Tag Archives: love

July 25

1 Reply

Jeremiah 2-4

Jeremiah is expressing God’s longing for his people to love him. God remembers the early days when Abraham and Sarah had Isaac. He remembers Joseph and Moses and David. And God longs for people who love him like they did.

The other day I shared with you a loved one’s concern for her newly redeemed dad. I told you her dad doesn’t want to go to church because he thinks it’s full of hypocrites. What would this man see in you or me if we attended his church?

I’ll tell you what God says about hypocrites. In 3:6-11 God is upset with Israel for their faithlessness. That nation openly rejected God and served gods made of stone and wood. Judah on the other hand, gave lip service to God. They did not worship him with all their hearts, “but only in pretense.”

Look at verse 11. “…Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah”.

God certainly isn’t saying either nation is righteous. He’s mad at all of them for their disobedience. But God holds a little more contempt for those who profess to be his children, yet live lives that say otherwise.

I’m challenged to check my heart this morning. Am I loving God the way he longs to be loved? Am I serving him 24/7 or just on Sunday mornings? I don’t want to be accused by God or man of worshiping him only in pretense. 

Father, you deserve to be loved. May I show you how much you mean to me today by the things I do and the words I speak and the thoughts I think. May others recognize my love for you by the life I live.

July 1

Leave a reply

Hosea 5:8-7:16, 8:1-9:17; 2 Kings 16:10-18, 15:30-31; 2 Chronicles 28: 22-25

The title my Bible gives Hosea 6 is “God Wants Israel’s Love”. If you read it from God’s broken heart you can hear the agony, the longing for his people to come back to him. If you read it as though it was talking about the spiritual kingdom in 2013, the church,  you will also read God’s desire that we love him, too. And it brings him no pleasure when we reap the consequences of our rejection of him.

“Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.”

“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”

“…they don not realize that I remember all their evil deeds. Their sins engulf them: they are always before me.”

“Foreigners sap his strength, but he does not realize it.”

“(the church) is like a dove, easily deceived and senseless.”

“I long to redeem them but they speak lies against me.”

Do you love God? Do you have that deep down, honest, passionate love for him? Do you talk to him every day? Do you listen to what he wants to say to you through the pages of his written word?

That’s really all he wants. He wants us to love him.

Dearest Father, we often speak about your love for us, that unending, unconditional love that we don’t deserve. But today I want to love you. Just love you. May everything I do and say reflect how much you mean to me. May I love you without expecting anything in return except the privilege of loving you.

April 16

2 Replies

I Samuel 18-20

Jonathan and David were best friends. What a blessing it is to have that special person who really knows you and loves you anyway.

When I worked in the Middle School I would often deal with friendship issues. If you ask most adolescents who their best friend is they will probably give you a list of four or five of their classmates. As a person matures, the lists gets narrower. A large friend base is one thing. A best friend is another.

We are created to be relational. God did not create us to be self-sufficient or self-reliant. He intends for us to live with, work with, support and love one another.

The relationship between husband/wife, parent/child, coworkers, neighbors, church family, are precious and complicated. But do you have that one person in your life who holds you accountable? Not someone who always tells you how great you are – but one who asks the hard questions, who keeps you grounded? 

And are you that friend to them, too? Do you encourage each other in your walk with the Lord and demand holiness of each other? Do you pray for them and know they pray for you? 

I would encourage us all to nurture a godly best-friendship. David’s life was spared as a result of his friendship with Jonathan. It was that important.

Father, I pray for best-friends today. May we hold each other accountable, to encourage each other in our walk with you. May we be honest as well as loving. And may we honor you in our relationship with each other. Thank you for the privilege of being that best friend to someone dear.

April 7

Leave a reply

Judges 21, I Chronicles 6:4-15, Ruth 1&2

Ruth and Orpah loved their mother-in-law. Both young women had lost their husbands yet continued to stay with Naomi. When Naomi decided to go back to her people, Orpah left and went home to her own. Ruth begged to go with Naomi.

Orpah did nothing wrong. There were no legal or moral ties between the women any more. And it wasn’t that Orpah didn’t love Naomi. It sounds like it hadn’t been an easy decision for her to leave her mother-in-law.

I love how Ruth expressed her love for Naomi, though. Her beautiful words are often quoted at weddings. But beyond her words, Ruth expressed love in action. When they got to Bethlehem Ruth went to work to provide for herself and her mother-in-law. When she was given a good lunch, she thought of Naomi and took her the left-overs.

What I see in Ruth’s story is that love is something you do. It’s a verb. So many people think it’s just a feeling. But feelings change. 

I don’t believe in “love” at first sight. I believe in attraction, in interest at first sight. But those things are not love. I don’t believe in “falling” in love, either. Or the mistaken idea you can’t help who you love. As thinking humans who make choices, love is a choice. I see those other ideas as Satan’s attempts to corrupt God’s provision of marriage between a man and a woman.

Ruth loved Naomi. She demonstrated that by what she did. God loves us. And he demonstrated that by what he did, too. He died for us while we were yet sinners.

Ruth’s and Jesus’ examples of love speak loudly to me today. May I demonstrate the love I have for my family, for my friends, for my Lord, by what I do and say today.

 

January 24

Leave a reply

Genesis 28:10-30:43

I think one of the sweetest verses in Scripture is 29:20. Jacob worked for Laban seven years in order to marry Rachel. But the Bible says it seemed like only a few days because of his love for her.

People who enjoy happy marriages are truly blessed. Fifty years with the one you love can seem like a few days.

God is asking… How much do you love me? Does my being in your life make the days go by quickly, even when we are busy sharing the gospel? Is the thought of spending eternity with me so sweet that it’s always before you? Is the work I’ve called you to do done out of love with a joyful heart?

Isn’t it true that when a man and woman fall in love you can see it in their faces? They talk about the other all the time. They can’t spend enough time with each other. Everything reminds them of their love.

Lord, renew my love for you. I want to love you like you deserve to be loved. May I love you so much I can’t help but talk about you and may that love be evident on my face and in my life.