Paul was a wise and powerful church leader. His life was a wonderful reflection of Christ. His message was "that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith." As a servant of Christ these things should be equally important for all of us.
Whenever we speak, those we're speaking to should be filled with love.
Love is something that will last for all eternity and so our message should always contain an element of the love of Christ. What are the words we're speaking? Are we always tearing each other down or are we building each other up? Our words should contain love and be absent of all evil motivation. Jesus said in John 13:35 (NLT), "Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples." This takes in to account our words. Let your words be filled with love.
Our message must come from a pure heart.
My pastor Garris Elkins always says, "Speak the truth in love." The truth spoken without love can be a very damaging and destructive thing. Most people know it when they aren't living a life that honors God. They don't need someone to point a finger at them, they need a brother or sister to come alongside them with love in their heart ready to deal with whatever it is that isn't quite right in their life. Speak with love that comes from a pure heart.Paul was addressing people in the church who had deliberately ignored what was right and wrong. They knew what was right, they knew how they should be living, but they chose what was wrong. They pretended it was right and that there would be no consequences for their wrong living. It is important that as followers of Christ we do what is right and keep a clear conscience.
We must have genuine faith.
It wasn't that long ago when my faith wasn't very genuine at all. I did and said all the right things in church but that was the extent of my faith. We can do this for a while but there comes a time when we must choose to either live a life devoted to God or live a life devoted to ourselves and our selfish desires. Our faith must be genuine, it has to be real. Otherwise, when testing comes, when life gets hard, we will fall and break. Our faith has to be real to have any impact on the world around us.If we are going to live like Jesus we must speak with love from a pure heart, have a clear conscience and genuine faith that is rooted in Jesus. This is my prayer for myself and my prayer for you. That we would be filled with the love of the Father and that we would give out every blessing that He pours out on us. Let it be in Jesus name. Amen.
