How Can The Love Of God Be Upon Me If I Hate My Neighbor.

How can the love of God be upon me if I hate my neighbor.

Good evening everyone . Today we’re going to be talking about the love of our Father and how or even why it doesn’t seem to be upon us sometimes . You know that feeling when you have said that thing you shouldn’t have said or done that thing you shouldn’t have done. I said something one day about a customer that had been really rude to me for no reason . I said it to another associate that worked with me , one who although was saved knew I was a Christian . A Christian that has been called into the ministry . I mean we are to be more disciplined then that to let something like that happen , or at least that is what I am told by others. I didn’t think much about it until the following day I went up to her and asked for her forgiveness , her forgiveness for the way I have acted toward that customer after she had left , I couldn’t sleep that whole night thinking " what was I thinking to say something like that ?" I don’t know what kind of day the person had before coming into the store . I didn’t know the walk they had with The Lord . I knew nothing about them other than they were rude to me for no reason and I reacted.

Now due to my reactions someone has seen me and has seen that it’s ok to do that . It’s ok to talk about someone that has wronged you . It is ok to harbor negative thoughts about someone if they deserve it . I mean why not I showed her that it was ok. I became the example to her on how to live a life as a Christian , how to get closer to God by being negative to another . Well it’s true , that is what others think when they see you and I doing something that we shouldn’t be doing . By our actions we are judged.

A very close friend of mine emailed me not to long ago about the deaths of Gerold Ford , James Brown , and Saddam Hussian . Let me read it to and then my reply.

"Three Funerals

Did anybody happen to notice yesterday the picture God painted for us as we

watched the events of the day unfold on every news station around the world.

The portrait of three men’s lives shown clearly through the events of their

deaths. One a wise man, one a foolish man and one a wicked man.

Three men captured the world’s attention by their lives and their deaths.

Their funerals spoke volumes about the course of life they had chosen to

pursue with the few short years God had granted to them. Yesterday, God

opened the Book of Proverbs and showed the world the truths contained in His

sacred Word.

All three men, President Ford, James Brown and Saddam Hussein had choices in

their destiny. Today they have all three stood in front of the God of this

universe with those choices unveiled and judged.

God allowed us to see three men recently.

President Gerald Ford, a man whose faith in God and service to his country

was eulogized by many speakers during the solemn and dignified ceremonies

which marked his passing. A man of character and integrity, not perfect but

made righteous by his faith in Jesus Christ. It was in this righteousness he

lived out his life as a servant to his fellowman and his country. Great men

and dignitaries attended his funeral. All coming to pay respect and honor to

a man most deserving.

James Brown also was eulogized in a funeral ceremony befitting his life

choices. There was blaring rock music, gyrating bodies, costumes, and great

sensual displays of revelry to portray the contribution this man had given

through his life to his fellowman. He lived a life of drugs, alcohol,

immorality and rock music. He was heralded the father of Rap music and the

inspiration of Michael Jackson’s greatness. His funeral with all of it’s

theatrics was befitting the excess of waste his life portrayed.

Then we had the gruesome hanging of Saddam Hussein. His death as gory as his

life. A brutal murderer and dictator, hung by his neck and secreted away in

the middle of the night to an unmarked grave. Thousands of Iraqis celebrated

his death for through his life he had brought untold misery and death to

many. A man so wicked that it seemed the world breathed a collective sigh of

relief at the pronouncement of his death.

Three men, three men who left their mark on the entire world, three famous