1 John 4:7-12  [NIV] | ⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

From the moment Teddy walked into Ms. Thompson’s fifth grade classroom, she took an immediate dislike to the boy. She knew it was wrong. He was dirty, he smelled funny, and his intellect left a lot to be desired. She began to take immense pleasure in marking red x’s on his papers.

As the holidays approached, Ms. Thompson felt compelled to look up Teddy’s school history. What she found made her wish she had done so sooner. Teddy had started out well in first grade, but his mother’s illness while he was in second grade and her subsequent death during Teddy’s third grade year sent him into a spiral from which he had not recovered.

It was the last day before the Christmas break and Ms. Thompson’s desk was piled with gifts from the students. She worked her way down to the very last gift – a package wrapped with a brown paper bag, sealed with masking tape and decorated with hand-drawn Christmas trees and red bells. Giggles and snickers rattled through the room as she opened the gift and two items fell out onto her desk – a gaudy rhinestone bracelet with a couple stones missing and a half-empty bottle of cheap perfume. In an attempt to quell the laughter, Ms. Thompson stated that it was a lovely gift. She put the bracelet on her wrist and applied a dab of the perfume behind each ear.

After all the other students had left, Teddy came up to the desk and said, “Ms. Thompson, I’m glad you liked the gifts. Mom’s bracelet fits you perfectly, and you smell just like her now.”

Teddy left and Ms. Thompson locked the door behind him. She sat down at her desk and began to weep over her lack of love for the young lad.

God had to break her heart that day. It is so important to try to see people’s situations. They might not appear like us or they might turn us away by something about them, but God doesn’t turn away from us. When we start to understand the bigger picture, we start to see the person differently. If Jesus died for everyone, and we are to have the love of God in our lives, we must love them as well.

The story of Teddy and Ms. Thompson did not end on that Friday in December. When the students returned after Christmas, Ms. Thompson devoted all her energy towards tutoring Teddy. By the end of the school year, he had caught up and successfully moved on to the next grade. She lost touch with him when he moved to a new school.

Seven years later, a letter arrived in her mailbox. “Dear Ms. Thompson, I wanted you to be the first to know that I will be graduating second in my high school class.”

Four years later, another letter arrived informing her that Teddy was graduating from university at the top of his class. The third letter arrived a few years later: “Dear Ms. Thompson, I wanted you to be the first to know that as of today I am Theodore Stallard, M.D. I am going to be married in July, and I wanted to ask if you would come and sit where my mother would have sat. Dad died last year and I have no family left.”

Ms. Thompson had made a decision to love the unlovely and help the one who needed help. As a result, not only was Teddy’s life changed, but her life was also changed. That is what understanding the love of God can do in our lives.

Before God, we all have an odor; we are all unkempt. All have sinned. When God looks at us, there is nothing lovely about us. God could have turned away from us, but He is love. So instead, He sent His Son to die in our place. Jesus died not as a martyr, but as a willing sacrifice. Do not ever forget that: God loves you because God is love.

Love in Action:
Is there someone in your life that you find hard to love? Make a daily reminder to pray for them and ask God to help you love those you come into contact with.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, help me to love others as you love me. Forgive me for the time I look down on other. Help me to see other as your children. Amen

Special  thanks to In Grace with Jim Scudder, Jr. for providing this devotion.

1 John 4:10-11  [NIV] | ¹⁰This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

The book of 1 John is an unusual book. It was written by John the Apostle, also known as the apostle that Jesus loved. In 1 John, we find the word love in some form forty-six times. When we find the word love in these verses, it is the Greek word agape. Agape is a unique word. It wasn’t used much in Greek literature outside of the Bible. It is unique because it describes a certain kind of love that is unfathomable by finite people created by an infinite God.

God has revealed Himself in this book, and He starts by telling us that we need to love sacrificially, without expectation. Let us love one another; this is where we start. Scripture is the place to look to if we want to learn about God’s love and how we can love.

If we can learn how to love each other in the body of Christ when we are so different, then we can learn to love others. We can learn how to love our spouse and children. We can learn how to love our neighbors and coworkers.

How about this? The Bible also tells us that we need to show agape love even to our enemies. This is hard. Before we can love each other and even our enemies, we must understand God and His love. Let us love one another for love is of God.

When we are trying to love one another in a way that only God can, it seems that we are setting ourselves up for failure. We are being commanded to unconditionally love the unlovely, but we can’t do it. Only God can do it, because it is Who He is. Therefore, we can only do it when He is doing it through us. We can only do this when we are walking in the Spirit. When we allow Him to work in us and through us, then we can accomplish something supernatural because it is God doing it.

Prayer:
Lord, thank you for the deep love you have for us. Help me to share that same love with others everyday of my life. Amen.

Psalm 23:1-3  [NIV] | ¹The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. ²He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, ³he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

When God created the heavens and the earth, the Bible says that He rested on the seventh day. Now, if God took a rest break in His schedule, then it’s safe to say that you and I will need a rest break as well along our journey. Take the approach of doing everything in your ability to accomplish His plan for your life and then rest in the assurance that He will take care of making sure it comes to pass.

A lot of people reach a stage of burnout simply because they do not rest. They do not take the time to replenish their strength. Every now and then make sure to stop and just breathe for a moment. Taking a break from constant activity is something that can actually keep you energized as you continue to walk out God’s plan for your life.

Make no mistake about it. God wants His children to rest. When you rest, it allows you to replenish your physical, mental, and emotional strength that keeps you fighting the good fight of faith. In the book of Psalm, David gives the analogy of a shepherd making his sheep lie down and take a rest. A shepherd would do this in order to make sure his sheep were rested for the journey that was ahead of them. Sometimes the sheep would fight and struggle, but because the shepherd cared for the sheep, he would make them lie down.

Just as a shepherd cares for sheep, God cares for you. He knows the journey that lies ahead for you and He will nudge you when it’s time to rest for a moment. Taking a rest break doesn’t mean you are losing ground; it just means you are getting prepared for the journey ahead into greater things.

Prayer:
Lord, I praise and thank you for being the shepherd of my life. Help me to find rest in you for the days ahead. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Action Plan:
I will find my strength and the Lord as well as rest.

Devotion provided by Adonis Lenzy, and BroadStreet Publishing.

1 Samuel 17:33-35  [NIV] | ³³Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” ³⁴But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it.

You will never move forward until you learn to face your fears and move past them. Being a Christian doesn’t mean that you are fearless. We all have fears but what’s important is that we rely on the Word of God to help us move beyond them.

As you begin to walk out the plan that God has for your life, you will no doubt be met with unpredicted battles, roadblocks, setbacks, mountains, and giants along the path. When David, the young shepherd boy, was told by his father to take some provisions to his brothers, he had no idea that his life would forever be changed that day.

He walked to a scene of battle that had no activity. King Saul and the entire army of Israelites were frozen in fear because of a giant named Goliath. They were stuck at their camp and had no intentions on going out to battle.

When David arrived he heard the taunts of the giant and had no hesitation to go out and fight with him. He accepted the challenge and quickly defeated the giant with one rock and a slingshot. One blow to the giant’s forehead sent him crashing down to the ground.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, help me overcome my fears. Lead me to follow you with complete trust. Amen.

Copyright Adonis Lenzy, and BroadStreet Publishing

Mark 6:39-44  [NIV] |³⁹ Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. ⁴¹ Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² They all ate and were satisfied, ⁴³ and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴ The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.

When a multitude of Jesus’ followers have far too little food for all to eat, Jesus multiplies five loaves and two fishes so that all are satisfied. When problems threaten us and needs overwhelm our resources, what is our reaction? Do we turn first to the Lord? We should, as his Word makes clear, for he still treats his people with compassion and more than provides for every need of body and soul.

Living in a sinful world that attempts to derail us from trusting God, we may feel unsatisfied by the provisions of God. When Jesus asked the disciples to provide food for over five thousand people, they asked in astonishment if they should go and spend eight months’ wages on bread. A situation that seems impossible with human resources is simply an opportunity for God. We must trust God. The disciples did everything they could by gathering the available food and organizing the people into groups. Then, in answer to prayer, God did the impossible.

Sometimes all we can see is a blank wall in front of us, especially when all we see is a seemingly impossible task. God calls is to do what we can and ask him to do the rest. He may see fit to do the impossible, he may have us wait. We cannot lose sight of God’s goodness and his promise to provide for our needs. When our circumstances seem hopeless, God has our situation under his control with a promise he will satisfy according to his good and gracious will. Don’t let what seems impossible block our journey in life, do what we can and let God lead us from there.

Prayer:
Lord, help me when my trust in you is weak. Give me strength to follow your lead even when things seem impossible.

Action Plan:

I will trust in God to do immeasurably more than I can ask or think.

Pastor Rod Lindemann

I Can’t | Jesus Can | Jesus Can Through Me