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A Love That Never Lets Go

2/23/2022

Wednesday’s Word
by Dorette Saunders

Although many of us spend our lives chasing after the next best thing, the truth is, what we really seek is stability. We need something or someone on which to anchor our lives.

Enter God.

The Scriptures tell us that “God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die” (John 3:16, CEV).

Notice there are no descriptors before the word “people.” God gave his Son for everyone: short people, mean people, rich people, kind people, insecure people, young people…all the people of the world. He didn’t have to, but he did, because he loved us all.

Our attitudes toward God does not change God’s nature. Talk about stability! God loves us whether or not we love him in return. He pursues us to do the right thing. God’s love is relentless, never-ending, never giving up. Like an ocean, God’s love is boundless, immeasurable. No wonder hymn writer George Matheson penned these words in 1882:

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

Many of us can relate, can’t we? Our lives have been pre-empted by a pandemic, our thoughts have been clouded by death and dying, and time, as we know it, is hurtling towards eternity. Indeed our souls are weary, as we ponder what happens next. But the love of God guides us on and enriches our lives.

Truly we owe God our lives. We could never atone for our sins. Knowing this, God sent Jesus to die in our place. We didn’t deserve it, but God did it anyway. What wondrous love!

As frail human beings we grow tired from day to day. Tired of pursuing what we think is our purpose, but are merely pointless plans. We are tired of fighting crime, racism, poverty. Indeed, we are tired of fighting to be accepted, understood, and respected. We are tired of deception in politics, in the pulpits, in the people we put our trust in. We are tired of nations forcing their will on smaller countries, disenfranchising the freedoms of their own people, and others. We are tired…

Yet, as we read God’s Word, we are reminded:
“Love is patient, love is kind…. It does not dishonor others … it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love… always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NIV).

Love perseveres. We do not have such love, nor can we understand it, but we must rally and draw upon God’s Spirit which lives within us. Furthermore, the Bible tells us:

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4, NIV).

This is the kind of love that God expects us to develop. A persevering love, a love for God and for others that never lets go. A love that produces joy and brings us into maturity. Let’s choose joy!

Matheson, the hymn writer, continues in this way:
O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

Despite the pressures that we feel to give up, we persevere because God loves us, and Christ is the solid Rock upon which we stand. We know that because God loves us, and we love God, our dreams are not deferred. They lie just beyond the dark of night, and emerge in the light of the morning.

PRAYER: Loving God, transform our hearts and minds that our love for you, and for our brothers and sisters, will be one that is pure. We praise you for loving us even when we didn’t know you or love you. Hold us now while we go through dark times. Reassure us that you, God, will never let us go. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
©Medytations 2022

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Knowing Your True Roots

2/16/2022

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February 16, 2022
Wednesday’s Word
by Dorette Saunders

It is amazing the stories the Bible tells. These narratives are true and bear witness to who God is and his relationship to his people. When we share stories, they often help us find our roots, and give us a sense of purpose and identity.

But we are more than just our ethnic roots. We are more than where our strain of DNA hailed from, or our language pattern, or even those who procreated us. We are more…much more!

Let’s lean in to Jesus as he reads the Scriptures in his local synagogue during a worship service. He is given the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, and Jesus reads the following passage:

“The Lord’s Spirit
    has come to me,
because he has chosen me
to tell the good news
    to the poor.
The Lord has sent me
to announce freedom
    for prisoners,
to give sight to the blind,
to free everyone
    who suffers,
and to say, ‘This is the year
    the Lord has chosen.’”
(Luke 4:18, 19, CEV).

Jesus’ eloquence, poise, authority, and confidence blew his audience away. You could hear the chatter and the murmuring. “Hey, isn’t this Joseph the carpenter’s son? I thought he’d become Joe’s apprentice. I don’t recall him ever going to yeshiva. Who taught him to speak like that? This is amazing!”

By linking Jesus with Joseph, the church folks were limiting him to being a mere workman with a hammer, a chisel, and a saw. But he was more than that. He was God’s Son.

Then to everyone’s surprise, as Jesus continues his discourse with them, he says, “What you have just heard me read has come true today” (v. 21).

In essence, Jesus was saying that Isaiah’s prophecy that the Messiah would come from the lineage of David was now fulfilled in him. God’s Spirit would empower him to offer salvation, heal the sick, and bring the Good News of God’s kingdom.

Jesus’ roots were planted in God, and in God’s Word. Jesus knew his true roots—he was indeed the Messiah! But the people couldn’t grasp it. They couldn’t look past what they knew of him to take hold of the promise that God had laid out for them. And as the service went on, they became angry. Angry at the truth he spoke.

And so it is with us. We anger people when we don’t fit into the pre-formed molds they have prepared for us. Yet, we are more than the sum of our parts. We come in different shapes and colors, with differing belief systems and opinions. But, at the root of it all, no matter how we see ourselves, or how others see us, we are God’s workmanship. We are God’s children. We have been formed in God’s image. His copyright is there…even if we chose not to believe in our Creator.

While the world may define you by your outward trappings: Uber driver, babysitter, postal worker, retiree, handicapped, unemployed, take time to know who you are, and where your true roots lie.

Remind yourself daily that you are a son or daughter of the King of kings. You are chosen (1 Peter 2:9). You are a jewel in his crown (Isaiah 62:3). You have been made in God’s likeness (Genesis 1:26). Crafted with great care (Psalm 139:14), and blessed and favored to receive the gifts of God’s bounty (2 Peter 1:3).

Then, do as the Scriptures tell us:
“Plant your roots in Christ and let him be the foundation for your life. Be strong in your faith, just as you were taught” (Colossians 2:7, CEV).

PRAYER: God, you who made us in your image, help us to recognize our true roots. Plant, Lord, your seed of righteousness in us, and let us water it with your Word so we may grow strong. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
©Medytations 2022

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The Great Reversal

2/9/2022

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Be Blessed by this devotional from my dear friend and sister in the Lord, Dorette Saunders

February 9, 2022
Wednesday’s Word
The Great Reversal

Can you see the crowds travelling a great distance to hear a young rabbi preach? His certainly was a different kind of message. And, certainly as some of those who were third or fourth time attendees knew, many of his messages were accompanied by miracles.

In one of Jesus’ most popular discourses, called the Sermon on the Mount, (Matthew 5—7) he gives a view of what people could expect in the kingdom of God. Here, in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 6:17-49, sometimes referred to as the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus, after a night of praying and communing with God, his Father, teaches both his newly-appointed disciples and the crowds around some of those same lessons.

While many came for the message, still others came for the healing miracles. The Bible tells us that “Large crowds of people from all over Judea, Jerusalem, and the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon were there too. These people had come to listen to Jesus and to be healed of their diseases. All who were troubled by evil spirits were also healed. Everyone was trying to touch Jesus, because power was going out from him and healing them all” (Luke 6:17-19, CEV).

Think of it in today’s language. They drove, were bussed in, they took mass transit, they walked—but they came. The mentally ill, the cancer patients, the Covid-stricken, the depressed, and those CEO’s who had it all, but whose “all” didn’t satisfy them. Jesus was standing on the plain. At their level where they could reach him, and he didn’t disappoint. The Scripture says that he healed them all. All? Yes, every one!

But more than that, he taught a lesson they were not expecting. It was a lesson of reversal, so to speak. Those who the world viewed as bereft of earthly benefits, and who believed the Good News, would receive abundance in the kingdom of heaven. Those who did not heed the gospel and did not use the wealth, talent, opportunities they were given in this life to uplift the downtrodden and marginalized, would find themselves in that same position at the end of their life.

Jesus was teaching not so much about human poverty and wealth, but rather that we must recognize that we need to empty ourselves of earthly trappings and depend only on him. It is then that we can become transformed into the likeness of God. It is then that our minds and spirits can be renewed. It is then that we can experience the kingdom of God.

Jesus preached even more radically. He encouraged his audience to love their enemies, and pray for them, too; to rejoice when they were mistreated for the cause of Christ; to treat others as they themselves wanted to be treated; and above all to forgive.

Can you see the big “What???” in their eyes? Who had ever heard of such a message? Who could ever carry our out such a command? Who would want to?

We who have the benefit of reading the Scriptures now, 2000 years later, realize that we can carry out Jesus’ command, but only through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Only if we allow the mind of Christ to be in us (Philippians 2:5). Only if we truly believe that God’s thoughts and his ways are higher than our thoughts and ways (Isaiah 55:8-9). Only if we move away from religious routine and give God pre-eminence in our life.

It seemed like an upside down gospel, but that was what was needed then and it is still needed now as we fight racial injustice, crime, gender bias, deceit and greed, and a host of social ills that plague our communities even more than the current pandemic.

At the center of Jesus’ message is love—love for God, and love for each other, these are the commandments Jesus lifts up in Matthew 22:37-40 as the most important ones. It is not too late, even now, for us to adopt these, if we would see conditions in our world reversed.

PRAYER: Loving God, help us to heed your call to be people who would follow your teachings. Help us to follow where you are leading and not where we expect to go. Cause us to make use of every opportunity to expand your kingdom here on earth. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. ©Medytations 2022

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A Love That Never Lets Go

Knowing Your True Roots

The Great Reversal

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