Demonstrating your love- Daily devotional by Pastor E.A Adeboye

BIBLE IN A YEAR: Eph 1-3
DEMONSTRATING YOUR LOVE Monday, March 29, 2010
MEMORIZE: “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience” (Rom 5:3 ) READ: Romans 15:1-3 When Jesus went to see Mary and Martha after the death of their brother Lazarus, He was disappointed. Before doing anything for anyone, He sought for faith in that individual. By the time He met Martha, He told her plainly: “Your brother will rise again”. But Martha deferred that miracle to the day of resurrection. Again the Lord told her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. I can choose to bring him back to life anytime I please’, yet, she could not believe Him. The next thing was that she dodged the issue. Later, when He met her sister, Mary, He saw the same unbelief.  He looked round and saw all of them weeping in unbelief. So He wept. One reason He wept was because He could not find the faith He sought for in them. He wept because all His investments in them for the period He had been with them had not yielded a commensurate result. He wept because they had turned faith to hope. Whenever you approach God without faith, you cause Jesus to weep. Whenever your Christian life does not reflect God’s immense investments in you, the Lord is disappointed and weeps. Whenever you are turning faith into hope, for instance by saying, ‘If I cannot be so blessed to afford a car in my lifetime, at least one of my children will during their time’, you make Jesus weep. Hebrews 11:6 says it is impossible to please God in anything you do except you add a measure of faith in it. Are you making Jesus to weep? On the other hand, He wept because He loved them. Love is more than getting from the other person. It entails transferring another person’s burden to yourself (Rom. 15:1). Genuine love can be demonstrated by bearing the sorrow of the one you love. Anyone Jesus loves is loved to the end except the fellow terminates the love link - severing one’s relationship with the Lord (John 13:1).  He will not leave you nor forsake you. He is ever by your side inspite of the trouble. Troubles don’t scare Him: they tickle Him, preparing Him to demonstrate His Omnipotence and preeminence over all things. Jesus loves you so much. Do you love others? Do you love to the point of being burdened for that backslidden brother? Or, to the extent of praying, fasting and crying for their restoration? How are you demonstrating your love today? ACTION POINT: Look around your church and neighborhood and prayerfully identify three backsliders. Use prayers, visits, encouraging words and other means of support to have them restored.