Blog Posts

God's Love Builds a Bridge

2/15/2023

Wednesday’s Word
By Dorette Saunders

Today is Valentine’s Day. It’s almost midway in the U.S. tax filing season, and a week before the start of Lent. Strangely enough, but those little reminders seem to pose a number of questions. Our answers may require check marks in a real or figurative box.

She loves me? He loves me not? Am I married filing single? Am I divorced but head of household? What do I give up for Lent? What do I do after Lent is over?

All these questions, and others like them, can make us feel fragmented, as if our lives are compartmentalized. But don’t let them. If there is one box God wants you to check, it’s this one. And, surprise…! He’s already checked it off for you. Which one is it? It’s a box with the word “LOVED!” checked off in bright red.

Whether today finds you reminiscing former intimate times, or basking in the light of a forever love, or bitter because your life or love didn’t turn out the way you planned it, or sad because there’s a gaping hole in your dreams, take a long look at the box God checked off…LOVED!

You are loved! Let the words marinate in your mind. God loves you like crazy. Of the billions of people in the world, he chose to love you. God knows that his love builds a bridge to all that you seek. And love starts with God. God is love. No one has ever loved you like this, and no one ever will. Not today. Not ever.

Think about it. God says you are the apple of his eye (Zechariah 2:8). Like a young man in love, God has written your name on the palm of his hand (Isaiah 49:16). He takes delight in you and sings over you (Zephaniah 3:17). God further demonstrated his great love for you by sending his only Son, Jesus, to die for your sins (Romans 5:8). There is no greater love! And nothing can separate you from the love of God which is found in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39).

So seize the day! Share God’s love with those around you. God’s love is the bridge that will carry you safely across to accomplish all that God wants you to do.

Banish anger. Deflect regret. Forgive what seems unforgiveable (this includes forgiving yourself!) Serve cheerfully. Love with abandon. Cross the bridge to all the things you hope and dream about. God’s love is the span. It can carry more than the weight of the burdens that you need to cast off.

God’s love builds a bridge…and in his faithfulness, he tenderly carries each one of us across it. Look once more at the box God has checked off and say these words out loud, “I am loved! Yes, I am loved by God!”

PRAYER: Ever-loving God, I am forever amazed that you chose to love me. Thank you that your amazing grace reaches even me. Help me, as I luxuriate in this overflow of undeserved love, to share the love I have received from you with those around me. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

©M©dytations 2023

0 Comments

Love Letters

2/8/2023

0 Comments

Wednesday’s Word
by Dorette Saunders

Do you remember when people used to write letters? Love letters? If the truth be told, there is something about pouring out your heart on paper for someone else to read. If you have your own stash of such letters hidden in your basement or at your parents’ house, you’ll understand how absolutely priceless this is.

Perhaps you’ll say that you don’t subscribe to love letters—but if you think carefully about it, you do. Do you realize that the Bible is God’s love letter to us? Book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. While some may classify the Bible as a rule book, we can equally view it as a love letter from God to guide us over treacherous paths while we live in this world. It’s precisely because God loves us that he doesn’t want us to make missteps.

Think about your love relationships. You navigate each one knowing what the other person likes and expects through conversations and spending quality time with them. The same is true for God. God has recorded his conversations for us in the Bible, telling us what he likes and what he expects from us.

God expects us to have conversations with him and to spend quality time in his presence. In turn, he tells us on every page of his Word just how much he loves us. God also shows us what we must avoid if we are to live a life of victory.

But that’s not all. When we, with rebellious hearts, refuse to believe him, God sent Jesus to tell us of his love for us. God sent Jesus to remind us, to prove it, by writing the letter with his own blood!

Here are some lines taken from the love letters:

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
    I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”
                                                 (Jeremiah 31:3, NIV)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
                                                (John 3:16, 17, NIV)

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
                                               (Romans 5:8, NIV)

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
                                              (John 15:11, NIV)

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
                                              (1 John 3:16-18, NIV)

Are you willing to read more of the letters? First, pray and ask God to unlock more of his loving words to you so that you may know without a doubt that God loves you, and that his letters were written with you in mind.

Remember, God shares his heart in the Bible by giving you his most precious possession—his Son. How will you respond?

PRAYER: Loving God, write your letter on the door of our hearts. Seal it with your gracious love. Help us to honor and worship you in loving obedience. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

                                                                                   ©M©dytations 2023

0 Comments

Heart Matters

2/1/2023

0 Comments

Wednesday’s Word
by Dorette Saunders

The month of February is often seen as a time when diehard romantics celebrate “love” — on the 14th day—Valentine’s Day. This is when chocolates, teddy bears, red hearts, expensive meals, and wedding proposals accompany hugs and kisses and other signs of loving affection.

And, there is nothing wrong with such fancy display of love. Indeed, love is to be celebrated. Yet, in the midst of such joyous celebration, there are many who do not have such attention directed toward them and dread the day.

Perhaps this year we can view it differently. How? By examining what truly matters. Over and over the Bible gives us guidelines on how we are to love. The apostle Paul tells us:

“Be sincere in your love for others. Hate everything that is evil and hold tight to everything that is good. Love each other as brothers and sisters and honor others more than you do yourself. Never give up. Eagerly follow the Holy Spirit and serve the Lord” (Romans 12:9-11, CEV).

We cannot truly love unless we learn how to love from God. If we “eagerly follow the Holy Spirit,” there is no doubt that he will change the posture of our hearts, and allow us to truly love as God loves.

This love that God gives us encompasses the whole spectrum—from learning how to love strangers and family to offering sacrificial love to our spouses.

Yet, love makes us vulnerable. And true love requires that we hold nothing back as we demonstrate our willingness to put something or someone else above ourselves.

Here is what the Scriptures declare:

“…The Lord our God is the only true God! So love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, CEV).

Jesus reiterates it, saying:

“‘You must love him [God] with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.’ The second most important commandment says: ‘Love others as much as you love yourself.’ No other commandment is more important than these” (Mark 12:30,31, CEV).

When we celebrate love, we cannot leave God out of the equation. Love starts with God because God himself is love (1 John 4:16).

This year Lent begins on February 22. It gives us an opportunity to pause and look at the heart of Jesus and his sacrificial love for us. His was a love that would not let us go. Jesus’ love was not for a day, but for eternity. It was a love that surpassed human understanding. None of us deserved it, yet our Lord freely gave us his love—all of it.

Let’s take time to examine our own hearts, it’s a matter of life and love.

PRAYER: Loving God, our attempts at love pale in comparison to your great love for us. Teach us to love not only those who delight our hearts, but also those who are often considered the “least of these.” In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

©M©dytations 2023

0 Comments

So They Will Turn From Darkness

1/25/2023

0 Comments

Wednesday’s Word
by Dorette Saunders

The apostle Paul was arrested for preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a radical gospel for the people of his day considering that it was based on Jesus being the Son of God who had come to save people from their sins.

The chief priests and other Jewish leaders were threatened by this gospel so they arranged for Paul to be seized in the temple and they brought a fraudulent case against him. (Acts 26:9-21).

In his defense, Paul not only recounts his amazing conversion to Christianity (he had previously spent his life persecuting Christians) but he also recounts the message Jesus gave him.

The Lord also said, “I will protect you from the Jews and from the Gentiles that I am sending you to. I want you to open their eyes, so they will turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then their sins will be forgiven, and by faith in me they will become part of God's holy people” (Acts 26:17, 18, CEV).

If you are a follower of Jesus, this message is for you, too. All of us are to be witnesses of the life-changing gospel of Jesus and we are to share it with others “so they will turn from darkness.”

Isn’t it amazing that when difficulties overwhelm us, we tend to tell ourselves that there is a light at the end of the tunnel? Yet, if truth be told, when we are following Jesus, the light is not somewhere out there, but it is present with us at all times.

Listen to what Jesus says: “I am the light for the world! Follow me, and you won't be walking in the dark. You will have the light that gives life” (John 8:12, CEV).

Jesus is that light which gives life. The Bible tells us that “the light keeps shining in the dark, and the darkness has never put it out” (John 1:5, CEV).

Moving from darkness to light is a biblical metaphor for relinquishing sin to adopt the truth of the gospel, of acknowledging Jesus as Lord and Savior, and accepting his forgiveness of our sins.

When Jesus preached his first sermon (Luke 4:16-21), he opened with these words:
The Lord's Spirit
    has come to me,
because he has chosen me
to tell the good news…
                               (v. 18, CEV)

Included in that “good news” was Jesus’ announcement that he would “give sight to the blind” (v.18). And while Jesus healed many people of various diseases, including blindness, he was speaking of removing spiritual blindness so people would “see” and acknowledge him as the Messiah, the Son of God.

Look around at our world. Many are walking in spiritual darkness. Our hour has come to be witnesses and to pray for the healing of blind eyes to be open. It is our time to proclaim what we have seen and heard; it is our time to share testimonies of the faithfulness of God over our lives. Surely, God has chosen us to share the Good News so that many will turn from darkness to the light.

PRAYER: Light of the world, we ask you to illumine those who do not know you. Help us to shine our light so that your love and grace may be reflected in us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
                                                                                        ©M©dytations 2023

0 Comments

Unity in the Body of Christ

1/18/2023

0 Comments

Wednesday’s Word
by Dorette Saunders

Today begins “The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” (January 18-25), with its theme: Do good; seek justice. The week encourages Christians to pattern Jesus’ prayer for his followers by striving for unity among themselves. In his prayer to his Father, Jesus said:

I am not praying just for these followers. I am also praying for everyone else who will have faith because of what my followers will say about me. I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us. Then the people of this world will believe that you sent me” (John 17:20, 21, CEV).

Jesus was praying for unity within the body of Christ. How can we be connected to Christ if there is division among those who bear his name? We, who are many parts, are called to be one, joined by Christ, the head of the body.

The apostle Paul repeats the call for unity by telling us explicitly:
“My dear friends, as a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ, I beg you to get along with each other. Don't take sides. Always try to agree in what you think” (1 Corinthians 1:10, CEV).

And while agreement may not come easily to many of us, we can at least be respectful and agree to disagree.

In a world that prides itself on individualism, Christian unity may sound intrusive, restrictive, or even frightening. But, it need not be. Unity does not mean we are homogeneous. Far from it, we come together in all our diversity, with glorious gifts and talents that we have received from God himself. These gifts are not ours only, but are to be shared with those who need to see and feel God’s holy presence at work in the world around them. We are witnesses of God’s power, and our mandate is clear.

The Lord God has told us
what is right
    and what he demands:
“See that justice is done,
let mercy be your first concern,
    and humbly obey your God.”
                                    (Micah 6:8, CEV)

Too often our silence and social inertia have made us complicit by maintaining the status quo. We allow our brothers and sisters to be oppressed and be treated unjustly. That is not what God wants.

We are indeed our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper, and we are called to do good works, and to show mercy. Not in our own strength, but in the strength that comes from God. It is in God’s strength that we gain confidence and are empowered to carry out God’s commands.

We are called to point out injustice, racism, and oppression, and speak out against such behaviors. And where possible, we should take steps to eradicate it. If, as Christians, we are united in our mission, if we are at one with each other, and with Christ Jesus, then the world will truly know that we belong to God.

PRAYER: God, grant us wisdom that we may embrace unity wholeheartedly. That we may see beyond our differences and catch a glimpse of what you want your people to be—diverse yet dutiful in keeping your commands. Help us to pursue peace, and have a passion for justice that we may be one with each other, and one with you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
                                                                            ©M©dytations 2023

0 Comments

<<Previous

Forward>>

God's Love Builds a Bridge

Love Letters

Heart Matters

So They Will Turn From Darkness

Unity in the Body of Christ

Author

Archives

Categories