Unless otherwise indicated, the collection of scriptures found in Food for Thought are quoted from the Tanakh, The Holy Scriptures, (The Old Testament) pub. by, the Jewish Publication Society, New York, 1988; and the Jewish New Testament, translated by David H. Stern, pub. by Jewish New Testament Publications, Clarksville, MD, 1994.

~ ~ ~

~ Meditations ~
~ From the Word of God ~
(Meditations are meant to be
pondered carefully.)

~ Love in Righteousness ~

      "Beloved friends, let us love one another; because love is from God; and everyone who loves has God as his Father and knows God. Those who do not love, do not know God; because God is love. Here is how God showed his love among us: God sent his only Son into the world, so that through him we might have life. Here is what love is: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the kapparah (propitiation) for our sins.
      "Beloved friends, if this is how God loved us, we likewise ought to love one another... if we love one remains united with us, and our love for him has been brought to its goal."
(1 John 4:7)

      "For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning: that we should love each other and not be like Kayin, who was from the Evil One and murdered his own brother... The person who fails to keep on loving is still under the power of death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.
      "The way that we have come to know love is through his having laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers! If someone has worldly possessions and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how can he be loving God? Children, let us not love with words and talk, but with actions and in reality!"
(3 John :11-18)

      "...brothers, I do not want you to go on being ignorant about the things of the Spirit. You know that when you were pagans, no matter how you felt you were being led, you were being led astray to idols, which can’t speak at all. Therefore, I want to make it clear to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says, ‘Yeshua is cursed!’ and no one can say, ‘Yeshua is Lord,’ except by the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit)."
(1 Cor. 12:1-3)

      So: "...avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, quarrels and fights about the Torah; because they are worthless and futile. Warn a divisive person once, then a second time; and after that, have nothing more to do with him. You may be sure that such a person has been perverted and is sinning: he stands self-condemned."
(Titus 3:9)

      "...keep in mind the words spoken in advance by the emissaries of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. They told you, ‘During the acharit-hayamim (Last Times) there will be scoffers following their own godless passions.’ These are the people who cause divisions. They are controlled by their impulses, because they don’t have the Spirit.
      "But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith, and pray in union with the Ruach HaKodesh. Thus keep yourselves in God’s love, as you wait for our Lord Yeshua the Messiah to give you the mercy that leads to eternal life.
      "Rebuke some who are disputing;"
(Jude :17-22)

      And remember that: "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some people think of slowness; on the contrary, he is patient with you; for it is not his purpose that anyone should be destroyed, but that everyone should turn from his sins...
      "Therefore, dear friends..., do everything you can to be found by him Without spot or defect and at peace. And think of our Lord’s patience as deliverance, just as our dear brother Sha’ul (Saul, later known as Paul) also wrote you, following the wisdom God gave him. Indeed, he speaks about these things in all his letters. They contain some things that are hard to understand, things which the uninstructed and unstable distort, to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
      "But you, dear friends, since you know this in advance, guard yourselves; so that you will not be led away by the errors of the wicked and fall from your own secure position. And keep growing in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Deliver, Yeshua the Messiah..."
(2 Peter 2:9,14-18)

      And remember that: "Your riches won’t help you on Judgment Day; only righteousness counts then."
(Proverbs 11:4 Living Bible)

      So: "... defend those who cannot help themselves. Yes, speak up for the poor and needy and see that they get justice."
(Prov. 31:8 L.B.)

      And: "May grace and shalom (peace) be yours in full measure, as you come to a (more) full knowledge of God and Yeshua (Jesus) our Lord."
(1 Peter 1:2)

                  SAW