Never Goes Away
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” 1 John 4:7-12
INSIGHT
God is love. Those three words are some of the most powerful that exist in the human language. Those three words can change the hardest of hearts, and redeem some of the most broken lives. Once you get a true glimpse of God’s love, you are changed forever. What could be argued the most unbelievable and most beautiful reality of God’s love is that it never goes away.
Love is crucial to this life and it sustains us more than we realize. And there is nothing more sustaining than the love of God. Anytime I feel unloved or as if I have done something to lose some of God’s love, I am reminded of a story that Jesus told in the Gospel of Luke. In Luke 15, there is a well-known story called the Prodigal Son.
It is a pretty good soap-opera even for us modern day readers. A youngest son wanted to have access to his inheritance even though his father was still living. I could not imagine how the father felt, knowing his child would rather have his inheritance than to be with him. But the father granted the younger son his wish. He gave his son his inheritance, and off the son ran. Because he was a young man with a pocket full of money, it did not take long for the son to blow through it all. He soon found himself with a completely squandered inheritance, and nowhere to turn. The lowest point came when the son realized that he was eating with the pigs. His bad decisions had led him to the lowest of places.
In that moment, he began to realize how good he had it with his father. In his father’s house, he was a part of a family. The son needed to go back home. But after what he had done with his inheritance, he figured the only way to go back was as a servant. Talk about a walk of shame.
You may have felt this way with God at some point in your life. You might have felt as though you have blown it. But this story from Jesus revealed an incredible twist.
As the younger son made his way back home, his dad spotted him coming down the road. His dad took off running in his direction. The father was not running to verbally correct the son. He was not running to scorn him. The father was running to embrace his son. What a moment that must have been.
And the son responded as we all would, "I am not worthy to be called your son." Imagine hearing those words, how heartbreaking. But I love the father's response because the father ignored this statement completely. The father instead began to show in action that his son was still loved and cherished. The father had his servants bring a robe, a ring, and then held a celebration. The father demonstrated to his son that not only was he welcomed back, but he had been restored to a place of sonship.
What this story tells me is that when we feel like we have squandered everything, when we've blown the inheritance, and when there feels like there is no way we could be welcomed back into the arms of a heavenly father; God says otherwise.
God meets us in our walk of shame. He embraces us, and reminds us that we have always been, and we will always be a child that He loves and holds dear. “God is love” are not just three powerful words that make us feel better. It is the character of God. He was willing to pay the highest price to call us His children. If this feels too good to be true for us, then it should also be our anthem for every single person in this world. We don't need big words and long sentences to give people a glimpse of God, we just need to show them love.
REFLECTION
What does it look like to show that God is love to the people in your life?
How can you place your heart in the promise that you are God's child no matter what?
PRAYER
Father, thank you for being such an incredible father. No matter what the world says, and no matter what the world throws at me, the one thing that I cannot question is Your love for all of us. Teach me how to be Your child above all else, every day. May I rest knowing that You will always embrace me and call me Your own. Help me to show this truth to those around me. I love you Father. Amen.
Port City writer Davy Nance wrote today’s devotional.
