Love

Love

John 3:16-17 NLT 

“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. "

Day 219: The love test

1 John 4:7-8 NLT

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

        I believe the greatest expectation in reading a devotion about love starts with God’s love for us. Which is not a bad place to start, but for us, we are going to start off in a different place. One of the things our world as a whole is fixated on is love. Love for a good meal. Love for a good show. Love for a good experience. Love for a good friendship. Love for a good cup of coffee. Love for a good relationship. Love for the best slice of pizza. Love for pretty much everything under the sun. We have rating systems to help us determine something we are going to love and something that won’t let us down. Overall, we are in love with everything, but are we in love with the right things?

         One of the things I love about this passage is how it is teaching us how to discern if someone is teaching us falsely. That is the root of this verse, it is the testing verse of how we are to know if someone truly comes from God, it is by their love for others. Check out the first 6 verses:

1 John 4:1-6 NLT

Dear friends, do not believe everyone who claims to speak by the Spirit. You must test them to see if the spirit they have comes from God. For there are many false prophets in the world. This is how we know if they have the Spirit of God: If a person claiming to be a prophet acknowledges that Jesus Christ came in a real body, that person has the Spirit of God. But if someone claims to be a prophet and does not acknowledge the truth about Jesus, that person is not from God. Such a person has the spirit of the Antichrist, which you heard is coming into the world and indeed is already here.

But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world. Those people belong to this world, so they speak from the world’s viewpoint, and the world listens to them. But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. If they do not belong to God, they do not listen to us. That is how we know if someone has the Spirit of truth or the spirit of deception.

Now, after reading that, think about the list of things we love from above, it is hard for us to not feel like we belong to this world. I know for me, I must monitor my own speech and actions, because I would be found guilty of too much worldliness…it is a sin I willingly confess, and I am working on with Jesus. This conviction is covered by grace, but what do I want to continually put on? Love for others! Loving others is my aim, and many times I miss the mark.

         So, thinking about God’s word this morning, the test of those that would teach us is in their love for others. How do you know if you can trust the teaching that God has given through 359˚ of beauty? Well, the first thing is that 359˚ of beauty is about God first, always. It is about His sovereign beauty. It is easy to fall in love with a Creator that radiates beauty in all things.

         Often, we are drawn to the most beautiful of things, for they also come from God. 359˚ of beauty is also about sharing God’s beauty in love with each other. We are to share and point each other back to Jesus Christ in all things. Giving thanks in all things and loving each other in all things is the power of living the 359˚ of beauty life. You choose to love others and constantly point them back to Jesus in all ways, praising Him for the beauty in everything. Does this pass the love test? Well- continue reading the scriptures and determine for yourself, because you should only consider God’s words as reliable, not what is written in a devotional.

Dear Reliable God,

         Thank You for Your word this morning and providing us tests for discerning Your followers. Father, may Your love abound in us to where we outpour love on others. Given the nature of all that is going on in our lives today, Jesus, please help us demonstrate our love for others by seeing the beauty that surrounds every trial, every situation, and every moment of the day. May we grant others compassion, mercy, and grace like you have lavished on us through Your love for us and allow us to see all Your creation through a lens of love and grace only You can provide. We love You Lord Jesus. In Christ’s name we pray, amen.

Day 220: Perfect Love

1 John 4:16-19 NLT

We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.

1 John 4:16-19 NASB

We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, we also are in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us.

         Perfect love... The only source of perfect love is through Jesus Christ, for Christ Jesus, and by Jesus Christ. Otherwise, we practice our own versions of what we think love should be. We have multiple influences pulling for our attention and that is before we get to our own desires. We do not need additional distractions taking away from our attention when all we really want is God’s perfect love to begin with. Both of these translations of scriptures keep the same context but there are some subtle differences that make interpretation and perspectives shift if we remain open to the ideas as presented in the scripture.

         Take for instance in the NLT it says, “our love grows more perfect” whereas the NASB states it like, “love is perfected with us.” While this may not seem like much of a difference the concept of love growing perfect can be considered flawed in the sense that it grows into perfection. God’s love is perfect from beginning to end. It is not something that needs to grow. Yes, but the argument is that love grows in us and is not perfect within us… which is why the NASB suggest that love is perfected with us in the sense that it is proved perfect, because love serves as the proof of God’s existence in our lives. This is different from love growing- it is already perfect, but it is proved perfect because it has had its opportunity to be demonstrated with us in our belief of God.

         Consider these thoughts, we know that the Holy Spirit is God and that we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit to help guide us in our lives. This Holy Spirit is filled with God’s perfect love and leads us to be fearless in the sense of our security with Jesus Christ. This sense of security is what grows within us as we grow in the knowledge and wisdom of God. In a sense this is love growing, but it is more of our understanding, transformation, and renewal growing in God, whereas God is perfect already. This is why we can embrace death as life in Jesus Christ for that is what He has promised in His perfect love. It is truly freeing when our understanding reaches the fullness of what scripture teaches us. While we do not deserve such a gift due to our own sin nature, love is perfectly given and fully complete in God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. It is our acceptance and knowledge of it that grows within us.

         When reading and studying scripture, it becomes increasingly important for us to review multiple sources of information and not allow ourselves to get caught up thinking one way. That would be counter to the love we have encountered with Jesus. We need to seek understanding that everything is based out of grace, which is the act of love. It is because God loved us that grace has been extended to us through the work of Jesus Christ alone!

Dear Perfect Love,

         Thank You for Your perfect love. While we do not fully understand it, we receive the benefits of it through Your grace and mercy. We are totally undeserving of it, but You have granted it anyways if we choose to believe in You Jesus. Thank You for making is so simple and that it has nothing to do with our actions. We are thankful You see through all our attempts to find love that only You can provide. Jesus, we know You made all things in You, through You, and for You. Love is absolutely no different and You demonstrate it to us all the time. May we embody Your love and love others and ourselves well today. Thank You Jesus for being an awesome God. Praise be to Jesus for the gifts granted to us in the Holy Spirit, our perfect source of love. In Christ Jesus’s authority we pray, amen. 

Day 221: Love- the greatest commandment

Matthew 22:35-40 NASB

And one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.” '

         This is an easy verse for us to understand about love. Now, application of this verse in our daily walk is the most difficult part of the entire process, living out love for others. Often in this world we are stuck trying to work out our love for others. We struggle to truly live out this purpose because many obstacles tend to stand in our way, or worse, we want control over those we love, because we think we know best.

         First, we can be thankful that God’s love is perfect. This means that even the most difficult people for us to love, God already loves them! In His righteousness, this means that even the vilest human has access to God’s love, if they would choose to accept it and then allow Jesus and that Holy Spirit to do their work in transforming one’s heart. Understanding this basic truth allows us freedom to learn how to access this perfect love. We have to learn to view everyone as one of God’s created beings and choose to look at them through the perspective that God has formed them with a purpose. We essentially have to ask God to reveal the beauty of this difficult person in our lives.

         This is particularly difficult with some of our most challenging relationships. This serves as truth with those familial relationships that we just struggle with understanding. There are many times in counseling others where God has used me to remind others that the person they are struggling with is someone’s special person. While they may not be someone you like, they are someone’s whole world. They are beautiful to someone and created with a purpose from God. This is true of every human; to see it, we must love God first with all our heart, soul, and mind. Only through being transformed by God in our hearts, souls, and minds are we able to glimpse the beauty of all of God’s created beings.

         Then, we can begin loving others, or our neighbors, as ourselves. This is very interesting in that it is that we are to love others like we love ourselves. Unfortunately for me, I reversed this one for a long time in my life. I would love others well but refuse to allow others to love me well. I misplaced my importance in being a provider for others, without allowing others to provide for me, essentially being a source of strength for others, but never allowing others to be a source of strength for me. This led to my eventual brokenness as a man. I failed in the second of the greatest commandments. While I loved others well, I refused to allow myself to be loved out of some misguided thought process. To this day, I still struggle with this, and I have invited my closest friends in to hold me accountable to allow myself to be loved well.

         Have I mastered these commandments? Absolutely not, but God has. We can faithfully rely on Him to guide us with our ability to love Him and others in our lives. One of the first steps towards reliance on the Holy Spirit and Jesus is to love ourselves enough to grant ourselves grace. We must realize that we need to grant ourselves grace as we are traveling through a process of learning how God wants us to operate in this world. We must love ourselves enough to grant grace and then God will show us and transform us with His love enough to change the way we navigate the world around us. Most of us do that when we acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives and admit that we have fallen short of perfection and that we need God’s grace in our lives. Without it, we are nothing. By accepting it, we begin learning how to truly love ourselves without the worldly self-centeredness that permeates our society.

Dear Grace Granting Father,

         Thank You for teaching us how to love You and others well. Jesus, You are the perfect example of love. Your love is perfect, pure, and righteous. It surpasses human understanding and it is the basis for all our ability to love. Without Your guidance and leadership, we would not learn how to forgive ourselves for our imperfections and learn how to grant ourselves grace enough to love others well. Thank You for teaching us and modeling for us how to love our neighbors well. Lord, it comes down to the simplest of ideas to test our love for others, if I would do it for myself, would I do it for my neighbor too? Let this be our guide for seeing the beauty You have for all Your created beings and grant us the ability to glimpse how You see all of us. Let us honor Your commandments and love You with all our heart, soul, and minds while loving others like we should love ourselves. In Jesus Christ’s example and leadership, we submit ourselves to ask these things, amen.

Day 222: The core of our belief is love

1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 NASB

Now may our God and Father Himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you; and may the Lord cause you to increase and overflow in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.

         Love is the core of our belief. Love is God and it is the most basic of building blocks in our relationship with Jesus. Without love we are nothing and with love we have access to everything. Love is so much more than how our society defines it. It is more than an emotion. It is the driving force of the best change. Love is the force of life within all things. Love is the most important aspect of us coming into a relationship with God.

John 3:16-17 NASB

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him...”

1 John 4:7-8 NASB

Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Now, understanding that God is love and that without love we are not with God, we must embrace what Paul was telling and praying for with the church in Thessalonica. Paul was praying and instructing the church to increase and overflow in love for one another and for all people. Now, this is not a commandment to be tolerant of all things, but it is a commandment to have love in our hearts for all people created in the image of God.

         Love is the core of our belief. We have experienced amazing love and acceptance for who we are, and we know that God never leaves us just as we are. We are meant to come as we are and to be changed into new creations, reborn as new people grounded in love.

         Being reborn, we are adopted into the family of God. We are filled with God’s love for us and others when we truly embrace who Jesus is. It is like having a child, love fills us beyond our comprehension, and it allows us a glimpse into what God feels for all His creation. It should become abundantly obvious that we are overflowing in our love for others… but what does this overflowing love look like? We will explore this over the next couple of days!

Dear Love Granting Father,

         Thank You for the overwhelming evidence of Your love for us! We know that You sent Yourself in Jesus to die on our behalf so that we may have eternal life with You. We also know that You have filled us with a love that we do not know fully how to embrace. Would You grant us the ability to be filled to overflowing capacity to love others well in our lives this week. Help us examine the by-products of this overflowing love and use us to leverage Your love through us for others. Thank You Jesus for loving us better than we could ever love ourselves. In Jesus Christ’s name and love we pray, amen. 

Day 223: Without love good is impossible

1 Corinthians 13:1-3 NASB

If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.

        We cannot even begin to imagine life without love, and this is a tough reality to accept. God is the originator of love and everything He does including wrath is based in love. It is an incredibly difficult concept for us to wrap our brains around as it does not always align with what we want to believe about God. Discipline is love. In fact, scripture goes as far as saying if you hate a child withhold discipline. (Proverbs 13:24) God loves us enough to discipline us and teach us how to love others. This is what 1 Corinthians 13 is speaking into, God’s instruction on how we are to embody love in everything.

         These verses come right after the instruction of spiritual gifts that we encounter within the fellowship of believers in Jesus Christ. They serve as instructions on how to test the gifts as if they are from God. Without the basis of love, they cannot be good. Essentially it is looking at the motives of people that would proclaim they are from God. The Holy Spirit through Paul was establishing instructions for us to use to measure the overall progression of faith within believers and to know those that come from Jesus.

         God’s word is incredible in how it defines things for us. So, what is love? It is more than what we can put to words in a simple definition beyond, God is love. This is a phrase that has come to embody more than we can fathom in our society right now because then people judge others based upon the notion that God is love- then why don’t you love me the way I want to be loved? This question is one I have wrestled with significantly in my healing journey…

         God can I not be loved the way I want to be loved? To this question, I have asked a counter question… God will you love me the way I need to be loved to find a deeper relationship with You? Because, simply put, I have no idea what is best for me for I will often do good things without understanding love. Which is what the scripture above is leading us to understand. Sometimes, we do good and right things, because they are good and right, but are we doing them out of the foundation of our love for God? This is the question we need to ask of ourselves more than ever! God, am I doing this out of love for You and others, or am I doing this because I feel like it is the right thing?

Loving Father,

         Thank You for another day based in Your love and seeking instruction that only You can teach. Thank You for defining love for us in Your word and allowing us to study it with a lens to see others love You like we know and love You. Father, You are incredibly just and righteous in Your ability to love us in our sin nature and see us for the creation You intended on us becoming. Thank You for seeing past our misguided motives and teaching us how to base everything on the foundation established to us in Jesus Christ’s love. May others see us operating our lives our of love for You and for others and come to know our love for You through our actions, not our words. In Jesus Christ’s love and authority we pray, amen.

Day 224: God’s love is patient

1 Corinthians 13:4 NASB

Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.

         God’s love is exceedingly patient beyond anything we can imagine or think. While we work out things for ourselves, God is patiently waiting on us to seek Him with our whole hearts. His desire for a relationship with us is incredibly kind and He waits for us in a non-jealous way. He can do anything and everything for us but chooses to let things go so that we will learn our own way to accept His love for us. Although time is limited for us, it is infinite for Him. Therefore, it is important for us to share God’s love for His people with others, so that they may come to know His love for them. God’s love has no bounds.

         So then, how do we embody God’s love in a way that encourages others to come to know Jesus? I wish there was a “one size that fits all” approach to this, but what I have discovered is that for every individual it is slightly different. We all must work these things out with God. Our approaches are the same, we can only come to this understanding through Jesus Christ. We know this because He explicitly says that He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one will come to the Father, but through Him (John 14:6). So, our approach is universal, but as we see  within each individual encounter with Jesus throughout the entirety of the New Testament is that every individual person had their own unique encounter with Jesus in which they had true heart change. God knew each soul as a unique individual and approached them as such. He had knowledge of them.

         This is where our love for others becomes so much more important. If we do not learn how to love others, our knowledge of them becomes significantly hindered. When we become hindered in our relationship with others, we do not know how to meet them on their road and love them through whatever is going on in their lives that they need help with. Jesus has infinitely more authority and power than we do, but we contain enough of the Holy Spirit to be our guide to loving others well. This plays itself out in numerous ways as we navigate life. We must embody patience as we learn to love others well. We demonstrate our love for others by showing kindness, not being jealous, bragging, or being arrogant. Our faith comes from growing in the knowledge of God and others. As we grow, we begin to see God’s love in more profound ways and the more love you can see the more beautiful life becomes as you see God’s beauty manifesting around you everywhere.

Dear Patient Father,

         Thank You for being patient with us. Thank You for knowing us as well as You do. You know every need before we ask and You are willing to grant us favor beyond grace. Thank You for the universal approach we all have through Jesus Christ. Thank You that He loved us enough to die a gruesome death and that He shed His blood for our eternity with Him in heaven. He loved us enough to be patient with us as we learn to love Him and others. Let us love others well today, Jesus. Thank You for everything. In Jesus Christ’s authority and love we pray, amen.

Day 225: God’s love demonstrated through strangers

1 Corinthians 13:4 NASB

Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.

         What is kindness? I ask this question all the time of my students. It is hard for most of them to define. They use synonyms like nice towards others, care for others, or just being good. The truth is it is a behavioral quality defined by benevolence and an authentic consideration for others in our life. It has an unselfish intent to it where it is done without wanting specific praise, payback, or rewards for it. Kindness is an expression of genuine love for someone else.

         Kindness reminds me of a specific time when a stranger made all the difference in my life. His name was Justin. I’ll never forget him. We were on our way to Florida to spend time with my wife’s aunt and uncle in a new to us car. We did not know how far it would go on a tank of gas, but we were trusting its gauges. It told us we had more than 30 miles left in the tank of gas and we were less than 5 miles from our destination for the night. We were cruising right along when the car just stopped running.

         As I coasted over to the emergency lane, I told the girls to remain calm, I think we just ran out of gas. Upon coming to a stop, I got out and inspected the car with no visible things indicating anything beyond running out of gas we then called roadside assistance through our insurance provider. We were told it would likely be an hour or more before anyone could get to us and being 7 hours from home and several miles away from our next stop, walking was not really a good option. We were going to be stuck with a 5- and 2-year-old on the side of the road, only a few miles from our hotel room for the night.

         I was leaned up against the guard rail and had just finished saying a prayer that help would come sooner, rather than later, with little children in the car, when Justin in his crew cab super duty pulled over and asked, “Do you need any help?” While situations like this one are rare for me, moments of God showing His kindness to me are abundant.

         Next thing I knew, it was within 2 minutes of talking to Justin, I knew what I needed to do. Roadside assistance was already on their way, but He could take my girls to the hotel, remember, it was literately the next exit… So, I trusted the kindness of the Lord, loaded my three girls up in His truck and sent them on their way. Less than 5-7 minutes later, my wife called and informed me they had already been able to check into the hotel room…

         God’s kindness through Justin made an impact on my heart that day. I have always seen the beauty in the way God chooses to love us. He is benevolent to a level that we cannot even begin to fathom, but if we will pause, ask God to reveal His beauty, love, and kindness, we will begin seeing it all around us. Jesus has an authentic consideration for us beyond our salvation, as to say salvation itself is enough on its own! Yet, He cares for us with such an unselfish intent that it inspires us to love others and treat them with a kindness that can only come from God. Justin loved a stranger well with a kindness that could only come from a God that prompted him to stop. I praise God for a stranger that was there in a time of need. Who is one stranger that you will always remember that you can praise God for in your life?

Dear Kind Father,

         Thank You for another day rooted in Your grace and kindness. Lord, You have done great things and orchestrate things beyond our comprehension to demonstrate Your love for us. Thank You for the kindness You send to us through strangers. Your kindness is beautiful. Lord, please grant us the ability to listen to Your Holy Spirit’s prompts to be unselfishly benevolent to others today and allow us to seek You through every action and thought Jesus. Thank You for dying on the cross and unselfishly granting us the gift of love and kindness through grace and mercy. In Jesus Christ’s authority, amen. 

Day 226: Jealous love

1 Corinthians 13:4 NASB

Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.

         Have you ever encountered someone that gets jealous easily? I know I have! Especially raising two daughters. There are so many moments where being a parent I can easily point out jealousy in my daughters. In fact, my youngest daughter frequently gets jealous and will pout quickly. The truth is that this type of jealousy is different from an act of love. Most of the time, when humans are jealous it is because they want something, they do not have. Their desire is not rooted in love. Whereas God’s love is very different and the bible teaches us this is true.

         We know that God is a jealous God. Scripture clearly states this to be true. This is not a comprehensive list but check out the following verses for more evidence: Deut. 4:24; 5:9; 6:15; 32:16; 32:21; Joshua 24:19; Ezekiel 16:38; Psalm 79:5; Exodus 20:5; Nahum 1:2; Zephaniah 3:8; or take for instance this in Exodus 34:14 “…for you shall not worship any other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.” There is substantial evidence that the God we love and serve is a jealous God. So why then is the New Testament telling us that love is not jealous?

         While this may seem contradictory, it is not. Love itself is not jealous, but out of love one can jealously desire all to honor a covenant. It is more of a form of protection, not overbearing control or envy. God’s love is jealous in that it desires to protect us from false idolatry. A jealous love of protection through righteousness is something that does come from God. It is impossible for us to truly embody jealousy in a way that is completely righteous. It is different for us. In fact, the context of Exodus here in chapter 34 is very different than just a jealous God. For me, as a young follower of Christ I never understood the differences between Corinthians verses teaching us love is not jealous and Exodus teaching us that God is jealous… it was not until I learned to read into the context of scripture where things started to make more sense.

Exodus 34:11-17 NASB   

Be sure to comply with what I am commanding you this day: behold, I am going to drive out the Amorite from you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Be careful that you do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their memorial stones, and cut down their Asherim —for you shall not worship any other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God— otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they would prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone might invite you to eat of his sacrifice, and you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might prostitute themselves with their gods and cause your sons also to prostitute themselves with their gods. You shall not make for yourself any gods cast in metal.

God desired for His people to protect their covenant with Him. Jealousy was used to describe the nature of God’s righteousness towards protecting His covenant with His people. It is rooted in His love. Therefore, God’s love is a jealous love in that it contains a righteousness that we cannot embrace in our created sense. As a result, we are not to be jealous in our love. For us, love does not look like an envious act, it does not look like it does when sisters are competing for their father’s love. Our love should be one free of jealousy, and it should contain purity that makes it authentic.  

Dear Jealous Father,

         Thank You for Your authentic righteousness that manifests itself in jealousy. You desire for us to honor our covenant with You and seek You above all other things that would compete for our attention. We are honest Lord; there are so many things that compete for our attention that we often do not even consider thinking about You first in all things. Therefore, You have the righteous jealousy that we cannot fully understand or embrace. Jesus, may we seek to honor You in Your commands of having nothing before You in our lives. IN those areas where things come between us, may You grant us the wisdom to cast those things down and return our hearts, souls, and minds to focus solely on You Jesus and Your work. Thank You for the grace that so abundantly overflows in our lives. Thank You for loving us with a jealous love. In Jesus Christ’s love and grace, we pray, amen.

Day 227: Love is humble

1 Corinthians 13:4 NASB

Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant.

         In yesterday’s devotion we looked at how we serve a jealous God. We examined how His jealousy is righteous and about honoring the covenants that He has made with us. A huge part of that covenant comes from His promise to dwell within the hearts of His people. His love drives this process. We see this love in the covenant promise granted to us through Ezekiel.

Ezekiel 36:26-28 NASB

Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and bring it about that you walk in My statutes, and are careful and follow My ordinances. And you will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.

         We know that this process has been proven true through Jesus Christ’s faithful work on the cross and that through grace we are granted a new heart. We are reborn in the spirit through the grace that Jesus Christ offers us freely through forgiveness and acceptance of Him. A huge part of our acceptance of Jesus’s gift is that we approach God with a love that is not bragging or arrogant. We cannot believe in our minds and hearts that we deserve any of this. Not only does this affect our approaching God, but it also affects how we engage with others. We must humble ourselves to love others well too. James provides a wonderful explanation of this concept of love and how God’s jealousy and love are tied together with humility.

James 4:4-10 NASB

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose, “He jealously desires the Spirit whom He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

         While this can be confusing overall, it is a clear example of the process in which we are to humble ourselves before the Lord. It is the model Jesus provided for us in that He did not brag or become arrogant but humbled Himself to His creation. Then, in humility eventually died on the cross the most gruesome and painful deaths imaginable all out of love for us. God is beyond a great example. He has lived love out in the coolest of ways. Love does not brag and is not arrogant! It is how we are to live apart from this world, in humility.

Dear Humble Father,

         Thank You for loving us so well and setting such amazing examples for us to model in our lives. Lord, we are aware enough in ourselves that we need Your help to learn how to walk as people in the Light. We are overwhelmingly grateful that You have provided for us a new heart in which Your Holy Spirit dwells. Jesus please help us understand the humility of Your love and let Your Spirit guide us into loving others as well as we can possibly love them so that they will come to know You. Father, thank You for Your infinite grace and wisdom. In Jesus Christ’s authority and example we pray, amen.

Day 228: Love honors and seeks to help others

1 Corinthians 13:5 NASB

It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered,

        There are certain words in our culture that are extremely complex and hard to define. Love is probably the most complex word to define in our language. The concept of beauty is similar in love’s complexity. Each of these words, love and beauty, have unique and multiple meanings that tend to disrupt our thought process if we allow them to engage us within the context of scripture.  

         Take for instance the context of this scripture defining love for us. Love does not act disgracefully. Now, on the surface that seems straightforward, but taking a deeper look, you see that the word disgracefully is used to describe how love does not act. This is an important aspect to examine. For one to act disgracefully, a person is conducting themselves in a shameful, shocking, and unacceptable manner. This is completely counter to the way love should act. Often, a person that is acting this way is seeking their own benefit.

         In trying to seek examples in our modern culture and praying over this, one example tends to stand out in my mind as I have unfortunately encountered this happening. Elderly abuse is a real example of love acting disgracefully. Unfortunately, I have seen this play out with situations in my life. Where a caregiver, claiming they love the person they care for, takes advantage of the situation for their own benefit. This even comes down to manipulating the situation and using credit cards, stealing income, medications, physically aggressive, and manipulating extended family all for their own benefit. Yes, they are a caregiver, but they do so in a way that seeks to benefit themselves out of what they call love for the person they are taking care of.

         Love does not seek personal gain. In our culture love is used to fulfill personal conquest or to manipulate people and situations for the benefit of oneself. The true definition of love is that it is seeking to help others all the time. It is selfless and simple in that it seeks the benefit of others and not personal gain. This can be difficult for us to reconcile in the sense that love also contains discipline. Sometimes people interpret love’s discipline as not for their benefit, but that simply isn’t true. Discipline is love and it is meant for our benefit.

         Love acts for the benefit of others. It is not shameful or seeking personal gain. Ultimately, when we examine the works of Jesus Christ, we can see love abounding for His creation. Crucifixion on the cross was not an act that benefited Jesus. It benefited us. He did not do it for His personal gain, but ours. While the act and conduct of others associated with the cross was shameful, Jesus’s obedience to the process and God’s word was not. Jesus set the perfect example for us to follow in selfless grace filled love. He set the path before us and we are to seek Him through loving others well.

Dear Loving Father,

         Thank You for another day of studying Your word and learning how to love others well. Lord, You have given us life through Your love and grace, may we bring Your light and life to others through our actions. May Your love overwhelm us to the point where we walk in love with others every day. Jesus, thank You for being the perfect example of selfless love. Thank You for teaching us and guiding us with Your word. To God be the glory forever and ever. In Jesus Christ’s love and grace we pray, amen.

Day 229: Love is unprovoked and chooses to see Jesus

1 Corinthians 13:5 NASB

It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered…

         Love is amazing in that it is not something that we can provoke. God’s love for His people is uniquely positioned to demonstrate patience and control. Think about Jesus for a moment. When he suffered the brutal transition to the cross. I believe it was love that caused Him to suffer as He was not provoked into defending Himself. He knew in love the outcome of His suffering. He knew that we today would have the opportunity to spend eternity with Him and have equal access to the Kingdom of Heaven because of His love and grace.

         If love is not provoked, how then does God’s wrath work in the Old Testament? Well, earlier in the devotional series we looked at God’s wrath and learned that God’s wrath is His perfectly executed righteous justice. There will come a day when God’s wrath will be poured out. We know that this is true due to scriptures and that even believers will face what is called the White Throne Judgement in which Jesus Christ Himself will judge us according to whether we truly knew Him or not. Even in these moments, His love will not be provoked to anger or action. It will be perfectly executed with a righteousness we will simply know as true.

         The next aspect of love that is evident in that God’s love keeps no record of our wrong doings. This is how we can approach God within our repentant selves. Jesus’s blood acts as payment for our sin nature. It was Jesus that suffered and died the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the entire world. It was one sacrifice for all time. That sacrifice covers all sins. Our access is dependent upon us accepting Jesus Christ as the savior and professing Him as Lord before all men. Then, upon that profession submitting ourselves to His will of loving Him and others well throughout our lives, praising Him and being thankful for all things, both good and bad that would bring Him glory.

         God does not keep a record of wrongs. It is not that He doesn’t remember them, it is that He chooses to see Jesus through us because of Jesus’s love for us. God is aware, He chooses to see His love and grace through Himself to reconcile us with Him. His requirements for access are for us to take up our cross daily and work toward being fully mature in His standard of living. Which means we are unified in the Holy Spirit, and we are loving one another with the same standard of love that God Himself outlines for us to follow. We must learn how to not be provoked and to keep no record of wrongs. Application of these two concepts are some of the hardest in learning to love others well. It is amazing that we have a Helper in the Holy Spirit to teach us how to walk in this way!

Dear Unprovoked Father,

         Thank You for so many aspects of Your love that we are beginning to comprehend. Thank You that Your love keeps no record of wrongs, because of Your forgiveness and grace granted to us through Jesus Christ’s death for our sins. Lord, we literally have nothing we can bring to the table but our humble and gentle selves that are grateful for Your work on our behalf. We have nothing to offer but our lives as living sacrifices in Your Kingdom. Use us to love others well and instruct us on how to let things go and love others like You do. Father, thank You for loving us better than we could love ourselves. In Jesus Christ’s example and love we pray, amen.

Day 230: Rejoice in truth is living out 359˚ of beauty

1 Corinthians 13:6 NASB

…it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

         There is something about a good movie that almost everyone loves, when the righteous outcome wins or justice is properly served people tend to enjoy those stories more than others. This is because we are inherently wired to rejoice in truth and righteousness. We tend to feel off when the bad guy in a movie prevails or is allowed to continue performing his nefarious acts. We even construct movies about bad guys becoming good guys even through unconventional means.

         It is easy for us to see these examples played out in our day-to-day life because our entertainment media is constantly creating these examples in various ways. We even have significant movie franchises that follow the stories of good versus evil, dark versus light, and/or enemies to lovers. We are saturated with stories that illustrate our culture’s lack of rejoicing in unrighteousness and rejoicing in truth. Even going as far to retell true stories so a new audience can learn about epic feats and be inspired to replicate goodness.

         359˚ of beauty is all about rejoicing in truth. So many times, in our personal lives we only see unrighteousness, or we feel like there was a wrong that we desire to undo. Many times, that wrongdoing was towards us, and we feel like there was an injustice, therefore we focus on that feeling or aspect of the situation. What we fail to do is to see the truth in the situation. We fail to rejoice in the truth. I call this focusing on the 1˚ of the situations, instead of seeing the 359˚ of beauty.

         God’s love is perfect about seeking out His beauty in every situation. We would not have the ability to see the 359˚ of beauty without the 1̊ occurring. God grants us the ability to see the 359˚ of beauty when we ask Him to reveal it. It is an unselfish act to be able to rejoice in the truth. Sometimes, the truth is not about us, it is about others. Living the 359˚ of beauty lifestyle becomes more about loving others like you love yourself because when you love others, you are taking care of yourself. Yes, but what does this look like practically?

         In my opinion, there are several things we can do to learn how to love others well. A couple of things that stand out to me that the Holy Spirit has revealed throughout the years are simple:

If I’m mowing my yard and my neighbor does not have the means or capabilities to mow theirs due to whatever situation in their lives- I mow their yard too. (I have lived in the same house for almost two decades with probably no less than 20 different neighbors throughout the years from widows to physically impaired individuals. Jesus has provided ample opportunity for my family to truly love our neighbors throughout the years.)

Whenever trash is between me and the entry way into a building, take 30 seconds and pick it up. Almost every store has hand sanitizer and a trash can as you walk in the building now.

Call your friends- not just a text, let them hear your voice and tell them you love them.

In my men’s group- we hug. A physical embrace communicates so much, sometimes all someone needs is the physical presence of another! All the people regularly around me at church, we now hug each other when greeting one another. Hug your people!

Rejoice in other’s stories- praise God and pray with them over His good works in their lives! It is beyond rewarding to praising God for the goodness in someone’s lives.

Let people merge in front of you while driving…

         These are just a few examples of rejoicing in truth and loving your neighbor well. There are many others that you probably do all the time without realizing it. We can rejoice in truth and love others well by celebrating the little victories every day. We can practically live out seeking God’s beauty in everything by learning to ask for and see the 359˚ of beauty in our lives. Ultimately, it is all about seeing God’s love in action and rejoicing in it!

Dear Ultimate Rejoicer,

         Thank You for teaching us how to rejoice in Your truths! Thank You for loving us so well and showing us the way to love others. Jesus, teach us to be practical and sensible in how we rejoice in the truth through other’s lives. Show us how we can love others well, like we would like ourselves to be loved. Thank You for Your perfect love and rejoicing with those that had faith in You. May we embody the same faith and love those around us like You love them. Thank You Jesus for Your sacrifice on the cross and Your abundant grace. In, Jesus Christ’s name we pray, amen.

Day 231: My favorite aspects of love

1 Corinthians 13:7 NASB

'it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. '

        These four phrases are my favorite aspects of God’s love. As much as we can, without God, we will never be able to sustain these four aspects of love. We are simply too human to maintain such a perfect love. We may be able to embody one or two of them at a time, but eventually, due to our lack, we will fall short of one of these things. Even Jesus looked upon the disciples and said that their spirits were willing, but their flesh is weak… (Matthew 26:41).

         Love keeps every confidence. This can be read in several different ways. This can mean that it protects the privacy of the believer- that is because it is taken within the context of the statement just before it that is talking about truth. This means that love does not gossip and actively chooses to trust in the best of others. God views us in this way many times when we are viewing ourselves as failures. He chooses to see the good within us. As evidenced by Jesus acknowledgement of our humanity. God grants us through His grace the benefit of the doubt. He is not cynical or constantly looking for our points of failure. He already knows they exists, which is why He chooses to examine our potential. This provides significant encouragement when we begin to understand this aspect of God’s love. It provides freedom to us as believers to trust and dare to jump into His calling.

         When love chooses to believe in all things, it is not simply wishful thinking. God understands the potential outcomes of our obedience in Him. Therefore, God knows He intends to keep His promises to us as we work out what His will is for us. So, when all seems hopeless or lost to us, He refuses to give up believing in His promises. We can rest and be at peace that no matter what is happening and when we feel all is lost, that God is still there. He will not fail because it isn’t in His nature. This provides us with a strength and resolve when we understand that God has promised us eternity with Him through our relationship with Jesus.

         This eternal belief drives hope. We have an inextinguishable hope that fuels us for the long haul as Christ followers. We can tap into a potential drive that continues to propel us forward despite everything failing us. This drive comes from the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives. There have been many times when I have had nothing left to give over the past few years. I had reached my human limits of physical exhaustion, mental fatigue, emotionally overwhelmed, and just done, when God called me to extend myself beyond my limits. Every time He has done this, He has provided for me in ways that go beyond my comprehension. Some may call it a stubborn streak in me, but I choose to see this ability as solely God’s and has nothing to do with myself.

         God is in control. A couple of years ago, I relinquished any semblance of control apart from my response to Him. I truly began to live out what my proclaimed belief is in Him. He has called us to do certain things as men and women of faith. We are to reject passivity, lead courageously, be Kingdom oriented, and finally die to ourselves to fully live for Him. In keeping these four thoughts alive and as my focus, my response has been to get up and spend time with Him every day. Pray, and wait expectantly upon His responses. During the day, praise Him and be thankful, and at the end of the day acknowledge that He was everything throughout the day I needed to survive. Partner this type of mindset with the clear understanding that God LOVES us and thinks of us for the potential we are IN Him… You can love the Lord with all your heart, mind, and soul… for He makes it extremely easy to love Him.

Dear Incredible Father,

         Thank You for making it so easy to love You. Thank You for inspiring us to love and keeping every confidence in who we are in Your son Jesus Christ. Thank You for believing in all things, hoping in all things, and enduring all things. You provide us more than we can possibly imagine in such incredible ways! You are an amazing God. Thank You for granting us grace and endurance that can only come from You. Thank You for continually being faithful and true in Your righteous justice and judgments in our lives. Thank You for the abundance of blessings in every storm that passes. Thank You for Your overwhelming beauty that surpasses our knowledge and leaves us standing in awe of Your incredible nature. We love You Jesus. IN Jesus’s authority and grace, we praise, amen.

Day 232: Incomprehensible love

Ephesians 3:14-19 NASB

For this reason I bend my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner self, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to all the fullness of God.

         This section of scripture is definitely in my top five list of favorite prayer scriptures. It is unconventional by most people’s standards, but it is such a beautiful prayer for all of us. It is absolutely beautiful and elegant. It honors the Lord and reminds us of our frailty, while also seeking permission for us to glimpse an understanding of 4-dimensional love.

         It starts with Paul stating his posture, I bend my knees before the Father, an act of submission and reverence, something I know I should probably do more often… then it reminds us of the power of God- in which every name ever granted was given to us through God’s grace for He is the source of all. These two powerful statements remind us of our place and posture in this world. We must humble ourselves to the Father, otherwise, what is the point of our prayers? Posture and position are two very different things when coming before the Lord. Jesus is sitting at the right hand of God and we can talk to Him like He is a friend, but we must still be reverent.

         The next few statements are all about God and His glory being able to strengthen us. It has nothing to do with us and everything to do with God strengthening us. We are nothing without the Holy Spirit, and Paul is appealing to God to use the Holy Spirit within us to strengthen our resolve. At this point Paul was in prison, and his physical strength was of little use to his overall well-being, but what was important and even more important for us today is that of our inner self- our own convictions would be strengthen with a resolute mission of seeking Jesus Christ with our whole hearts. When we do this, we know through God’s promises and His Word that He will be present with us. We believe this to be of upmost truth. This prayer reminds us of these truths. Paul is appealing to God to use the His Holy Spirit to provide us with this strength.

         Now, this next section is the part I absolutely love! It is how we are strengthened through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Through our faith being rooted, grown deep within and tied to a solid foundation, we may be able to comprehend… Comprehend what- with others (Unified Spirit), the width and length and height and depth of the love of Christ Jesus… Notice, 4-dimensional love! Which- surpasses knowledge! This is where a friend/mentor of mine has reminded me to “just enjoy the movie…” everything does not have to be analyzed, but that we are meant to feel and enjoy the Lord which goes so far beyond anything we can know.  Simply put, feel the fullness of something that You will not fully understand…

         God’s love is so far beyond our understanding, but being rooted and grounded in the mere portioned knowledge of it can drive us to love others beyond anything we think is possible. Yet, all of this comes from the Holy Spirit and a knowledge and trust of God.

Dear Loving Father,

         Thank You Father. Thank You for this love that goes so far beyond our comprehension that it surpasses our ability to fully know anything but Your fullness in our life. May You be the source of fulfillment in our lives. You Father are so gracious and kind to grant us Your Spirit to strengthen us by rooting and grounding us in Your love. May we grow deep roots and thrive in the water of Your word.   We are humbled to bow down before You and present our request. Thank You Jesus for this love that knows no bounds. In Christ Jesus’ authority, grace, and power we praise, amen.

Day 233: Incomprehensible abundance and power to love

Ephesians 3:20-21 NASB

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

         This verse is a continuation of Paul’s prayer for the church of Ephesus from yesterday’s devotional, and it is important that we seek to understand the power behind God’s love for us. Paul is recognizing the authority and power within God to do more than we can possibly imagine. He is returning our hearts to God and teaching us to focus on the source of abundance beyond all things.

         While God’s love is beyond our comprehension, we can still experience the fullness of His love in our lives. Now, this is where we must be cautious. Paul, nor I, are claiming that we will be prosperous or what is commonly referred to as the prosperity gospel. This is where some believers claim that we will have material wealth and physical health due to Jesus’s work on the cross. This simply is not a claim of the gospel as stated by Jesus Himself. In John 16:33, Jesus was explicitly clear about what we would encounter in this world: “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” Even though Jesus is full of love, He has prepared us for so much more than we can imagine. We are meant to endure this world and teach others about the love of Jesus.

         Now, we still must also understand that our God of great love desires to love us well in this life. His word is also very clear in that He will provide for us. In Isaiah 30:18 we are taught about the nature of His love for us. “Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him.”  So, we are serving a God that desires to have compassion upon us. The demonstration of His love is what David was teaching us about, which is all about Jesus’s works because of His love for us. It is worth the reminder so let’s read it together.

Psalm 103 NASB

'Bless the Lord, my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name.

Bless the Lord, my soul, And do not forget any of His benefits;

Who pardons all your guilt,

Who heals all your diseases;

Who redeems your life from the pit,

Who crowns you with favor and compassion;

Who satisfies your years with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle.

The Lord performs righteous deeds And judgments for all who are oppressed.

He made known His ways to Moses, His deeds to the sons of Israel.

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,

Slow to anger and abounding in mercy.

He will not always contend with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever.

He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our guilty deeds.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him.

As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our wrongdoings from us.

Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.

For He Himself knows our form; He is mindful that we are nothing but dust.

As for man, his days are like grass; Like a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, And its place no longer knows about it.

But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting for those who fear Him, And His justice to the children’s children, To those who keep His covenant And remember His precepts, so as to do them.

The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all. Bless the Lord, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word!

Bless the Lord, all you His angels, You who serve Him, doing His will.

Bless the Lord, all you works of His, In all places of His dominion;

Bless the Lord, my soul!'

         Ultimately, God’s love for us contains an incomprehensible abundance and power to love us beyond our limited nature. David said it in Psalm 103:14, “For He Himself knows our form; He is mindful that we are nothing but dust.” When we remind ourselves of the nature of God and how He loves us, we know that we can seek Him and He hears us, because Jesus tells us He does… What love is this? But the greatest of loves! Even Abraham remained mindful of His place, “And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am only dust and ashes.” Genesis 18:27 NASB. We are loved! Yet, we are to be humble and reverent of the Lord because of what His love has already accomplished on our behalf.

Dear Faithful Father,

         Thank You that You would hear us and be mindful of us even though we are nothing but dust in Your hands. You formed us, in every intricate detail, with a power that surpasses our capacity to know. You teach us about Your love and the fullness within it, yet we are barely scratching the surface of how much You desire to have compassion upon us. You have promised that we will have trouble in this world. Yet, You are providing every need within Your Holy Spirit on our behalf so that we may glimpse a mere fraction of Your beauty and splendor. Jesus, thank You for loving us so well. Thank You for having compassion on these lumps of clay. Mold us and make us today into what You desire. Let our will conform to Your hands as You see fit to love us well. In Jesus Christ’s authority and love we pray, amen.

Day 234: The greatest love

John 15:12-17 NASB

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, because all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another.”

         Jesus’s words here are some of the clearest instructions on how we are to love one another. There is no greater love than when a person willing lays down their life for someone else. A lot of people think that this is about death, and in a way, it is about death. Jesus was foretelling His own death for His friends. We have the privilege of knowing the outcome of His journey towards loving us. However, what if Jesus was talking about a different form of laying aside our lives for our friends?

         We know the greatest commandment Jesus spoke of was to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, and souls. He also said the second is like the first one in that we are to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. This is where Jesus was reteaching what He was teaching us above. We are to love others like we love ourselves.

         Upon writing this, God has provided an opportunity to put this laying life down for another in my life. It has been a tumultuous two days and a very long night. My earthly father has had a ruptured appendix. It has been a night full of beeping, chirping, alarms, needles, discomfort, agony, pain, and this has nothing to do with the emotional chaos of the last few days. Thankfully and God has blessed us that my father is stable and moving in the right direction in his progress towards recovery and healing. Along, with brief conversations about what God is trying to teach him or show him, which have been good. Simply put, we know that God’s grace is sufficient for us…

         I believe that what Jesus was talking about was how we can put on love in how we treat others in our lives. We must live every day for others. I had an agenda with numerous things I was meant to do for myself, finishing projects I was working on, and serving my immediate family. I was given the opportunity to lay that all aside and be present for my extended family. Jesus was teaching us that we are to be active in laying aside our lives at times for others. It does not mean that we completely neglect ourselves, but what it does mean is that it is are present for the needs of our friends.

         God has provided multiple opportunities in my life when friends have needed time and presence of a friend to sit and be with them. It almost never happens at a convenient time for what I personally have going on in my day-to-day. Yet, laying aside what I have going on is a pure delight regardless of what they need. We are called to daily take up our cross and follow Jesus. This also means looking for opportunities to serve others out of our love for them. These actions provide us with the uniqueness of being called out of slavery. We do not do it out of obligation or mandated servitude, but we choose to do these things out of love for one another, just like Jesus chose to do for us, His friends.

         The definite beauty in this passage is when we are choosing love and laying aside things in our lives. When we ask of God for things, He grants us favor. Every single time I have laid aside things in my life, it all manages to work itself out and get done, especially when it has been a priority for me. So, to encourage you, be more willing to lay aside your life and go sit with a friend in need. Speak encouragement to them and be present in their needs. In doing so, you are laying your life down for others. Just as Jesus has directly instructed us to do for each other as a unified body in Christ Jesus.

Dear Providing Father,

         Thank You for granting us favor enough to lay down Your life for us in the ultimate example of love for others. Let us do likewise in our daily walks and choose to love You through loving others. Lord, You are gracious and kind in Your forgiveness and grace. May we embody the same qualities through Your Holy Spirit and be unified in Christ Jesus to love each other well. Thank You for the healing provide through Your creative nature in our fellow man to guide doctors and modern convenances of our medical practices. Lord, You have blessed us with an incredible desire to explore and create, may we employ those to love our friends well. In Jesus Christ’s grace and glory, we pray, amen. 

Day 235: Love, loyalty, kindness, and faithfulness is the reputation of one who loves

Proverbs 3:3-4 NIV

Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. '

Proverbs 3:3-4 NASB

Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and a good reputation, In the sight of God and man.

Proverbs 3:3-4 NLT

Never let loyalty and kindness leave you! Tie them around your neck as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart. Then you will find favor with both God and people, and you will earn a good reputation.

         According to these various translations love, loyalty, kindness, truth, and faithfulness are the key elements of a reputation of someone who loves. While the words vary in each translation there are certain aspects and actions that are the same. When we see that alignment, it is important for us to pay attention to those parts of scripture.

         First off, each verse above either says do not, never, or never let these qualities leave us. This suggests that we can lose them if we are not careful. We must lay ahold of them and keep them close to us in our heart and mind. In our modern era we call someone that is losing or has lost love and kindness, that used to have it, as someone suffering from compassion fatigue. People that are experiencing compassion fatigue are often found suffering from physical and emotional exhaustion from dealing with others. It is the cost of caring in our lives and often they feel like care is not reciprocated. We typically see this response in healthcare workers, therapists, caregivers, and teachers. The process of slowly losing their empathy happens over time. So, we know that this scripture is true due to the fact we know people experience it still today.

         So, we have received a caution in scripture not to let go of the things of love. In fact, every scripture above tells us to bind them around our necks so we do not forget and write them in stone deep within our hearts. This is why it says tablet. We know what a tablet is in our modern times, but over 2000 years ago it was literally a stone tablet which meant that it was written in such a way that it was not easily undone.

         If we are to do all these things and carry ourselves with these qualities of loving others there is a natural outcome or byproduct of holding these things true. We will become people of good reputation and find favor with both God and man. This is a blessing in our lives. The real question is how do we get to this place?

         This is where we have actions we must take. I have seen people get tattoos, necklaces, all kinds of various things to remind them of God’s commandments. Most of the time they were in remembrance of some event in their lives. Personally, I wear a cross around my neck made from my former marriage rings. It is a beautiful reminder for me to take up the cross and follow Jesus everyday and fulfill my original marriage covenant, which is to raise our children committed to God. It holds a significance between God and I alone, otherwise, it is a lump of gold and a few diamonds. Its value is insignificant compared to the covenant God has with us through Jesus. We are commanded to love God and others. Within loving God and others, we will be known as having a good reputation among men and find favor with God. What else could we ask for in this life? Not much, so bind God’s word around your neck and write it into your heart through remembering His promises. In this you can be known for the love you have for others.

Dear Faithful Father,

         Thank You for Your promises fulfilled in our lives. Thank You for the reminder that when we are known by our love, loyalty, kindness, truth, and faithfulness that we find favor with You and are known as having a good reputation with others in this world. We do not do it for praise or recognition, but because we love You Jesus. Thank You for letting us love You in such amazing ways and pointing others to Jesus through every aspect of our lives. Let our actions speak to the love You have granted us through Your Holy Spirit. Thank You Jesus for Your guidance and grace. In Jesus Christ’s authority and grace, we pray, amen.

Day 236: An obligation to love

Romans 13:8-10 NLT

Owe nothing to anyone—except for your obligation to love one another. If you love your neighbor, you will fulfill the requirements of God’s law. For the commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.

         The Bible is explicitly clear on what we are to do as followers of Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we can see and read both New Testament and Old Testament scriptures where loving others has been an expectation of humanity. Yet, it is still one of the greatest struggles we all face, simply because sometimes, we just do not want to love others. We have believed lies that life is easier when we just focus on taking care of ourselves and our problems.

         Over the past few years, there have been many times where loving others has gotten in the way of me taking care of myself. Even down to the point where mentors and counselors have suggested that I do better at saying no and prioritizing myself. Personally, I wrestle with this quite a bit because I do not think it lines up with scripture. I think that it is significantly deeper than that. As You see in today’s scripture it is an obligation to love others. AN OBLIGATION- A COMMAND- and in doing so rightly, it does not wrong others. However, doing so rightly means that you love them as yourself…

         This is where I have struggled with just taking time and focusing on myself. Thankfully, Ephesians 5:28-29 has scripture that teaches this concept deeper, “In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself. No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church.” This scripture has helped me understand more about what it means to love others like we love ourselves. It means to truly care for others as they are an extended part of oneself. We see this in all relationships in our lives.

         When examining my relationship with my daughters, there is not anything that I would not be willing to do to care for them. I would work the problem or situation and seek God’s counsel in all things for their benefit. In doing so, I am loving them, but I am also loving myself. When we care for those around us, we are caring for ourselves too. It is a reciprocal approach to taking care of ourselves. When we focus on others, many of our own needs are met. Now, we have to be careful, because in my situation when I focus on the direct relationships I “do not have,” I tend to fall into the lies of focusing on self.

         In singleness, it is when I focus on a lack of relationship that I tend to focus on myself too much and lose sight of God’s intent for my life to love others well. My aloneness is by all accounts a lie that seeks to convince me that God’s grace is not sufficient for me. Others even sneak in the pervasiveness of that lie when they ask why I do not have a relationship, or what is my relationship status. They mean well, but that is missing the mark of love. It falls into the caution of the scriptures above, “You must not commit adultery…You must not covet.”

         My desire for a relationship must not supersede my desire to honor God’s word. In comparing myself to others and their relationship status, I become misguided and tend to focus on loving myself more than others, instead of loving myself through loving others. I am learning to love myself through rejoicing in other’s relationships and seeking to honor God through all my relationships in life. This brings about a deeper sense of fulfillment and connection to the Lord. Understanding my desire and seeking to align it with that of Jesus Christ’s desire for me to love others, I am loving myself when I focus on taking care of all those around me. In doing so, seeing we are united in and through the Holy Spirit, my needs of feeling connected and loved are met all around me and Christ’s grace is more than sufficient for me.

Dear Sufficient Father,

         Thank You for another example on how we are to love others well in our lives. Your word clearly makes it an obligation to love others, and this command has been applicable to all people throughout the world since You brought forth the commandments. Thank You for loving each of us through our love for others and teaching us about Your grace, mercy, and love through the communities in which we live. Let us not compare ourselves to others in what we perceive we do not have but look towards all that we have in loving others in Your grace and power. Jesus, strengthen us for the purpose of loving others well and protect our hearts from being misguided through comparison. In Jesus Christ’s authority and power we pray, amen.

Day 237: Keep showing up in love

Hebrews 6:7-12 NLT

When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it. Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation. For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers, as you still do. Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.

        We all get discouraged. It is a simple truth of living. Sometimes we feel the blessings being poured upon us, and other times we feel like we are walking through the desert with traps all around us. These experiences are the nature of working out our faith and it is the testing of who will endure. As long as we keep showing up in love, our hope will come true.

         Sometimes when we are discouraged and we are trying to keep showing up in love we need to be reminded of how God works. This reminds us of a verse in Romans where Paul was teaching the people about the prophet Elijah.

Romans 11:2-4 NLT

No, God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning. Do you realize what the Scriptures say about this? Elijah the prophet complained to God about the people of Israel and said, “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.” And do you remember God’s reply? He said, “No, I have 7,000 others who have never bowed down to Baal!” (See also 1 Kings 19)

         We need to be reminded to keep showing up in love no matter how discouraged we are at the time. Elijah thought he was the only one left, and many times in our journeys we feel the same. Yet God has other plans for reinforcement and to teach you through the process. Will you hold true to what you believe when you are faced with what seems impossible? Will you continue to express love and gratitude towards others when you are frustrated? Will you continue to praise the Lord Jesus with all you are, trusting that His promises are true? Will you be encouraged to keep working hard for Jesus in showing your love for others? Part of seeing the beauty in life is never giving up or allowing the world to cloud your vision and hope.

Dear Provisional Father,

         Thank You for providing Your love and grace to us. Lord, sometimes we feel discouraged and defeated in love. Sometimes we do not want to give any more of ourselves to others or continue working as hard to love others, but we know what Your word commands us to do. So, we will persist in loving You first, and loving others like ourselves. Lord, You are command us to keep showing up in love. Jesus, You set the example for us to follow and now you provide us the grace and equipping to do these things through You. Thank You for these gifts. May we use them to bless You and You use them to grow Your kingdom. In Jesus Christ’s name we pray, amen.