Do You Know?

Devotionals — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 09:01:48 +0000

“… Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn you.” Jeremiah 31:3

The vast expanse of ocean seemed to stretch on forever. Here and there a sand laced island broke the endless blue. From the airplane window I watched as the sun danced on the rolling waves.

A song I learned as a child suddenly played across my mind:

“If we with ink the ocean fill
and were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill
and everyman a scribe by trade…
To write the love of God above
would drain the ocean dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
though stretched from sky to sky.”

From my vantage point in the sky I was reminded of our amazing God’s endless love for each of us. If that vast expanse below were ink, it would not be enough to write of His love.

Do you know, right now, how much you are loved?

Do you know God’s love for you is measureless and strong?

Do you believe it includes you… right where you are right now?

Never doubt God’s love for you.

So many people have no knowledge of the loving, personal God who calls their names. Be reminded today of how very much God loves you. Carry that knowledge in your heart in a fresh way and be amazed by it. Give it away to those along your path. Thank God for His love right now and live as a treasured child of the Father today.

Father God, Thank you that even if the ocean were ink, it would never be enough to write of Your love for me. What an amazing fact! Help me to live in the knowledge of how very much You love me. Help me never to doubt Your goodness toward me. Give me Your strength to handle the things in my life that I do not understand right now. Help me to live today as Your treasured child. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Thought: Pause right now, wherever you are reading this, and thank God that He loves you and that He always has your best interest at heart. Ask Him to show you someone today who needs His love too and pass it on in some act of kindness.

By Gail Rodgers
used by permission

FURTHER READING

Keep Yourselves in God’s Love

The Supernatural Power of God’s Love

God’s Love is Holy Love

How to Begin a Relationship God

The post Do You Know? appeared first on Thoughts About God.

Talk is Cheap Love Is Priceless

Devotionals — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 09:01:25 +0000

“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.” 1 Corinthians 13:1

One day in the summer of 2003, I stood on a street corner in New York City debating with a young man about why I thought the Bible was real. I was in Manhattan with a group from my church. We were there to promote a new church in the city by passing out subway maps and other literature.

This man who stopped to talk to me proclaimed himself a student of religion. He had studied many holy books and wanted to know my thoughts on the difficulties he saw with the Bible being authentic.

At the end of our conversation, I felt proud that I had intelligently countered his arguments. But looking back now, I am bothered by the realization that my knowledge probably did little to bring him closer to a relationship with Jesus Christ. We parted, both of us still entrenched in our own understandings.

Having background knowledge of our faith is important, but if we don’t love people the way Jesus did, then, as Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians, we are just noise.

What if I had asked about his family? What if I had asked to pray for him? What if I had encouraged him to open his heart to a love that is bigger than his understanding?

Second-guessing myself is never helpful. However, in the future I want to focus my attention less on winning a debate and more on showing God’s love to those who need to see it.

Lord, break any fear that You see in me. Holy Spirit, teach me how to love the people around me the way You do. In Jesus’ name, amen.

By Debbie West
Used by Permission

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Do You Know?

Talk is Cheap Love Is Priceless

Further Reading