Category: Devotions

God Don't Like Ugly

"If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen."  1 John 4:20

I know that everyone's grandmother or great-aunt has said, "You know God don't like ugly now" or something along those lines.  I just read the book "God Don't Like Ugly" by Mary Monroe, and it had to be one of the most depressing stories I ever read.  It was about as depressing as "Precious" or "For Colored Girls" were.  But these movies depict the ugliness of humanity in the depravity these people experienced.  And truth be told, these movies and books are not fiction because life is like that.  Mothers hating their children and abusing them, people so cold-hearted that they cannot feel the pain of those around them.  God calls us to love each other as we love ourselves–but how can you truly love another human being when you were never taught to love yourself?  I aim to love myself more each day and turn that around and share it with others because that is what we are all called to do.  You want to see God–learn to love like He did!  The problem with the world is that it has been poisoned by hatred.  Any sign of difference serves as fuel for injustice.  God don't like ugly y'all and that means He doesn't like anything that will toxify your heart towards any outpouring of His love.  Have you ever noticed how all it takes to make a mean dog nice is love?  Sadly it takes the same to rehabilitate a mean person.  If you just keep on loving on that person, they will eventually have to see God for themselves and  only He can and will bring about a change in them.  You can't repay evil with evil.  When you look into the mirror, what do you want to see–God, who is love, or the ugly reflection of a person scorned?  Reflect love!

 

"Although you have never seen Christ, you love him. You don't see him now, but you believe in him. You are extremely happy with joy and praise that can hardly be expressed in words"  1 Peter 1:8

In The Quiet

"This is what the Almighty LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: You can be saved by returning to me. You can have rest. You can be strong by being quiet and by trusting me. But you don't want that."  Isaiah 30:15 GWT

I don't know about you, but I go to bed in complete darkness and quiet.  Why you say, I don't really know lol and maybe this has not a single bit of relevancy in the title haha.  But I do know that God calls out to us.  I do know that if we just be quiet sometimes, we can actually hear His voice.  We can hear the plan He has to deliver us and we can bask in His glory.  We can get our breakthrough at those quiet times at night.  God can reveal and make things plain that we would otherwise not see or hear. 

 

In the verse above, God is speaking through Isaiah to the children of Israel.  If only they would have turned from evil and been obedient to God's voice, what they could have avoided!  If they would have been quiet and trusted the same God that delivered them from the hands of Pharaoh, the same God that fed them every night with the bread of heaven and quenched their thirst from a rock.  Sometimes…all it takes is for us to be quiet and reflect on God's greatness and the things He has done in our lives.  If we would only think on the blessings we have!  I admit, I had to do that today because I had been thinking of all the reasons why I shouldn't do something.  But then I remembered who I am in Christ and what God continues to do for me every single day…all of that in a moment of quiet time.  It is in our quiet praise and worship, in the quiet times of reading and meditating on the Word that God can show us the way.  Think about it, can you really hear God with a lot of foolishness going on around you?  Can you really hear His voice?  Or do you even want to?  I had today off, and did not do a single solitary thing other than catch up on my reading and spend time with God today.  And I feel better than I have felt in a long time.  No worries and no cares, all because I got quiet.  So start getting quiet, set aside time first thing in the morning and in the evening to spend with God, read the Word, listen to praise and worship music so that you can get a word from God.  In quietness and confidence is your strength…why, because in quietness you can gain the confidence through a divine revelation from God.

 

"This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "Only in returning to me and resting in me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength. But you would have none of it."  Isaiah 30:15 NLT