Devotions this week based on Sunday’s Message: The Permanence of Love! (LISTEN HERE)
Is there a limit to love?
I’m done.
Love can be tiring. At times it’s a lot of work and perhaps seems like it’s not worth it.
We feel like stopping. We feel like giving up. We feel like we’ve loved enough.
Our love can have limits because we just come to a point where we don’t want to love anymore.
So is it possible to have love that never runs out? Can we have a love that has no limits?
On our own? The simple answer is “No.”
But God’s love? Does that have limits?
Again, we may feel like it does because there are times in life when we feel like God is no longer loving us. We may feel this way because our desired outcome in a given circumstance isn’t playing out how WE think it should…so we accuse God of not loving us anymore.
How far from the truth this is.
Jesus told the parable of the waiting father who daily looked for his son to return. When the son finally returned, the love of the father continued as it had always been. The difference? The son is the one who had drifted. The love of the Father was constant and permanent.
God’s love has NO limits!
How great is this truth! Satan loves to get us to think that God no longer loves us or that we have somehow done something that God would never forgive us. The issue is NEVER with God’s love. It is always with our removing ourselves from God’s love.
God’s love has no limits.
The Apostle John was inspired to write it this way:
1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
I remember doing a devotion for the grade school in Minnesota and took a full large jar of Skippy Peanut Butter and a piece of bread. To illustrate how God “spreads it on thick” I had at least half the jar of peanut butter on a single piece of bread. There was too much peanut butter to eat it…I didn’t even try! It was a memorable illustration that God’s love is always more than we can use up.
God’s love has no limits.
Our love can also have no limits.
We are not perfect like God obviously, however with God’s limitless love for us we can ALWAYS draw on his love to love others. Even when we feel like giving up…we can love. When we feel like we have loved enough…we can love another time. When we feel like our love is not appreciated…we can continue to love.
If God’s love has no limits…our love can too!*
Apply: Think of a situation in which you find it difficult to love or feel like stopping your love. What changes when you turn back to God’s love for you and see how it has been lavished on thick?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for loving me without limit. Help me to show the same love to others! AMEN.
* In this series “love” has been used in a general way without specifics to situations or circumstances. Remember that HOW you show love can change. For example, loving is not always giving an alcoholic another drink or staying in an abusive relationship. Love continues to desire the person to get help, but the loving thing to do may be to protect yourself or others and remove yourself from a harmful situation. Love doesn’t continue to put up with sinful behavior without attempts to correct, rebuke and train proper honor of God and love of others. Love is not being a push over and letting someone take advantage of you. Love draws boundaries to bring the best to the individual or situation. Pray for wisdom as to HOW to show love in tough and challenging situations.