Romans 8:37-39 (NLT) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT) Love never gives up, never loses faith, is
always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
God never gives up on us.
God’s love never leaves us. Other
people may leave us or just withdraw for a while. We may even give up on ourselves. But God never will. I have to say that the longer I think about
that, the more I don’t understand it. I
give up on people a lot and even feel justified in doing so. Sometimes I feel like I have to withdraw
sometimes out of self-preservation. And
I when I fret about my poor ability to keep loving, I often tell myself that
God can keep loving long after I stop because after all, God is God and I’m
not. This is true. But this scripture won’t let me off the
hook. I still feel called to persevering
love (and by that, you know by now that I mean loving action).
The reality is that sometimes I’m “all out of love” (a
reference to what you many would find an extremely cringe-worthy Air Supply
song). What I notice about myself in
those low moments is that I am not only unable to love the other, but I am also
woefully out of touch with God’s love for me.
I also notice that some of the times I have been able to love someone
even when it’s really hard have also been times when I felt God’s love the
most. Those two things are
connected. Actively loving others
actually draws us more fully into God’s love AND connecting with God’s love
helps us love others when it's hard.
Today concludes our series on Faith, Hope, and Love. We will begin a new series tomorrow. No, I’m not telling you what it is. You’ll just have to wait and see. Until then, I love you all!
Question: Do you
think there is a connection between our connection to God’s love and our loving
action towards others?
Prayer: God, thank
you for never giving up on us. Help us
to see that there is no one that you ever give up on. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for world peace. I know that’s a cliché’
but there are mounting tensions between nations right now. The last thing we need right now is yet
another war.
Song: Casting Crowns
(w/ Steven Curtis Chapman) Listen to Our Hearts
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