Love Is Everything

May 22

"Do your best to improve your faith. You can do this by adding goodness, understanding, self-control, patience, devotion to God, concern for others, and love." 2 Peter 1:5-7

LOVE IS EVERYTHING

Life is for learning love, not for sensual pleasure or for accumulating riches or fame; not for building great manufacturing, commercial, or military empires or political power. It is not for exploration, travel or conquest of outer space. It is not for learning science, history, economics, philosophy or even theology; not for delivering great orations, preaching great sermons or holding immense religious campaigns, not for the building of great institutions, such as hospitals, churches, schools, and colleges; not for publishing books, magazines or other periodicals. All of these are of value only as they grow out of or contribute to the learning or expression of God's love. -- Paul Billhiemer

Today's good word puts me in the mind of the words of the Lord when He said, "And they will come to Me saying, 'Didn't I do miracles in Your name, didn't I cast out demons in Your name, didn't I witness to the lost in Your name? And I will say to them, 'Get thee from Me; I never knew you,'" Matthew 7:22. How sure we are of our right standing with the Lord, yet we have missed His whole point—of doing all things out of our deep devotion to Him.

Nothing else counts. We can spend ourselves in the behalf of every good cause that crosses our awareness, but though we give them everything we have—our energy, our research, our treasure, our heartfelt concern—we are wasting our resources if we are doing it for ourselves, for our aggrandizement and acclaim before men rather than "as unto the Lord," Colossians 3:23. May the Holy One see our hearts and help us to see them so we can conform what resides in the deep place of our self-hood to His holiness.

It is my fervent prayer that all that you do and all that you are reflect and glorify the Christ whom you love. May His presence and power in you enable everything about you to shout "Halleluiah" to His holy name.