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Joyce Meyer Devotion & Today's Thought
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Don't Run from Facing the Truth
And the man said, The woman whom You gave to be with me — she gave me [fruit] from the tree, and I ate. . . . And the woman said, The serpent beguiled (cheated, outwitted, and deceived) me, and I ate.
—Genesis 3:12-13
When confronted with their sin in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve blamed each other, God and the devil, thus evading personal responsibility for their actions. In the past, I observed this same kind of scene countless times in my own home between Dave and me. It seemed that we were continually evading the real issues in life, never wanting to face reality. I vividly remember praying for Dave to change. I had been reading my Bible and was seeing more and more of his flaws, and how much he needed to be different! As I prayed, the Lord spoke to me and said, "Joyce, Dave is not the problem . . . you are."
It was a shocking blow to my pride, but it was also the beginning of my recovery in the Lord. Like most people, I blamed everything on someone else or some circumstance beyond my control. I thought I was acting badly because I had been abused, but God told me, "Abuse may be the reason you act this way, but don't let it become an excuse to stay this way!" I don't think there is anything more emotionally painful than facing the truth about ourselves and our behavior. Because it is painful, most people run from it. It is fairly easy to face truth about someone else—but when it comes to facing ourselves, we find it much harder to handle. -----------
Today's Thought
To be able to love people when they are unlovely, you must learn to RECEIVE GOD'S LOVE when you have acted unlovely.
Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others]. —1 Peter 4:8
PETER WAS AN apostle who knew well the meaning of the words, "love covers a multitude of sins." Peter received three specific warnings from Jesus Christ and yet he denied his Lord three times. The memory of each painful failure was etched across his heart with untold grief. Surely he was not worthy of the Lord's kingdom. And yet when Christ arose, His love for Peter was unbroken. His love was as strong as it was tender in restoring the fallen apostle.
The capacity to love those who are unlovely begins with the understanding that God loved you when you were as unlovely as you could possibly be. "But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) died for us" (Romans 5:8). With the love of God poured out in your heart (vs. 5) transforming you disregard the offenses of others.
Devotion & Thought Is Taken From:
Copyright ©1998- 2007 Joyce Meyer Ministries. All rights reserved.
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