Refine your motives for praying, work, education, ministry, business, and everything else you do in your life. Check the primary thing that inspires you for what you’re doing. Is it simply to get money for yourself or to get money to support yourself, your family and the ministry? God weighs our motives (Proverbs 16:2 NIV) for whatever we’re doing, and He’ll judge them too. You can deceive man by hiding your intentions, but not God.
Offences will come between people who dwell in love. And when it’s one-time, it can and should be forgiven and overlooked with a conscious decision. Nevertheless, when such an act becomes repetitive, it doesn’t only require forgiveness but also open rebuke. Why? Because if that person doesn’t get confronted with his fault, he will keep doing it and think nothing is wrong with his attitude.
Proverbs 12:1 says that it’s only a stupid person that hates correction. Yes, it’s sometimes uncomfortable to get rebuked. But if you’ll look at how God will use those situations to refine your character, you’ll unimaginably experience spiritual transformation.
You may be well trained in church to live a godly life. But what about your personal fellowship with Jesus? How is your love for Him like today? Have you forsaken your first love — the Lord Jesus, who saved you and gave you eternal life? Think about this.
If you’re a leader, note that there’ll be times at least one of your team members will tell you that he disagrees with your ways of doing things. Sometimes, it’s good to listen, probably because you don’t know everything. Other times, you have to explain your actions in order to teach them the vision behind what you are doing.
God’s love is patient. To express it, you’ll not get everything you want; because you’ll consider other people’s interests in your decisions. You’re only required to reject people’s opinions when their thoughts aren’t in synchrony with what God has told you to do.
Humans are more valuable than things. Giving something out to see a need met won’t kill you. You may be uncomfortable doing it. But if that uneasy feeling doesn’t really come out of spiritual discernment, give.
What do you do with your money? Do you spend as if there’s no tomorrow so as to save today? Many people end up in debt not because they don’t have money but because they’ve not learnt how to steward their funds as God directed us to do in the scriptures. The Bible teaches about savings and multiple investments (Ecclesiastes 11:1, Proverbs 21:20). So God isn’t silent on how we must use our finances. What do you know?
Don’t carry bad intentions about your fellow brother in Christ, and claim to love him wholeheartedly. If you do, it’s not love but rather hypocrisy. Love people as Christ love them.
God is love and wants every part of your life to express Christ. His Word is your life manual. Treasure it. Read. Study and meditate upon it. You’ll see that it’ll be easy for the Holy Spirit to remind you (give you rhēma) anytime you need the Word to choose what you have to do.
God says He’ll reward you if you feed your enemy (Proverbs 25:21-22) Identify people who may not necessarily be your “known” enemy but have probably done something wrong to you before and are not changing. Get something nice, a gift or so, to give the person out of love.
We pursue righteousness by living God’s righteousness in us, where we’ll have zero tolerance for every wrongdoing. Also, we pursue love by continuing in its expression through giving every day without expecting a return.
