"Encourage each other daily, while it is still today." -Hebrews 3:13

Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Inspired to Love


Photo credit:  Free-images.com


Think of a time, maybe when you were in school, when you felt inadequate or unacceptable to some degree. Maybe you had made a mistake and were ridiculed for it. And then, someone – maybe a teacher or a coach – said a kind word to you that made you feel forgiven and accepted, and not condemned. This kindness inspired you to try harder or to make amends for your mistake.  


That teacher or coach was imitating Christ, whether they intended to or not. By offering kindness to you, by not berating you for whatever you had done, and by inspiring you to do better, they did for you what Christ has done, and still does, for so many.


In Jesus’ day, the rabbis and religious leaders looked with contempt on those who were not as ‘blessed’ or ‘holy’ as they thought themselves to be. Whereas these leaders associated only with people like themselves, Jesus hung around with everyone else, including tax collectors and ‘sinners.’ Regardless of their past transgressions, He showed them that they were worthy of His love. He welcomed them and offered them acceptance and love. He gave them dignity. He didn’t accept them so that they could justify their sinful behavior; He loved them so much that they were inspired to abandon their hurtful ways and do their best to live the way of love He was teaching.


We are all loved by God; we’re also sinners. We all make choices – in our thoughts and in our words, in what we do or fail to do – that hurt ourselves or others, or that put a wedge in our relationship with God. Christ came to show us not only that He doesn’t condemn us, but that His way is the better way. He challenges us to ask His forgiveness and then abandon whatever it is that is unloving. He invites us to trust Him that we’ll be happier if we do our best to imitate Him. Part of being a mature Christian is acknowledging our need for God’s mercy and grace to strengthen us against the temptation to sin. We need Him, the Physician, to heal and empower us. 


No matter what we’ve done, Christ welcomes us to Himself. When we believe His promise that we’re worthy of His love and forgiveness, we’ll be strengthened to abandon our old, hurtful ways and follow His way instead. We turn to Him for forgiveness, and then separate ourselves from whatever or whoever has caused us to sin. Confident in His love, we more readily offer kindness and compassion to others so that they, too, become inspired to love and live His way. This is how we build the Kingdom of God.


“Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.” – Mark 2:17


“Lord, thank You for loving, forgiving, and empowering me.”



Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 


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P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.




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