Still Unsure

So yeah it's been a great weekend so far. Visiting friends is always fun, but sometimes still it makes me want to go back to what I am used to. My home at my school with my roommate and my friends. Nonetheless, it's still great to share in the lives of my friends every now and then. Just to see what a slice of their lives are like on a daily basis. To see the people that they surround themselves with and to see what kind of room they live in.

"We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." 1 John 4:19-21

That was God's Word for me yesterday. I can't tell you how many times it probably appears that I don't love my own brothers, much less my Christian brothers and sisters. But that is our call. Our job. If we don't love, how are they going to know that God (who IS love) lives inside of us?

A new thought on the whole higher standard thing: We don't do good works so that God will save us. We do them because He has saved us. It is a response. His grace should have an effect on the way we live...

How I live my life is a response to God's grace in Christ Jesus. My response--i.e. my life--shows who God is to me.

"Our faith, and our prayers, will be as big or as small as our grasp of His greatness."

Think about it.

I do all the time.

Love your brother.
Not an option.
Not a suggestion.
A command.
And a command with a purpose.

Another thought:
We don't pray and read God's Word so that He will love us more. He already loves us infinitely. It's so that we can get to know our personal Lord and Saviour. What a concept. It's not about us. It's about how His glory will be portrayed in our own lives.