Let us love one another, for love comes from God. 1 John 4:7
In Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” we admire little Jean Louise Finch, nicknamed “Scout,” the six-year-old daughter of Atticus Finch, an attorney in a southern town. She learns that the larger world with its prejudices is not as innocent as her own little world.
We all make this discovery as we emerge from our childhood homes and enter the ever larger circles of life. Our parents help us make these almost daily adjustments to the world. We learn that we not only receive but also give, that friendliness will in most cases be rewarded with friendliness. We learn the lessons of sharing, of cooperating, or rolling with the punches, of having to live with people of different beliefs and backgrounds. In many of life’s situations it is proper to yield, to go fifty-fifty, to be satisfied with half a loaf instead of having no bread at all.
But we learn also that in some issues we have to stand firm and not make concessions. These are the moral and spiritual things of which God has spoken in His Word. The Ten Commandments are our guide for a moral life. They do not budge, although many try to set them aside. As for our Christian faith, no compromise is possible. We cannot cut the Gospel in two, as though we could rely partly on Christ’s redemption and partly on our good works to be right with God. We are expected to be consistent in our acknowledgement of Christ as our Savior, confessing Him not only before friends but also our enemies. As Christians we are called to be wholehearted in our love to Jesus, doing this not only in church on Sundays but also on weekdays. If we love Jesus, we also love our brothers and sisters, whom He loves and for whom He died.
The world in which we live is not consistently good. It often does worse than to kill a mockingbird. So it is up to Christians to walk a straight mile in a crooked world.
PRAYER: Lord God, give me the courage to stand up for what is true, and give me strength to confess Jesus before the world. Amen.
(Devotions from "With Jesus Every Day" copyright 1997, CPH. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be printed, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of Concordia Publishing House. Permission is granted for one-time emailing of this link to a friend. For information on other devotional material, please contact CPH at 800-325-3040 or visit CPH at www.cph.org.)
Today's Bible Readings: 2 Samuel 23-24 John 6:41-71
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