Today is Wednesday, February 28th, 2007; Karen's Korner #1008

For Lent, our church is studying "40 Days of Community" with Rick Warren. Jim and I are two days into it, so there is a lot about the series we don't know yet. It looks like 'love' is going to be at least one of the themes.....love for not just people we 'feel' like loving.
 
This inspirational thought by Shirley Choat makes me think of our beginning study work:
 
"My brothers, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality." -- James 2:1
 
  God has told us to love others as He loves us, without partiality. But this is not easy, because we find some people especially hard to like. We either ignore them completely, or we try to get away with the kind of bad treatment that was recently given to us.
 
  We sometimes relate in a similar way to people in our churches who don't fit into our plans. We know they have a right to be there, but we don't want to get involved with them. So we give them a cold shoulder and hope they'll go away.
 
  This attitude isn't new among Christians. The text today reveals that neglecting the less fortunate has occurred in the church for a long time. There have always been those who are not easy to love. But when we encounter them, we should remember what the Savior did for us. Without regard for His own well being, He came into the world to suffer and die for you and me. I am glad he didn't avoid the price of loving us so much.
 
   
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: The best exercise for the heart is to reach down and help other people up.

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