Seek the Lord while He may be found.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins. (2 Peter 1: 5-9)

Helping those that we like is usually pretty darn easy. The moments when we are surrounded by those we like do not typically require self-control and perseverance. On the other hand, helping those we disagree with or dislike can be much harder- at least at times.  In fact, I recently heard someone say, “It is easier to love than to like.” 

When I heard that, it made me think of these verses from 2 Peter. In our interactions with others, we can react in many ways, but simply put we often either react with anger or with love. It isn’t always easy to follow the commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.

Having faith is not enough if it does not shape who we are. Faith is not an intellectual exercise. When we bring acts of goodness to our beliefs, we show our understanding that we should share what we have been given. But as we follow the ways of Christ, we are not always comfortable if we do not agree with someone, if we do not like someone, if another person’s actions or beliefs anger us. It takes self-control and perseverance to love all. When we persevere and act in kindness, it brings us closer to God’s love because it is then that we see God’s grace endures in all things. And when we feel God’s love the most clearly, we understand that liking and being comfortable are irrelevant because we experience godliness. 

Comfort and ease are not what faith is about. That is what we learn through experience and action. Our faith and closeness to God grow not because we were told about it in a sermon and not because we read it in scripture. We know because the Holy Spirit is with us when we act in love, and we have so much to share that we can share it with all. It is not about us. It has never been about us. But with self-control and perseverance, we follow the path with God’s grace to release the scales from our own eyes.

Our Prayer

May God’s grace come to us and bring us peace as we learn to act out our faith and share it with all.  May we understand that sharing God’s love is what brings us closer to God even when we don’t like it. Let us grow in understanding that this is God’s way not ours. Amen.

This devotional was written by Jill Pope and read by John Cherry.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.