Only Love
Tuesday, June
6, 2017
Only Love
Scripture:
Matthew 22:37-40
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your
God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first
and great commandment. 39 And the second is like
it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the
Prophets.”
1 John 5:2
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and
obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his
commandments.
Hebrews
10:16-17
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their
minds,” then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no
more.”
Matthew 7:12
So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for
this is the Law and the Prophets.
1 John 4:7-11, 19-21
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves
has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God,
because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that
God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In
this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son
to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought
to love one another.
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and
hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he
has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have
from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Devotional:
I have a
confession. I have a love problem. My marriage counselor, pastor and mentor
Pastor Michael Welchert coined this term. Sometimes, as he says, I think I have
an anger problem. I get frustrated with clerks, other drivers, my family, you
name it. If someone doesn’t do what I think is right, I get upset to varying
degrees. I am not a person who regularly acts out these feelings, but there are
indeed times when I am vulnerable and I let loose with choice phrases and use
my gift with words to cause more harm than good.
But I do not
have an anger problem. I have a love problem.
What is
missing is not only self control, it is not only a lack of peace. It is a lack
of love for the other person. It is failing to put them first, to seek first to
understand and then to be understood (as his wife Diana, my personal mentor and
team marriage counselor with Pastor Michael likes to remind me). I want to be
put first. I want my sense of justice to be in the forefront. I want to bring
up their fault, point out their sin, and make sure they pay.
It is so the
opposite of the woman I hunger to be! As I read these scriptures, they are at
once convicting and hope-filled. I know that if God commands me to be and do
something, He also provides the way. He is not going to require something of me
that He will not empower me to do. I want this to be most evident at home, with
my people. I want my husband to know that I am on his side and see the best in
him. I want my children to know that they don’t have to work to please me, but
that though I will call them to accountability ultimately my love is constant
and not dependent on their behavior—truly unconditional.
I pray that
the love of God will permeate our hearts and homes today. I pray that we would
have a fresh anointing to love those around us despite our feelings to the
contrary. By the power of the Holy Spirit we can walk out the most important
command of Jesus. Pray with me.
Prayer:
Father, today
I confess that I need You. I need You to love through me. I recognize that I
fail, and I need You to save me from my own failures and shortcomings. Let my
heart be Yours. Cleanse any bitterness, selfishness and pride that are keeping
me from letting Your love flow.
Intercession:
I lift up my
child(ren) to You today. Let Your love be shed abroad in their hearts, and
cause them to be healed in every place they hurt. Heal traumas. Heal wounds. Give
them peace and joy.
(Take time to
list needs and concerns for each individual).
I lift up
Your name in this home and confess that You are King of my heart and of our
family. Have Your way, and take Your throne.
In Jesus’
Name I pray, amen.
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