Bible Verse Friday #9

"Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.  For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, can not love God, whom they have not seen.  And he has given us this command:  Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister".  1 John 4:20-21

Wow.
Such strong words.
An even stronger command.
When I read this I don't think of brother and sister as blood related only.
I think of brothers and sisters in Christ too.
Our fellow man and woman.
We are commanded to love them.

That is heavy.
I was brought up to never say the word "hate".
I was told that saying "hate" was the same as wishing someone dead.
Whether or not that is true is irrelevant.
But it did teach me to never "hate" people....although I think I replaced hate with "dislike immensely".
I don't know if that is any better.

How often does someone rub us the wrong way and we let it fester?
How often do we allow our angry feelings to brew?
God says, "no no no, you must love, for if you don't then you must not love me".
The Bible says the word LOVE approximately 311 times!
It says HATE approximately 235 times.

"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength". Deuteronomy 6:5

"So be careful to love the LORD your God".  Joshua 23:11

I am guilty of allowing feelings of anger fester in me.
I am guilty of "disliking immensely" people who have hurt me.
It seems impossible to love everyone all of the time.
I wonder if God means for us to love everyone the same way we love our family...there are different levels of love.
Obviously, I can't be friends with everyone I meet, but I guess what I can do is be cordial and friendly!
I want God's love to radiate out of me, I want people to be blessed.

I am taking I Am Momma-Hear Me Roar's Wake Up Wednesday Challenge.
Check it out, try it on yourself, and see how you feel next week!
Leave either of us a comment if you decide to try this out for yourself!

Be Blessed This Friday!

P.S. 2 postings in one day means that I forgot to post what I wrote yesterday! Haha!