Weekly Devo

    Luke 15:11-32            The beautiful picture painted for us in the prodigal son is amazing to ponder. We often talk about the son and the father, the choices made, and the redemption found. But, have you ever thought about the love that never failed? The father never stopped loving his sons. Even when one went wayward, he still loved him and loved him dearly. I heard someone say to their child the other day, “Even if you make mistakes and do wrong, I still love you the same.” I know how it feels to think someone’s love may leave you. I know what it is like to worry that you will do enough wrong or the one wrong thing for their love to end. It makes for tear-filled nights and days filled with an aching heart. It causes things to be done, and a life lived out of fear. One day, I don’t remember when but I realized God is not that way. God’s love never ends. You cannot do enough wrong for God to stop loving you. That doesn’t mean His punishments or the consequences of your sins

  1 John 5:3 Love and faith go hand in hand. We have to love God to be submissive enough to keep His commands. In turn, keeping His commands shows Him our love. When we quit believing and keeping His commands, we no longer love Him. It is easier to stop loving God and love other things than we realize. Demas is a tragic example of such an occurrence (2 Timothy 4:10), who was a previous coworker with Paul. Paul was a fantastic example of Christianity, but Demas still walked away. Some today love the world instead of the truth.  They never receive love for the truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10). It’s evident when you don’t love the truth, you do what you want and satisfy yourself. If we are to love the way God desires us to, we must love the truth.

Ephesians 5:2 We live our lives because Christ paid the price we could not pay. We walk in love because of that sweet-smelling sacrifice that Christ offered. We rejoice because we have salvation in Him. We are full of joy because His truth set us free. It’s the fact that we can know we are saved, that we are in Him, and we have the eternal life that causes us to celebrate (1 John 5:20). God’s word is truth (John 17:17). Truth is a shield and buckler for us (Psalm 91:4c). Along with the freedom we have in God, by His mercy through Christ, this too should cause joy to permeate through our bodies. It is lies that cause significant pain, grieving and death (Genesis 37:31-35; 1 Kings 21:7-10). Lies suck the joy out of the love that we have for the Lord. Its destructive nature causes us tremendous heartache. God condemns lying and calls it an abomination for such reasons (Revelation 21:8; Proverbs   6:16-17 ). His wrath is poured out against those who suppress the truth (Romans 1:18c). Perha