Tag: God’s Love

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Love

Daily Reading

1Corinthians 12-14

Daily Thought

I started a sermon on 1Corinthians 13 like this, “Dave is patient, Dave is kind. He does not envy, he does not boast, he is not proud. Dave is not rude, he is not self-seeking, he is not easily angered, he keeps no record of wrongs. Dave does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Dave always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Dave never fails.” Then I laughed. Too many of the parts didn’t quite fit. The congregation laughed (a little too much, actually). My wife needed to stop laughing.

They knew what I was doing. 1Corinthians 13 is the love chapter. The Apostle Paul has been dealing with the problems in the Corinthian church for twelve chapters, and finally he stops and says, “now I will show you the most excellent way” (1Corinthians 12:31), and he writes about love.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. ~1Corinthians 13:4-8

Go ahead, put your name in there. The parts where you cringe highlight the places needing work. Put the name Jesus in there and it reads just fine. This is the way we are to love because this is the way God loves us. 

Paul sculpted this passage, choosing his words carefully, saying it just right, because love is the most important thing to get right. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1Corinthians 13:1-3). Love matters before anything else matters.

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, I am learning to love. Keep teaching me because You are perfect at love and there has been no greater display of love than the cross. Help me to be patient, to be kind. Keep me from envy and boasting and pride. Correct me when I am rude or self seeking or easily angered. Let me keep no record of wrongs. Change my heart so I do not delight in evil, but always rejoice with the truth. Teach me to protect and trust and hope and persevere. May I strive to be someone who never fails, but when I do, to get up and strive again, to do the next right thing, to always love. 

Amen

Daily Question

Which qualities of love make you cringe the most when you try to attach your name to them? Which qualities seem to fit nicely?

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God’s Love Never Ends

Daily Reading

Joel 1-3

Daily Thought

God’s promise to Israel had two parts. If you obey, God will shower you with blessing, 

“If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.” ~Leviticus 26:3-4

If you disobey, judgment. 

“But if you will not listen to me…  then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache.” `Leviticus 26:14, 16

We like the first part. 

The book of Joel begins with the second. 

What the cutting locust left,
the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
the destroying locust has eaten. ~Joel 1:4

Locust, locust, and more locust follows disobedience, disobedience, and more disobedience. God was patient, but Israel’s disobedience persisted and then came the locust. Israel had tested God’s patience, over and over, until it ran out. 

Now, God says, test my love. 

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. ~Joel 2:12-13

Beware, God’s patience has its limit. Ah, but be glad, his love does not. 

Daily Prayer

Righteous God, You have given me Your commandments, not as a burden, rather, they are a blessing. They give life and show me the way to live. Even the littlest commandment. Every Word You speak, God, is valuable and true. May I learn Your Word and keep it in my heart, so that it will guide my steps. 

You are a gracious and compassionate God. Thank You for so great a salvation through Your Son, Jesus Christ.

Amen

Daily Question

How difficult is it for you to bless people who don’t deserve it?

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The Lady Is a Tramp

Daily Reading

Hosea 1-7

Daily Thought

Hear the exasperation of God in the words of his prophet Hosea:

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
like the dew that goes early away. ~Hosea 6:4

This, however, is not despair, but hope, for Israel is not the subject in this question, but the object, and God is the subject. It is he who will act and answer.

Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
I have slain them by the words of my mouth,
and my judgment goes forth as the light. ~Hosea 6:5

A prophet need not speak to be heard, and the Lord commanded Hosea to act out the love of God toward an unfaithful Israel; “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord” (Hosea 1:2). A word is repeated for emphasis, but certain words need no repetition to stand out. God called Israel a whore. Three times. If Israel knows nothing of love, God does and he will show her.

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. ~Hosea 6:6

Hosea was commanded to “go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods” (Hosea 3:1). The lady is a tramp, yet the story is not about the morning cloud of Israel’s faithlessness, but the sun that shines forth when the mist burns away. God is faithful even while we are faithless. Our sin is less about the whore we become, but the God we betray. Fortunately for us, God’s love does not depend on who we are, but who he is.

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ~Romans 5:8

Daily Prayer

Wonderful God, You are my Creator, but how often I love the world you created rather than You. All the while, You pay attention to me. You humbled Yourself in love for my sake. You sought me and saved me with amazing grace and mercy, and the more I know You, the better I love You.

May I be not only an object of Your love, but a giver, as well. of grace and mercy to others. May I take this good news of Your steadfast love to a world that needs Your salvation.

Amen

Daily Question

In what ways is God’s love for people different than your love for people?

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For God So Loved the World

Daily Reading

Psalm 108-114

Daily Thought

In Psalm 108, David sings of the love of God, “For your steadfast love is great above the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds” (Psalm 108:4). God’s love is so great, sings David, the world can hardly contain it. 

I love ice cream. It gives me pleasure. I love things that give me pleasure. I should admit, then, that I do not love spumoni ice cream. You see, my love is conditional. I love ice cream, but only the kind I like. 

That is one kind of love, my kind of love. 

There is another kind: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God hates evil, and we are covered in it. We reject and rebel against our own Creator, the Lord of the heavens and the earth, the one true God, and still he loves us. He loves us completely, to the death. What is amazing is not that the love of God reaches to the heavens, but that it touches earth; “and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). With all due respect to David, this is an even greater measure of God’s love:

“For God so loved the world…” ~John 3:16.

Daily Prayer

Amazing God, You deserve the worship of all creation. Yet, so often, I forget about You. Many choose to ignore you. Some even hate You. And still, You love us, die for us, and offer us salvation. We reject Paradise and You invite us back. Truly, You are love.

I am able to love, God, because You first loved me. I pray that my love for the world always and fully reflects Your love for the world.

Amen

Daily Question

How do you love someone you’re not really sure you even like? 

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God’s Love Never Ends

Daily Reading

Joel 1-3

Daily Thought

God’s promise to Israel had two parts. If you obey, God will shower you with blessing, “If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit” (Leviticus 26:3-4). If you disobey, judgment. “But if you will not listen to me…  then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache” (Leviticus 26:14, 16). We like the first part. The book of Joel begins with the second. 

What the cutting locust left,
the swarming locust has eaten.
What the swarming locust left,
the hopping locust has eaten,
and what the hopping locust left,
the destroying locust has eaten. ~Joel 1:4

Locust, locust, and more locust follows disobedience, disobedience, and more disobedience. God was patient, but Israel’s disobedience persisted and then came the locust. Israel had tested God’s patience, over and over, until it ran out. Now, God says, test my love. 

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. ~Joel 2:12-13

Beware, God’s patience has its limit. Be glad, his love does not. 

Daily Prayer

Righteous God, You have given me Your commandments, not as a burden, rather, they are a blessing. They give life and show me the way to live. Even the littlest commandment. Every Word You speak, God, is valuable and true. May I learn Your Word and keep it in my heart, so that it will guide my steps. 

You are a gracious and compassionate God. Thank You for so great a salvation through Your Son, Jesus Christ.

Amen

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Donut Day

Daily Reading

Psalm 86-89

Daily Thought

I am writing this on a Saturday. It’s Donut Day, and always has been. When we were little, my brother and I went with Dad to help him choose the right donuts. Later, the teen years, we preferred sleeping in. Still, Dad disappeared each Saturday, before we or the sun arose, and came home with a pink box. I liked the maple bar and there was always a maple bar. I could count on it. Now I am Dad and Saturdays are Donut Day, and as soon as I finish writing this, I am off to get donuts. 

Psalm 89 proclaims the steadfast love of the Lord, forever. Steadfast, firmly fixed, does not change, a love you can count on. God’s love is bonded to his faithfulness, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you” (Psalm 89:14). Even when we were in trouble, and we often were, Saturday was Donut Day. Ethan, the writer of Psalm 89, says of God, “If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness” (Psalm 89:30-31, 33). Ethan knows what Israel has done, that they are in trouble, but he looks to the heavens, to the sun and the moon, “a faithful witness in the skies” (Psalm 89:37), and knows that God is forever faithful, even when Israel is not. 

To be honest, this is a bit of silliness and not a perfect illustration, but still it speaks of family and faithfulness. Today is Saturday and there are donuts on the counter and I know I am in the right house.

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, You are faithful and true, and I am not. I am so glad that Your love depends on You, not me. I know I let You down, I blow it, and mess up, yet You are always there, forever true. Thank You. I don’t deserve it, but that is the way of grace.

As I draw closer to You, my God, I pick up Your ways. I learn Your love, Your faithfulness, Your grace. Draw me close, then, that I might reflect Your goodness to this world around me, so that people will know Your steadfast love and faithfulness, and that heaven is home.

Amen