Happy Valentine's Day! What kind of ;love letter are you lifting to God ? God is LOVE! He loves you with a never-ending, saving, refining love! Share the love ! I'm about to do that as my quiet time wraps up. Take some tome to meditate on the devos below as you abide in love and prepare to go love like Jesus! Much love to you all and shalom to you !
Upper Room: God Made Us All Different
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. - Psalm 139:14 (NRSVUE)
As I in my assigned plane seat, I took the opportunity to do a little people watching as the passengers began to flood onto the plane. I saw sad faces, happy faces, hurting faces, wrinkled faces, baby faces, and even a set of faces that looked alike (twins, I presumed). I marveled at the idea that no two people were the same, even the twins. It is amazing that God could create an entire human race and never repeat a single individual.
We are all different — in appearance, personalities, skills, abilities, and attitudes. Psalm 139:14 talks about each of us being wonderfully made in the image of God. How marvelous to know that there is no one in the world like us! We are each perfectly made and one-of-a-kind.
When you have a little time on your hands, do some people watching. You will be amazed at the originality of what God has created. We each are loved and were created by God.
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's Prayer
God, Creator of all, we praise you for making us who we are. Help us to grow confidently into who you have made us to be. Use us and help us represent you in all we do. Amen.
OUR DAILY BREAD
God’s Eternally Beloved
I have loved you with an everlasting love. Jeremiah 31:3
One of the most dramatic and mysterious love letters of all time was penned by composer Ludwig van Beethoven and was only discovered after his death in 1827. The hastily handwritten letter is full of passionate lines like, “My eternally beloved . . . I can only live either wholly with you or not at all.” Tragically, it appears the letter was never sent, and his intended recipient remains unknown.
Beethoven’s letter is treasured by readers who can identify with his desperate yearning for love. We seek love and fulfillment in many people, things, and experiences that cannot fully satisfy. But far greater than a fleeting romance is the love of God for His covenant people, to whom He showed great love for the sake of all people. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God declared, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3). Because of His great love, God promised a future of rest and favor (v. 2) and the restoration of anything that was broken (v. 4). Despite their repeated rejection and rebellion, God vowed to bring them back to Himself (v. 9).
Many years later, that same everlasting love motivated Jesus to endure death for sinners, even before we ever returned His love (Romans 5:8). We don’t have to search for love or try to earn it. We’re already loved with an everlasting love!
By Karen Pimpo
REFLECT & PRAY
In what ways do you look for love on earth? How has God demonstrated His eternal love to you?
Loving God, I’m so grateful for the way You pursue me with an everlasting love.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
God disciplined His chosen people because of their unfaithfulness. Jerusalem was destroyed and the Israelites exiled to Babylon (Jeremiah 1:14-16; 5:15-19; 6:22-23; 25:9-11). But once the discipline was complete, God brought them back from exile (30:8-17), restored their privileges as His chosen nation (vv. 18-24), and, most important, restored the people to Himself (ch. 31). He did this because of His special love and unmerited mercy. God is “Israel’s father and [Israel] is [his] firstborn son” (v. 9). He assured them, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (v. 3). God’s discipline isn’t inconsistent with His love, for “the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in” (Proverbs 3:12). We can be assured that God loves us and pursues us with His everlasting love.
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