Just a reminder my friends that God’s gift of salvation was just that – a gift. You did not earn it. You didn’t deserve it. It was given freely to you because God is good. Because God loved you when you were unlovable. God accepted you when you were unacceptable. God pronounced you righteous when you were unrighteous. God is faithful even when we aren’t.

Let us extend that same grace to those in our sphere of influence. Let us love those who are difficult, accept those with whom we disagree, let us see the unrighteous not as they are but as God has called them to be. Let us be true to the teachings of Jesus no matter how difficult it is.

We are called to extend grace and love the foolish, the disobedient, and those who are just wrong. (Sounds like class I taught once.) We are called to show kindness to those who are malicious, jealous, hateful and addicted. Why? Because all of us at one time, exhibited one or more of these behaviors and God continued to love us. He continued to forgive us. He continued to show mercy toward us. He continued to give us grace.

Let’s go into the world today and literally, “Love the ‘hell’ out of people.” Because that is what Jesus did. He demonstrated His love by dying on the cross, defeating death and hell so that we could be saved. He loved the ‘hell’ right out of us. Then He commissioned us to go and do the same.

“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, and wrong. We were slaves to passions and pleasures of all kinds. We spent our lives in malice and envy; others hated us and we hated them. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior was revealed, he saved us. It was not because of any good deeds that we ourselves had done, but because of his own mercy that he saved us, through the Holy Spirit, who gives us new birth and new life by washing us. God poured out the Holy Spirit abundantly on us through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that by his grace we might be put right with God and come into possession of the eternal life we hope for.”
‭‭Titus‬ ‭3:3-7‬ ‭GNTD‬‬
http://bible.com/69/tit.3.3-7.gntd