SONG OF SONGS 8:6-7
Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned.
TO PONDER
I like the way God works. For some time now I have had a feeling of unease about how well I live out my Christian faith. Although I feel very secure in God’s love and commitment to me, I often wonder how well others, especially those who don’t know the love of Jesus, would see the love of Jesus reflected in what I say and do. And then Pastor Mat gives me a set of devotions to write under the heading of “Growing in Passion”.
Read the Bible verses above again. Although it speaks about love between a couple, it also describes how much Jesus loves us. His love and commitment to us was so strong that that it led to his death.
Generally, for me, trying harder to live the life God wants me to live ends in failure, then guilt and then depression, so I would never encourage anyone to go down this path. We are changed on the inside to be more like Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit in us. In addition to the Holy Spirit using the normal circumstances of life to grow us, He especially uses the time we spend in prayer and meditating on the Bible contents in our regular personal quiet times. And, of course, He uses the times we spend with our Christian brothers and sisters in church services and Life Groups and similar community activities.
In the Old Testament we read where Moses spent a month on Mt Sinai with God and when he came back down, his face shone so brightly that he had to wear a veil over his face. Similarly, when we spend time in conversation with God, we too are changed and God’s love shines out of us. And we are often surprised at what God achieves through what we do and say when we are not trying, but we give the Holy Spirit freedom to live in us.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for all the ways you have given us for us to grow as your children. Thank you for our freedom to worship you openly. Thank you for our Christian friends and the encouragement they give us. Thank you for the bible and the revelation of yourself in it and of how much you love us. But thank you most of all for the way your Holy Spirit is working in us to change us to be more like your Son in our love and care for others. Amen
Today's devotion written by Charles Bertelsmeier, LifeWay Epping