Devotional Guide, Today’s Reading – Thursday, June 16, 2022

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Theme: BE YE ALL OF ONE MIND

Text: “Forbearing one another, forgiving one another, if any have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.  And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” – Colossians 3: 13, 14.

Comment: A Christian virtue that we must have to enable us serve others is love.  This is the mind to do the Lord’s will and to see to the solace and succour of others without looking for reward.  Jesus Christ wants us to love God Almighty with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And secondly to love our neighbour as ourselves because there is no other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:29-31; John 13:35) Stressing the essence of love for ourselves, the Bible says that a man cannot claim to love God whom he has not seen and hate his brother he has seen (1 John 4:20, 21).  The danger in this is that if we strive to practice God’s righteousness and we harbour hatred and malice in our hearts our worship to God will be in vain.

The case of the Samaritan is a striking example as recorded in Luke 10:25-35.  The rule of doing to others as we want them to do to us is another way of stating the divine rule of loving our neighbour as ourselves.  Apostle James called this, the “Royal Law” in James 2:8.  See also Matthew 7:12.

One who has regard for the wellbeing of his neighbour or fellow man will not do anything to hurt him/her; that is why we should “Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8).  See also Galatians 5:14; Colossians 3:12-14.