollars to that person.
You don’t have to wait until it’s a special day. Every day is special because each day is a day that God has made. Just give a little note to say I care, I love you, I was thinking about you, I appreciate you, or I thank you for being you. Offer a lunch date or a dinner invitation just to express your love and appreciation to someone. Send a bouquet of flowers, or better yet, pick a fresh bouquet. When you know people you know what they like; you know what would mean a lot to them. Don’t neglect to show love and appreciation to the ones you love.
Some parents never see their grown children, although they live in the same island or state or not too far away. Some have money and when these same children have financial needs they find their parents. This is so sad. Some parents have signed over all their assets to their children, and then the children put them in nursing homes and they never see them again. Many mothers and fathers are grieving, not knowing where their children are or even if they’re alive. Yet, if they were to die, the same children would come crying and bringing flowers–flowers the parents would really have appreciated while they were alive. We need to show love and appreciation to our parents, friends, and loved ones.
Selfishness is not of God. We should not be always wanting to receive and not willing to give. God loves a cheerful giver. When we show love and appreciation, it should not be out of obligation; it should come from the heart. Some people just give for a show. They give so that people see what they did and then they tell the whole world what they did and what they gave. But God says it’s when we give in secret that He will openly reward us. We should never give because we want to be recognized or so that others will be eternally in debt to us. Our giving should not be a tool of manipulation or control.
This type of giving shows neither godly love nor appreciation. We should give from our hearts. Maybe the people you’re showing appreciation to did not show appreciation to you when you last blessed them. That doesn’t matter, we are not to be like other people; Christ is our perfect example.
To be continued in Friday’s devotional.
Beautiful. Thanks.
Repent before your time is over.
“And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness add charity”. My New King James Version says “add Love”. And indeed, Love is a more profound word than charity; the reason I always write the word with a capital L; for to me writing the word Love, when it takes the gender of a noun, is the same as writing the word God, for God is indeed, Eternal Spirit, who has the outstanding character Love, in the person of Jesus Christ.
I am not writing this to disagree with the writer of this article, I am writing to enhance his idea. The writing has encouraged its readers to strive to become like Jesus, by allowing the opening of their minds to the concept of sharing, caring, and expressing human affection, compassion, forgiveness, and consideration.
Yes, that is what charity is all about and that is the reason the newer English versions of the Holy Bible has changed the word, charity into the word Love. That is also the reason why Apostle Peter, as he teaches us how we can maintain a fruitful growth in faith, teaches us that the stature of growth begins with virtue, into knowledge, into self-control, into perseverance, into godliness, into brotherly kindness, and into Love. In other words we must plant those stature into the ground of Love, that they might bring forth the attitude and conducts of Life; and Life is the state of Love, founded by faith, which can only be demonstrated in Spirit and truth.
Hence, we do not go out of our way to conduct ourselves or to express attitudes, because we want people to know we are godly people. Our human mind is bound to demonstrate an embarrassing flaw; for this mind can only accept, process, and produce what the flesh has fed to it. And yes, as human beings we will demonstrate the conducts and attitude of flesh and blood. We may not be able to avoid our demonstration of flesh and blood, but we can acknowledge our frailty, our weakness, our need for the strength which is from God, and we will recieve Spiritual revival. Notice above, that self-control is an asset of Life, which is demonstrated in Spirit and Truth.
God demonstrates Himself in us and through us by the power, guidance, and authority of His Holy Spirit, that the world might see Him–His character of Love in Jesus Christ through us. It is not our fault if people are spiritually blind, deaf, or if they refuse to allow the opening of their spiritual mind; our responsibility is to trust and obey the commands of God’s Holy Spirit, which manifest in our minds through our channel of faith and from the feeding of our conscience.
All of the time God wants to cause the spiritually blind and deaf to see and to hear; but most importantly, He wants the dead soul to come alive, as He does His work through us. And believe it or not, the dead soul is in all our walks of existence–in our immediate family, our church family, our workplace, our social gathering, on the beach, at the market place, you name the place and they are there.
That is what faith in God is all about–allowing Him to do His work in us and through us, not us, forcing ourselves to do good things for Him. God wants to redeem the dead soul, but He needs a sanctified, humble, and obedient body with the voice of Love, to use for His work. We are to present our bodies, our hearts, and our minds to God as a living sacrifice for the purpose of His work of salvation in us and through us.
The writer said that “our giving should be a tool of manipulation or control”. He is saying that we simply practice to love without knowing that we are loving. That is the way God does His work in us and through us, as His Holy Spirit guides and control us. That is the only way we demonstrate His glory of Love, not by our human strength. In other words we take no credit and honor for the good things we do, regardless of what we do or for whom we do the thing.
At 1st. Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul tells us that we share, care, and express all the human affection that our emotions can produce; but we can do these things without Love, and without Love our good works is still vanity; for they do glorify Love, which is of God.
Let us take heed of the writers encouragement, but most of all, let us remember that our good works is the expression of faith, the faith that brings us Life, the Life that demonstrates the attitude and conducts of Love, for Love is Life in Spirit and in Truth.
Well said…God bless you
Correction
*the writer said, our giving should NOT be a tool of manipulation or control…
Beautifully said. Thank you for reminding us of the importance of sharing, loving and thanking others at all times!
I love this. Thank you for sharing