CAN WE CONTINUE IN SIN?

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” Romans 6:1-2

“A Christian has died to sin! Sin has no control over a corpse. Temptation can present itself enticingly and persistently, yet a corpse will not succumb! Before you were a Christian you were keenly susceptible to sin. Sin held you in its grip. When you became a Christian, your old self died (Galatians 2:20). Sin now has no more control over you than temptation has over a corpse. You can still sin, but you are no longer in sin’s power. If you choose to succumb to temptation, you are rejecting the freedom from sin that Christ gained for you by His death.

God’s grace is a further motivation for us to resist sin. It was God’s grace that enabled Jesus to endure mocking, beating, and crucifixion at the hands of those who He had come to save. It was grace that led God to forgive our sin DESPITE our rebellion against Him. It is this same grace that God expresses towards us each time we sin against Him. Knowing this grace, we cannot continue to practice sin (Romans 6:1-2). We cannot presume upon God’s forgiveness by committing further offenses.

You are no longer the helpless victim of your sin. The VICTORY has already been won. God does not have to win a victory over your sin; He already has! You need only to apply HIS victory to each area of your life. If there is a sinful habit, an ungodly attitude, or an unrighteous relationship that you need to put to death, claim the victory of Christ’s resurrection today. Then you will be free to experience the abundant life that God intends for you.” — EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY — The Devotional by Dr. Henry Blackaby — published by our friends at Broadman Holman.

Good words to ponder again and again.

Great quote: “Our first point about adoption is that it is the highest privilege that the gospel offers: higher than justification…that justification, by which we mean God’s forgiveness of the past together with His acceptance for the future, is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel is not the question…but this is not to say that justification is the highest blessing of the gospel. Adoption is higher, because of the richer relationship with God that it involves…Justification is a forensic idea, conceived in terms of law, viewing God as judge…justification does not of itself imply any intimate or deep relationship with God the judge…but Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into His family and fellowship, and establishes us as His children and heirs…to be right with God the judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the father is a greater blessing.” J I Packer, Knowing God.

THE EXUBERANT OMNIPOTENCE OF GOD . . . REASSERTING GOD’S RIGHTFUL PLACE IN ALL OF LIFE

Today’s Freedom Fighter comes from the writings of one of my favorite authors, Dr. John Piper.

“Where is God in your daily newspaper or in your talk radio show or the network TV programming or TIME or NEWSWEEK or the theater or the public school classroom? God is the most important reality in the universe. But he is almost totally ignored. And if not, he is as likely belittled as reverenced. Yet he is the most crucial factor in every issue facing the nation. There would simply be no nation without God. But he is regarded by our cultural leaders in almost all they do. Disregard for God is the greatest evil in the West today. It is as though an ant on his anthill should disbelieve in the earth.

If the church is going to reassert God’s rightful place in the soul of a man and the center of all life, we will need a sharpened focus of who HE is and what HE is like/ One of the reasons our witness to God’s reality is minimal is that our UNDERSTANDING of God’s reality is minimal. In the name of quick and relevant impact we minimize the very greatness that would he his renown. Without this, we will not boldly and graciously assert his rightful place in all of life.

What we need is a big picture of a great God who is utterly committed to joyfully demonstrating his greatness is doing us good. That is, we need to see the MAJESTY of God and know the SPLENDOR of God overflowing toward us with exuberant omnipotence. It is not enough to believe that God is big and strong and fearsome — which he is. We must experience this magnificence as the explosion of God’s uncontainable zeal to satisfy his creatures by showing them himself.

We need a vision of the God that Jonathan Edwards had already at the age of twenty when he preached a sermon titled ‘Nothing Upon Earth Can Represent the Glories of Heaven.’ He revealed in the God of this sermon so much that he preached the same message in at least six towns outside his own parish of Bolton.

The ‘doctrine’ of the sermon he stated like this: ‘The godly are designed for unknown and inconceivable happiness.’ This he discerns from the purpose of God to glorify himself in creating the world and from his conviction that ‘this glory of God, [consists] in the creature’s admiring and rejoicing [and] exulting in the manifestation of his beauty and Excellency. For God has not glory actively from those that beheld his glory and take no pleasure in it; but the essence of [the] glorifying of God consists, therefore, in the creature’s rejoicing in God’s manifestations of his beauty, which is the joy and happiness we speak of.’ In other words, the CERTAINTY and Greatness of the happiness of God’s people is as sure as God’s zeal for his own glory.

This is the vision we need. And we would do well to meditate on some of the great texts that capture the wonder of God’s exuberant omnipotence in doing good to those who hope in him:

Zephaniah 3:17-18
Jeremiah 32:40-41
2 Chronicles 16:9
Deuteronomy 30:9
Psalm 149:4
Psalm 147:10-11
Psalm 35:27
Philippians 4:19
Ephesians 2:7
Isaiah 62:4-5

God’s omnipotent exuberance to do us good is one of the most freeing discoveries a human can make. Oh, that we might believe it and savor it and bring it to mind again and again until it is our very nature to feel the truth that ‘the godly are designed for unknown and inconceivable happiness.’ Unremitting confidence in this truth would surely transform our attitudes and keep is steady in the face of great adversity.” from TASTE AND SEE … Savoring the Supremacy of God in All of Life by Dr. John Piper, published by our good friends at Multnomah.

Take some time today to look up the verses and meditate on the truth contained in them. Have a great day!

Great quote: Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God. Jim Elliot

SECRET DUTIES — OPEN REWARDS

Matthew 6:6 — ” . . . And Your Father, which sees in secret, shall reward you openly . . . “

I have been laboring through a wonderful book about prayer written by Puritan preacher Thomas Brooks. It is a labor because there is so much meat to chew, but it has been so helpful. God loves it when His kids pray in secret. Around the world there are men and women who do not have the freedom to pray openly because if they did, they would be persecuted or even killed for their faith.

Thomas Brooks writes that “God, in the great day, will recompense his people before all the world, for every secret prayer, and every secret tear, and secret sigh, and secret groan that has come from his people. God, in that great day, will declare to men and angels, how often his people have been pouring out their souls before him in such and such holes, corners and secret places; and accordingly he will reward them.”

He goes on to say, “Ah, Christians! Did you really believe this, and seriously dwell on this, you would:
1. Walk more thankfully.
2. Work more cheerfully.
3. Suffer more patiently.
4. Fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil, more courageously.
5. Lay out yourselves for God, his interest and glory, more freely.
6. Live with what providence has cut out for your portion, more quietly and contentedly. And,
7. You would be in private prayer more frequently, more abundantly.

Good words to ponder as we begin this new week. Join is this week on KESWICK TODAY as Colony grad, Chris Hughes and his wife, Kathy, share what God did in their lives through the ministry of the Colony of Mercy. If you cannot get the broadcast in your area, you can listen right from our website: http://www.americaskeswick.org.

GIVE ME THIS MOUNTAIN

“Now therefore, GIVE ME THIS MOUNTAIN of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.” Joshua 14:12

There are time when we face what seem to be insurmountable obstacles in our lives. It is during these times that we rely on God to give us the courage to face those obstacles and trust Him to see us through.

Several years ago, God renewed our vision to begin a residential program for women similar to what we have been doing for men for the past 108 years. We have been taking baby steps to move forward, and Lord willing, in the next few weeks, we will be standing in front of the mountain as we submit a proposal to two major players to seek approvals to move forward.

Humanly speaking, it is a bit intimidating standing at the foot of the mountain. But with God all things are possible. Dr. Henry Blackaby in says this about asking for mountains: “Caleb’s faith in God never wavered, though everyone around him doubted. God convinced Caleb that the children of Israel should enter the Promised Land, but the people were intimidated by GIANTS and FORTIFIED CITIES (Numbers 13:28-22). Their disbelief forced Caleb to wait forty years in the wilderness before he finally entered the Promised Land. Even after all those years, Caleb was as confident as ever in GOD’S POWER!

When God was dividing the land among the Israelites, the people were asking for the lush valleys and grassy plains. Caleb asked for a mountain. The Israelites had driven their enemies into the mountains, where they had built fortresses. This did not intimidate Caleb — he asked for a challenge! He did not trust in his own strength but in God’s presence. Caleb longed to see God work power, and he knew he would be less likely to rely on God if he would have to trust God. Caleb KNEW his inheritance from was on a mountain. He refused to allow the difficulty of gaining it to stop him from enjoying all that God had promised him.

If you always choose the easy way, asking for the peaceful valleys, you will never see God’s power displayed to enable you to take a mountain. Seek out the mountains, and you will witness God doing things through your life that can be explained only by HIS mighty presence.” from EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY.

I needed that encouragement today. Trust it will encourage you too!

PLEASING GOD, PLEASING OTHERS

“For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10

I have struggled throughout my life with being a people-pleaser. Dr. Ed Welch wrote a powerful book with the title: WHEN PEOPLE ARE BIG, GOD IS SMALL. Today’s reading by Dr. Henry Blackaby, in his daily devotional EXPERIENCING GOD DAY BY DAY spoke to my heart today.

“At times you will have to make a choice between pleasing GOD and pleasing those around you, for God’s ways are not man’s ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). As important as it is to strive for good relations with others, it is more important to maintain a steadfast and obedient relationship with Christ. Disobeying God to keep peace with other people is never wise. Peace with God is always paramount.

Jesus warned that obeying Him might cause division in your relationships (Matthew 10:35-36). If Paul’s primary goal had been to please others, he would never have become an apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul went completely against the wishes of his colleagues in order to obey Christ. At times, obedience to God sets family members at odds with each other (Matthew 10:35-36). When you follow Jesus’ lordship, your family may misunderstand, or even oppose you, yet your obedience to God reflects your identity as His child. Jesus said that those who obey His will are His brothers and sisters (Luke 8:21). God does not intend to divide the home, but He places obedience before domestic harmony.

It is important to get alone in quietness with God so that you understand what pleases Him. The WORLD’S thinking will mislead you more easily when you are not clear about what God desires. It broke Peter’s heart to know that the opinion of a servant girl had mattered more to him that the approval of His Lord! If the desire to appease others tempts you to compromise what you know GOD wants YOU to do, learn from Peter’s mistake. Determine that you will please the Lord regardless of the opinion of others.”

“The fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord will be kept safe.” Proverbs 29:25

NOTE: The Memorial Service for Dave Shoppy, our Director of Development, will be held on Monday, August 14, 2006 at Bayside Chapel in Barnegat. The service will begin at 2:00 PM.

Great quote: The key to lasting happiness and real pleasure in this world is not found in seeking gratification, but in pleasing God. And while the Lord desires that we enjoy His gifts and the people to whom we are joined, He wants us to know that we were created first for His pleasure.

WIT’S END CORNER

Yesterday I shared with you what the Lord had given me in the morning, the promise that “My grace IS sufficient.” The turned out to be another day of testing and challenges. At one point during the day I felt like I had really reached the limit of what I could handle. It was like I was at my wit’s end. It was in the still small whisper that God spoke to my heart and reminded me that His grace IS sufficient.

This morning in my time with the Lord, the phrase “WIT’S END” showed up. How timely! God knows what we need when we need it. Oswald Chambers said today, “When you come to your wit’s end and feel inclined to panic — don’t! Stand true to God and He will bring out HIS truth in a way that will make your life and expression of worship.”

David in Psalm 107:28 said: “They were at their wits end. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress.” Psalm 107:27-28. I was reminded of a poem that I read in STREAMS IN THE DESERT …

Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner,”
Christian, with troubled brow?
Are you thinking of what is before you,
And all you are bearing now?
Does all the world seem against you,
And you in the battle alone?
Remember — at “Wit’s End Corner”
Is just where God’s power is shown.

Are you standing at “Wits End Corner,’
Blinded with wearying pain,
Feeling you cannot endure it,
You cannot bear the strain,
Bruised through the constant suffering,
Dizzy and dazed, and numb?
Remember at “Wit’s End Corner”
Is where Jesus loves to come/

Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner”
You work before you spread,
All lying begun, unfinished,
And pressing on heart and head.
Longing for strength to do it,
Stretching out trembling hands?
Remember at “Wit’s End Corner”
The Burden-Bearer stands.

Are you standing at “Wit’s End Corner”?
Then you’re just in the very spot
To learn the wondrous resources
Of Him who fails you not:
No doubt to a brighter pathway
Your footsteps will soon be moved,
But only at “Wit’s End Corner”
Is the “God who is able” proved.

Well my friend, are you at Wit’s End Corner? I was yesterday. And God met me at my point of need! His grace WAS sufficient, it will be … and it is!!! Rejoice in that promise today.

WELL DONE, DAVE SHOPPY

Yesterday heaven gained another friend of America’s KESWICK. Dave Shoppy, our Director of Development closed his eyes on this side of heaven and opened them in eternity. From what we can determine, Dave had a massive heart attack and was instantly in the presence of Jesus.

Dave was a faithful servant who was committed to serving His Savior and loving people. He invested most of his life in education and served as Administrator of several Christian schools. During the past several years, Dave ministered to our donors and guests as Director of Development. He was a man that was committed to integrity and excellence. (www.americaskeswick.org)

During the night as I was reflecting on the events of yesterday, the enemy was flooding my mind with all the “what ifs” that he likes to use. A number of our key staff have already been feeling overwhelmed, and the thoughts of now having to add Dave’s responsibilities to the list, well quite honestly, it felt very overwhelming. The Holy Spirit quickly brought to my mind this verse from 2 Corinthians 12:9: “MY grace is sufficient for you.” It immediately brought peace to my aching heart.

As I started by quiet time, I flipped through Streams of the Desert and remembered this devotional from August 5th:

“God was pleased to take my youngest child from this world, under circumstances that caused me severe trials and pain. As I returned home from the church cemetery, having just laid my little one’s body in the grace, I felt a compulsion to preach to my people on the meaning of trials.

I found the verse ‘My grace is sufficient for you’ was the text of next week’s Sunday School lesson, so I chose it as my Master’s message to the congregation, as well as His message to me. Yet while trying to write the sermon, I found that in all honesty, I could not say that the words were true in my life. Therefore I knelt down and asked the Lord to make His grace sufficient for me.

While I was pleading in this way, I opened my eyes and saw this exact verse framed and hanging on the wall. My mother had given it to me a few days before, when I was still on vacation resort where our little child had been taken from us. I had asked someone to hang it on the wall at home during my absence but had not yet noticed its words. Now as I looked up and wiped my eyes, the words met my gaze: ‘My grace IS sufficient for you.’

The word IS was highlighted in bright green, while the words MY and YOU were painted in yet another color. In a moment, a message flashed straight to my soul, coming as a rebuke for having prayed such a prayer as, ‘Lord, make your grace sufficient for me.’ His answer was almost an audible voice that said, ‘How dare you ask for something that IS? I cannot make my grace any more sufficient than I have already made it. Get up and believe it, and you will find it to be true in your life.

The Lord says in the simplest way: ‘My grace IS [not will be or may be] sufficient for you.’ The words MY and YOU were from that moment indelibly written upon my heart. And thankfully, I have been trying to live in the reality of that truth from that day to the present time.

The underlying lesson that came to me through this experience, and that I seek to convey to others is this: NEVER CHANGE GOD’S FACTS INTO HOPES AND PRAYERS BUT SIMPLY ACCEPT THEM AS REALITIES AND YOU WILL FIND THEM TO BE POWERFUL AS YOU BELIEVE THEM!” Webb Peploe as written in STREAMS IN THE DESERT

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendedth more strength when the labors increase;
To added affliction He addeth His mercies,
To multiplied trials His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted OUR store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our horded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

His love has NO limit, His grace has NO measure,
He power NO BOUNDARY known unto men;
For out of HIS infinite riches in JESUS
He giveth and giveth and giveth again. — Annie Johnson Flint

THE TROUBLED HEART

In light of what is happening all around us in the world, I felt that this devotional this morning written many years ago by Susannah Spurgeon was particularly timely:

“Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27

“From whose lips do these tender words fall like ‘rain upon the mown grass?’ Whose heart has such intimate knowledge of my need, and such profound sympathy with my weakness, as thus to meet both with the grace of his exceeding love?

It could be no other than ‘Jesus Christ himself’, my gracious Lord and Master, who thus speaks, and I shall do well to ponder each weighty sentence as I listen to his loving voice.

LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED. Dear Lord, these words of yours, though so sweet, are imperative. They are a command, and should be instantly obeyed. Perhaps I have never before looked upon them in this light, never realized that, in carrying a troubled spirit about within me, I am acting in direct DISOBEDIENCE to your wishes!

‘Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things from Your law.’ Say the words over again to me, dear Lord! Speak ‘as one having authority,’ and, with your gracious command, issue also the mighty power which will enable me to fulfill it. How often must I have grieved you by my want of trust in your tender love and care! How often must you have marveled at my foolishness in attempting to bear burdens which might have been cast at your feet.

LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED. Truly, I hear a grave note of rebuke and disappointment mingling with the music of these sweet words on my Lord’s lips. It may indeed be so, dear Master, for after all that you have done and said, my heart should never be troubled, I ought not to let it be afraid.

And yet how soon does fear overtake the steps of joyful assurance, how quickly do I pass out of the light of your presence into the deep shadow cast by the mountain of my sin!

Lord, help me to reason with myself about this, for a few moments, or rather to say, ‘Come now, and let us reason together,’ for then I know that your infinite love with conclusively silence my fears, and hush all my anxious restlessness of my soul.

WHY should my heart be troubled? Is it on account of the overwhelming sense of sin and unworthiness which sometimes threatens to crush all the spiritual energy out of my life? Then, I have but to turn again to the ‘fountain of the blood,’ and there see all my iniquities pardoned because laid upon the Sin-bearer, all my guilt forgiven because He suffered in my stead.

Can I keep a troubled heart when he died that I might have peace through believing? Can I have trusted HIM with my soul’s salvation, and yet permit myself to doubt whether he has truly saved me?

WHY should my heart be troubled? Is it the things which seem temporal, which are distressing me? The cares of this life, the struggle for daily bread, perhaps, or if not that, the thousands of stresses and disappointments which are the lot of our poor humanity?

Come again to your dear Lord, my soul, and bring to his feet all the perplexes and grieves you; you will surely hear him say, ‘LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED, NEITHER LET IT BE AFRAID; all your sorrows are known to me, and I am guiding and directing ALL that concerns you. Is it more difficult to trust my love in earthly sorrows than for eternal joys?’

WHY should my heart be troubled or afraid? There is nothing on earth or in hell that can harm a soul who believes in Jesus. Every fear is put to flight by his perfect love. Even the fear of death — so great a bondage in some lives — is lifted quite away when ‘God gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’

Blessed Lord, help me to be obedient to your command, and to receive meekly your well-deserved rebuke, glorifying you from know on in my daily life by a restful faith, which NOTHING can disturb or dismay! The soul that on Jesus hath leaned fro repose’, ought never to know trouble or fear.”

Timely words from the pen of Susannah Spurgeon from MORNING DEVOTIONS BY SUSANNAH SPURGEON: Free Grace and Dying Love, published by BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST

Great quote: The right way to pray is to stretch out our hands and ask of One who we know has the heart of a Father.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

THE DETAILS OF EVERY DAY LIFE

Most people have heard the name Charles Haddon Spurgeon, one of the great preachers from England who pastored the Metropolitan Tabernacle. But little is known about his wife, a woman who greatly supported her husband and his work despite physical challenges and difficulties. Mrs. Spurgeon also was committed to helping pastors, missionaries and lay leaders through her book fund.

Today’s Freedom Fighter comes from her writings. It was an encouragement to me today and I share it with you:

“You know my downsitting and my rising up, you understand my thoughts afar off . . . ” Psalm 139:2

“YOU KNOW. Come my soul, here is a test as to your present spiritual condition! Will you apply it? Will you be weighed in the balance of the sanctuary, and see whether or not you are found wanting? Does your Lord’s intimate knowledge of your every thought, and desire, and action, oppress and disconcert you, or are you willing and glad to live under such close inspection, and even to covet the glances of that eye which searches your through and through?

Nothing but ‘full assurance of faith’ in the precious blood shed for you on Calvary can give you this boldness. Happy are you, my soul, if you know that God ‘looks through Jesus’ wounds on you, and through those wonderful ruby windows sees you so changed and beautiful that he can say, ‘You are all fair, my love there is not spot in you.’

MY SITTING DOWN AND MY RISING UP. Lord, do you love me so much as to watch tenderly over me in such small matters? How the thought comforts me! We do not care about the details of everyday life of strangers: but when we love anyone very dearly, we take great interest in all that concerns them; and even so, my God, this searching, knowing, understanding, compassing, besetting, laying of your hand upon me, are all most precious tokens to me of your indescribable love.

How watchful and careful should this knowledge make me! ‘My sitting down and my rising up!’ My home life! My daily duties both of work and of leisure. My going out and my coming in, my conduct and bearing under all circumstances! How these are gathered into the compass of those five words! Lord, help me to walk worthy of you, unto all pleasing!

YOU UNDERSTAND MY THOUGHTS FROM AFAR. What infinite knowledge! Well may the psalmist say, ‘It is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain to it!’ BEFORE I think, God knows my thought! O my soul, are not your thoughts the source of most of your grievous perplexities and sorrows? They are often so unruly and rebellious, sometimes so unholy and profane, that all your efforts to bring them into captivity to the law of Christ are unavailing! Then, see where your help lies.

The God who understands your thoughts ‘from afar” has the power to restrain them; no, more than that; before they reach you, while they are yet distant and unexpressed, he will purify and cleanse them, so that they shall enter your heart as angel whispers, and pass your lips only as words of love and blessing.

Dear Master, I make your servant David’s prayer my very own and say, ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” from MORNING DEVOTIONS BY SUSANNAH SPURGEON — FREE GRACE AND DYING LOVE, published by our good friends at THE BANNER OF TRUTH TRUST.

Great quote: Lord, for tomorrow and its needs, I do not pray; Keep me, my God, from stain of sin just for today. Let me both diligently work, And duly pray. Let me be kind in word and deed, Just for today. Let me be slow to do my will, Prompt to obey; Help me to sacrifice myself Just for today. And if today my tide of life should ebb away, Give me thy sacraments divine, Sweet Lord today. So for tomorrow and its needs I do not pray, But keep me, guide me, love me, Lord, Just for today.
– Augustine

LOVE ‘EM OR LIKE THEM

A number of weeks ago, I asked one of our staff members to step out of their comfort zone and doing something that would stretch them. They looked at me and said, “Right now I don’t like you!” They were joking (I think …) and I responded … “You don’t HAVE to like me — but you gotta love me.”

Our Director of Human Resources shared this quote with me in an email this morning: “God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to know the difference.” I love it.
Jesus reminded the disciples several nights before his death, that the way the world would know that they were his was not because of all the wonderful miracles they would do. It wasn’t about their eloquence or their ability to accomplish great things. The benchmark that would demonstrate that they belonged to Him was this: “by this all men will know your are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:35
What does that kind of love look like? Paul gave us a pretty thorough description in the love chapter — I Corinthians 13:4-7:

Love is patient.
Love is kind.
Love is never jealous or envious.
Love is never boastful or proud.
Love is never haughty, selfish or rude.
Love does not demand its own way.
Love is not irritable or touchy.
Love does not hold grudges.
Love will hardly even notice when others do it wrong.
Love is never glad about injustice.
Love rejoices when the truth wins out.
If you love someone you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost.
If you love someone you will always believe in him, always expect the best of him, and always stand your ground in defending him.

So how are your doing today in this area of your life? Good question to think about today.
We all have friends and love ones who experience grief and hurt. This week on KESWICK TODAY we will talk with author, speaker and KESWICK counselor-in-residence, Marilyn Heavilin about grief and how to handle it. Marilyn is the author of ROSES IN DECEMBER and shares what God taught her through the pain of losing three children. You can listen to the broadcasts right from our website: http://www.americaskeswick.org.