DAY 1(LOVE) - Perfect Love
Brooke Keith - Contributing Writer (CBN)
“And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.” 1 John 4:17
As children, we all dream about happily ever after. We pine away waiting for the
knight on the white horse or daydream about love that is never anything less than
perfect. When you think of perfect love . . . who do you think of? While most of
you probably said Cinderella and Prince Charming; when I think of perfect love,
my thoughts turn to Adam and Eve.
Kind of a bad choice for “perfect love” you might say; but Adam and Eve, while
best known for the single worst mistake in history, were still the first couple ever
made for each other in the literal and spiritual sense. God made Eve especially
for Adam. She was made for him and from him. Their relationship was God’s
handiwork and despite the whole apple thing, they created quite the life together.
Just like many love stories today, I have never turned a pumpkin into a carriage
and my husband has never trotted in on a white horse to save me from some
wicked queen. However, I have turned lemons into lemonade many days and he
makes the cutest neigh when he gives our kids piggyback rides around the front
lawn. We bicker from time to time. We don’t go dancing on Friday nights or
awake every morning to breakfast in bed. He snores. I nag. He watches too
much Sports Center and I watch too much Lifetime. But while we two are far from
perfect, we love each other perfectly. God created our marriage in His perfect
manner, in His perfect way . . . as only He can do.
God tells us in 1 John 4:12, “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his
love is perfected in us.” So even though Adam and Eve were the epitome of
imperfection, even though Adam probably forgot to take out the trash and Eve
probably forgot to wash his leaf now and then, their imperfection was made
perfect in their love for one another. No matter how flawed they were, their
marriage was created in perfect love because the Master created it and He dwelt
within the midst.
Don’t stress over living up to the fairytale. Your love story, no matter how simple
or how elaborate, was designed by God. He perfected it. He wrote it. He even
illustrated it and signed his name on your copy. He’s the author and the finisher.
(Hebrews 12:2)
Happily ever after doesn’t always come with ball gowns and white horses. Most
of the time, it comes with sweat pants and minivans . . . but that’s ok, because if
it comes from God, it’s perfect and nothing less.
DAY 2 (LOVE) - Give Thanks for a Love that Endures
Debbie Hannah Skinner
Give Thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever (Psalm 118:1).
Read It: Luke 17:11-19
Washing the dishes is my daughter's daily contribution to our family's "household
maintenance." Unfortunately, like many busy teenagers, she sometimes forgets
to do the job or lets other activities (like talking on the phone or watching
television) get in the way of upholding her responsibility. That means we have to
jog her memory a bit to get her to do this chore. After one recent reminder, she
protested, "If you just wouldn't say anything, I would do it!" She is becoming more
responsible around the house, but the fact is, there are still times when the
dishes are piled toward the ceiling and she needs a cue, a little added nudge, to
do her work.
We all need reminders sometime. God, in His great mercy, condensed many of
His very thoughts into the Bible for us as a life guide. As the perfect, loving
Heavenly Father He is, He uses His word to give us, His beloved children, some
much needed reminders. He repeats words and phrases throughout Scripture to
help us remember some of the things we are prone to forget. I've yet to find an
admonition in the Bible that I can share with my daughter, saying, "Do the
dishes," but another phrase that is repeated nineteen times in Scripture has
gotten my attention lately. Here it is: "Give thanks to the Lord."
I started thinking one day, why does God tell us to give thanks? Why does He
have to remind us to thank Him? Reflecting on our family's daily dish washing
scenario made me realize: it is because we often forget!
After Jesus healed the ten men who had cried out to Him for healing from leprosy
(Read It: Luke 17:11-19 above), only one of them came back to thank Him. Jesus
poignantly asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?" Isn't it
interesting that Jesus received ten requests for help, yet only one person came
back to say "thank you" to Jesus by "praising God in a loud voice." Just like those
nine ungrateful lepers, we are all prone to forget to give thanks to God.
God is so good to provide for our every need. He meets our physical needs
through things like food, clothing and shelter. He gives us a sense of belonging
through our family and friends. He heals broken bodies and wrecked
relationships. But in Psalm 118, King David adds an even greater dimension to
why God deserves our thanks: His love endures forever. That powerful little fourword phrase is found over 40 times in Scripture and it's meaning is mindboggling. Enduring love does not change according to the behavior of the
recipients of that love. Enduring love remains strong and unyielding, even in the
face of misfortune. Enduring love holds on through hardship and refuses to give
in. That's the magnificent kind of love God has for us. Wow! He deserves our
thanks.
DAY 3 (LOVE) – Love Truth –Joyce Meyer
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is
the Head, that is, Christ. Ephesians 4:15 NIV
If you want to become fully mature in the Lord, you must learn to love truth.
Otherwise, you will always leave open a door of deception for the enemy to take
what is meant to be yours.
Some people have a difficult time facing truth and reality. They prefer to live in a
make-believe world, pretending that certain things aren't happening. But we
cannot deny the existence of problems or act as if they are not real. The devil is
real, life is real, people are real, pain is real, and poverty is real. The good news
is that no matter how real our pain may be, or how big our problems may seem,
we can overcome all of them with the Word of God.
Enjoy Your Whole Day
I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will show forth (recount and tell
aloud) all Your marvelous works and wonderful deeds! Psalm 9:1
Some Christians feel guilty when they are doing something that isn't "spiritual."
Somehow or another, they feel the need to hurry through the grocery store, dash
through the house cleaning, and rush through all the daily aspects of life that
seem irrelevant to their faith. They want to get back to doing something "spiritual"
so God will be pleased with them again.
God did not intend for you to hate the secular side of life. You can enjoy holiness
and time with God even when you are doing daily chores, running errands, or
taking the children somewhere they need to go. Don't begrudge the routine
things of life; see every activity as an opportunity to serve God with your whole
heart.
Encourage, Don't Criticize
Therefore encourage (admonish, exhort) one another and edify (strengthen and
build up) one another. 1 Thessalonians 5:11
We can improve our relationships with others by leaps and bounds if we become
encouragers instead of critics. It is the greater person who does the right thing;
Christ's righteousness dwells in you to help you do what is right. You are great in
God's eyes when you choose to do right and bless others.
No matter how rough your day is today, speak words that uplift and encourage
those around you. Encourage others if you notice them doing a good job-not just
those who work with you, but people wherever you go, such as store clerks, auto
mechanics, and waiters. Say something like, "I appreciate the extra effort you are
making to do your job well." You can change your life and someone else's by
choosing to speak positive words.
DAY 4 (LOVE) – God Really Loves Us- Wally Odum
Charlotte Mortimer described her adult education, creative writing class. The
teacher asked all the students to write “I love you” in 25 words or less, without
using the words, “I love you.”
The class was given 15 minutes to complete the assignment. Charlotte wrote that
one woman spent about 10 minutes looking at the ceiling and wiggling in her
seat. Then the last five minutes, she wrote frantically. Later she read her
composition to the class. It consisted of three loving statements:
“Why, I’ve seen lots worse hairdos than that, honey.”
“These cookies are hardly burned at all.”
“Cuddle up-I’ll get your feet warm.”
It tells us something about her husband. It also tells us something about the
practical side of love.
I don’t know if anyone else spends much time wondering why God loves us, but
sometimes His love is a mystery to me. I know my inadequacies and
shortcomings. I also know that God loves me in spite of them. Moses’ words to
Israel in Deuteronomy 7:7-8 comfort me. He explains God’s love for them to the
Israelites:
“The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were
more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it
was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your
forefathers that He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from
the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh King of Egypt.”
Our might and importance have nothing to do with God’s affection for us. He just
loves us. John 3:16 may be the most memorized verse in the Bible: “God so
loved the world...”
A book that touched me was Love Beyond Reason, by John Ortberg. In the book,
Ortberg describes a doll, Pandy, that belonged to his sister, Barbie. By the time
he knew Pandy he says, “She had lost a lot of hair, one arm was missing, and
she’d had the stuffing knocked out of her.” Not impressed with Pandy’s beauty,
he felt that she was too damaged to be even given away.
He remembers his family going to Canada from Illinois for vacation. On the return
trip they realized that they had left the doll in Canada and had to drive all the way
back to Canada to retrieve her. Pandy was that important to his sister.
When Barbie married and had a little girl of her own, Courtney, his sister had
Pandy restored and kept her as Courtney’s doll. Ortberg’s reflection on Pandy’s
story impacted me deeply. He wrote, “When Pandy was young, Barbie loved her.
She celebrated her beauty. When Pandy was old and ragged, Barbie loved her
still. Now she did not simply love Pandy because Pandy was beautiful, she loved
her with the kind of love that made Pandy beautiful.”
That’s what God’s love has done for us. He doesn’t love us because we are
beautiful, His love makes us attractive.
Sometimes it is hard for us to receive undeserved love, so we try to earn it.
Richard Bellinger, a young boy in South Carolina, was the son of a Baptist
minister. One Saturday night, Richard decided to shine his father’s shoes. The
following night his father put a silver dollar on the bureau of his son’s room with a
note commending his son for what he had done, and telling him that the dollar
was his reward. The next morning, when the father put on his shoes, he felt
something hard and metallic in one of them. When he took the shoe off and
reached inside, he found the silver dollar he had given to his son the night
before. Along with the dollar was a note that simply read, “I did it for love!”
What God has done for us, He did for love. Instead of trying to understand it, or
deserve it, or pay for it, He just wants us to receive it and say, “Thank you.”
When we do that, His love begins to change us. And does His love ever have the
power to change us!
Gwen and I pastored outside Baltimore, Maryland early in our ministry. I was
drawn to a story I read about a college in that area. One of the local college
professors gave an assignment to his class. He asked them to go into the
economically impoverished communities to get case histories of 200 young boys.
They were asked to write an evaluation of each boy’s future. In every case the
students wrote something like, “He hasn’t got a chance.”
Twenty-five years later another sociology professor came across the earlier
study. He decided to use his class to follow up on the previous survey in order to
see what had happened to those boys. With the exception of 20 boys who had
moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had
achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors, and businessmen.
The professor was astounded at the results and decided to pursue the matter
further. Fortunately, the 176 men still lived in the area and his class interviewed
each of them. They were asked the question, “How do you account for your
success?” In each case the reply came with feeling, “There was a teacher.”
Investigating, the professor learned that the teacher was still alive. He personally
went to speak with her. He asked her what magic formula she had used to pull
these boys out of the slums into successful achievement. The teacher looked at
him, broke into a smile, and said, “It’s really very simple, I loved those boys.”
God loves us. When we are about to step into heaven because we have believed
in Him, if someone asks us why we made it, we can confidently say, “He just
loved us.”
The kind of love God has for us cost Him dearly. John MacArthur told of an
incident that occurred during Oliver Cromwell’s reign as Lord Protector of
England. A young soldier was scheduled to be executed. The girl to whom he
was engaged pleaded with Cromwell to spare the life of her beloved, but
Cromwell was resistant to her request. The young man was to be executed when
the curfew bell sounded.
However, when the sexton repeatedly pulled the rope to signal the execution the
bell made no sound. The soldier’s fiancé had climbed into the belfry and wrapped
herself around the clapper so that it could not strike the bell. Her body was
smashed and bruised, but she did not let go until the clapper stopped swinging.
She managed to climb down, bruised and bleeding, to meet those gathered to
witness the execution. When she explained what she had done, Cromwell
commuted the sentence.
A poet beautifully recorded the story as follows:
“At his feet she told her story, showed her hands all bruised and torn, And her
sweet young face still haggard with the anguish it had worn, Touched his heart
with sudden pity, lit his eyes with misty light. ‘Go, your lover lives,’ said Cromwell;
‘Curfew will not ring tonight.’ ”
God loves us. His body still bears the scars from His suffering so we would not
die. He wants us to believe that and allow His love to change us. When I know
God loves me that much I can never give up on myself.
DAY 5 (LOVE)- Love is a Verb – Kim DeHoog
I’m not sure we often view love as a choice. We are raised with a fanciful
imagination sweeping us off to places where we will fall helplessly in love with
someone else. Based on movies today, one might think that even if the beautiful
dame resisted, it would do no good. Clearly, love has seized her and she is
powerless in its grip. It is almost as if we expect love to happen to us. We are
passive and waiting for the almighty force of love to smack us upside the head.
But sometimes it doesn’t.
In the fall of 2003, I moved to the Dominican Republic and entered into a small
community of missionaries. Having grown up in a town that barely made the
map, I was used to small town ethics. Everybody knows everybody and nobody
can do anything without everybody knowing. But in the Dominican Republic, I
initially resisted this. I put up a wall and kept a safe distance from everyone. It
looked like I loved them, but really, I just co-existed with them. Meanwhile, I
waited for love to strike.
But after a while, I noticed love wasn’t flowing naturally out of me. I knew it wasn’t
the fault of the incredible people around me. They were so dear to me and still
are. It was my fault. I felt that God had plunked me down in a random village in
the Dominican Republic with no choice but to make the best of it. And though it
took time, eventually, that’s exactly what I did.
With infrequent electricity, often there was nothing to do except sit around
candlelight and talk for hours at a time. It was a simple life, stripped down to the
basics, and that left very little pretense. It was through these kinds of bare
encounters that I learned that love does not choose us, we choose it.
Similarly, when we look at the first chapter of Ruth, we see that Ruth chose to
love Naomi, even when the consequences looked bleak. If Ruth turned back and
left Naomi, she would have had an easier time remarrying, which was crucial to a
woman’s worth in those times. She was still young. She could have really done
something with her life if she had just stayed with her own people … and that is
what Naomi urges her to do. But Ruth responded:
Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and
where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.
Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be
it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me Ruth 1:16,17
In verse 18, we read that Naomi finally realized that Ruth was “determined”. Any
lesser love would not have been enough. It took a deliberate, almost stubborn
love to prove to Naomi that Ruth was serious about her commitment. Naomi was
almost all the family that Ruth had left. Maybe she was not the family member
that Ruth would have chosen to love, but Ruth chose to love her anyway.
We have all been put on earth together for a reason, and the difficulty of love is
exactly what enables it to be so powerful. When we have no choice about who to
love, love becomes harder. Perhaps we need to stop waiting for a feeling of love.
The fact is, when we can’t choose the people we love, we choose to love the
people we have, and that is a far richer experience. And in doing so, we reflect
the love of God, who chose to love us before any of us loved Him.
1 Peter 1:22 says, “… love one another deeply.” This kind of love is not a noun,
not an adjective, it’s a verb. It’s a very deliberate action. That is the love of our
Father and the love He calls us to have for one another.
DAY 6 (LOVE) – We Know Love by This –Jennifer Devlin
“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down
our lives for the brethren”. 1 John 3:16
I find it impossible to lose sight of the fact that Christ not only died for our sins,
but He also endured everything we would have to endure, so that we could never
say that He didn’t understand our problems.
In the verse above, we see how Jesus shows His unconditional, undeserved love
through His willingness to die for us in order to give us life. With this action on His
part, He has every right to request that we offer the littlest portion of such a
gesture for someone else. This verse doesn’t only talk about showing love by
losing your physical life; but also about setting aside your own agenda in order to
help, reach out to, and love others.
If you think there are no people on earth today that are willing to die for their
fellow man, look again! All you have to do is take a look around your
community—from the policemen, firemen, and emergency crews to members of
the military.
We see that such a love for others is all around us. It doesn’t have to be as
glamorous as the secret service in their dapper suits and earpiece
communications to be a life-saving profession. We all witnessed countless
heroes on 9/11 and during other tragedies who did their all to save the lives of
others.
We see accounts of heroism on some level just about every night on the evening
news. People are seen laying their own lives on the line for someone else. How
much more should we be willing to lay down our lives for others since we have
the example of Christ being sacrificed once for all men!
If you ask any of these people, (servicemen and women, firemen, policemen,
etc.) “why” they do what they do, they may not be able to tell you, it’s just
something in them—a sense of duty that makes them willing. It’s the same with
our faith! With the Holy Spirit in us, we will just be walking in the Spirit, willing to
do what we should as we love each other.
The picture of love that Christ showed us is perfect. Love in its simplest form
according to Christ is obedience. Christ was obedient to the Father and became
the ultimate sacrifice; a greater example of love does not exist!
In John 14:15 we see Jesus give guidance on our relationship with Him, where
He says, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
Obedience is a result of love and respect. When we love Jesus, we obey His
requests. Jesus loved the Father and obeyed His commands.
We love God and others, and one way we show our love is through obeying
God’s commands. Jesus clearly tells His people,
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have
loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are
My disciples, if you have love for one another." John 13:34
In this, we can see that loving one another Jesus’ way is more than “mushy
gushy love talk” and a quick hug. It’s the real, lay down your life, pull together
and help someone where they need you (even when it’s not easy) type gesture
backed up by genuine, hard-working action. Love is the best when it is being
“worked out” and actions are involved. Love is an action. It is not just a passing
emotion that requires little more than brainpower and some smooth talk!
Jesus showed love to those He came into contact with during His earthly ministry
by improving their situation. He impacted their lives in positive ways. He cast out
demons, making the possessed emotionally whole. He healed physical
conditions; He helped out at a wedding to bring honor to those hosting it. He
changed lives. Jesus helped us all by giving us the hope of salvation.
Day 7 (LOVE) – Love and the Electric Tea Kettle – Debbie Burgett
My poor old tea kettle had finally kicked the bucket. I walked into the kitchen one
morning and found water covering the stove top. It had whistled its last whistle.
But I knew one thing for sure. I didn't want a new electric one to replace it.
With all kinds of electrical gadgets, TVs and now even computers adorning
kitchens, I was determined to keep at least one thing that embodied for me a
slower, gentler, less complicated era—a simple, stove-top tea kettle. Besides, we
didn't have room on the counter anyway.
There was just one problem. My husband really wanted one.
After a trip to visit his sister, he came home raving about electric kettles.
"They cut the boiling time in half and don't heat up the whole kitchen!"
Since we live in Florida, he thought this was a real plus in their favor.
But I couldn't be persuaded. I'd rather die of heat exhaustion before I cluttered up
my counter.
However, since I hadn't found the exact kettle I wanted yet, I began using a small
pan. What a mess. It poured everywhere except in the cup, left hard-water stains
on the interior and seemed to take forever to boil. The longer the situation went
on, the more frustrated I became. Why couldn't I find the kettle I wanted?
Then Philippians 2:4 brought the answer into focus:
"Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of
others."
I knew I needed to want the kettle that my husband wanted. Isn't that how love is
supposed to work? And isn't that how it worked when we first got married? We
actually enjoyed wanting what the other one wanted, not because we really
wanted it ourselves, but because we loved them and they wanted it.
I realized this was an opportunity to give my husband the gift he had so often
given me—the gift of wanting what the other wants.
So early the next Saturday, I said, "You know what? I think we do need an
electric tea kettle. You want to go help me pick one out?"
I wish you could have seen my husband's face as he nearly jumped out of bed.
He couldn't get ready fast enough!
But it turns out God had been waiting for this very change of heart to give me
something much more than just a tea kettle.
We soon found one that we liked and it was even on sale. But I would have been
willing to pay much more for the special light it brought to my husband's eyes that
day. As he squeezed my hand and led me excitedly through the store toward the
kitchen appliances, that light clearly said,
"This is my wife and I love her. She cares deeply about every detail of my life—
even tea kettles."
Yes, I would have paid dearly for the priceless gift that seeing those thoughts
gave me.
And surprise, surprise—there was room on the counter after all, without looking
cluttered.
Imagine that.
Now I'm the one raving about how fast the water boils and also, about the filter
which keeps all the hard water "gunk" out of the cup. Had I known about the
totally clear tea I could have been drinking all along, I would have gotten an
electric one years ago.
But I'm raving even more about the God who loves us too much to stop working
in our hearts.
Sometimes, we just don't know what we're missing by wanting what we want. We
think that what we want is the best choice and that it will make everything good
and right and better. But often our choices are actually settling for so much less.
I'm very grateful that God didn't allow me to settle for what I thought I wanted.
Now as I pour another steaming cup of tea and set the kettle back in place, I
know I always want to make room on the counter of my life for what God wants to
put there—a wonderful blessing that I may be resisting.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways …"
Isaiah 55:8