The people in your life

Today has been focused, for me at least, on people that are put in my life. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. Are my friends there by coincidence, or is there some bigger purpose to it? Even the people that are constantly in my life that I don't necessarily get along with; why are they still here?

At first I just assume God has a funny sense of humor. But you know what happens when you assume wrongly. So I looked at it again. And this is what I found:

John 13:34--A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

And this:

Phillipians 2:1-4--If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than youselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

This is a theme for my week: love and humility. I am a disciple of Christ--I do my best to follow his commands and live as he did, which was, and still is, in love and humility. He loved every single person he came in contact with, from the "disciple whom Jesus loved" (John) to the blind beggar on the side of the street, to the Pharisees in the temples that wanted him arrested. And to top it all off, he humbled himself with all of them. He allowed himself to become nothing, even as he was essentially EVERYTHING, to fall under arrest at the arms of the Pharisees, to fall to his knees and wash the feet of the very disciples that followed him.

So, in order to keep in order with the role of a disciple, I need to take on this sackcloth, as it were, of humility and deep unconditional love, and I need to be living every moment I can loving everyone as Jesus himself loved me, and giving to everyone I can, looking at others as better than myself, and giving to them as if they more-than-deserve that title. This means making time, no matter what I would rather do, to be there for someone else, to find any way I can to affect their lives and build them up as God wants me to. This means not getting into the incessant arguments that I'm prone to get in, but rather loving someone to death to silence the conflict.

And since I'm not the only seeing this blog, I extend the challenge to you: What are you going to do this week to show yourself loving and humble? What parts of your life could you change or tweak to go that extra step to build someone else up?

Remember: "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." --John 8:31-32

I love you all!!!