Apicontent

Day 16

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1–3) 

The truth of those words crashed down upon me one hot, August morning. It had been about ten years since God had poured out His love on me that unforgettable evening as I lay on the floor of the church. 

From Scripture, I understood the importance of loving God and neighbor. So, like a “good” Christian, I was trying my hardest to do what I absolutely knew God wanted me to do—to be kind, caring, and compassionate like He was. 

But in the years since that night at church, I’d failed miserably. I’d had an affair. How could I have done such a terrible thing—especially after experiencing God’s love in such a dramatic way? I felt as though I’d spit in God’s face and told Him He wasn’t enough. I had sinned horribly. I felt like I didn’t deserve to be loved. 

“God is love.” I knew that intellectually. But I simply couldn’t accept it personally—down in the core of myself. I felt that I needed to clean myself up before I could be acceptable to God. So I shut myself off from relationship—receiving what I felt I absolutely did not deserve. 

In order to keep from sinning in such a horrible way again, I put all sorts of additional, Christian-sounding rules on myself: “Mary, you have to pray more.” “You have to walk in the Spirit.” “Don’t ever be alone with a man except your husband.” Like a modern-day Pharisee, I plastered myself with rules to prevent sin from coming out. 

I couldn’t fathom that, after what I’d done, God could still love me. In my twisted thinking, I believed I had to earn God’s love by obeying His commands … so I could prove I loved Him … so He would then want to be in relationship with me. I had no understanding of the spirit, soul, and body, and that the core need of my soul was to know God’s love—the very love I had shut myself off from by thinking my sin disqualified me. 

This was the condition of my life that hot, August day … when during a morning Bible study with a dear, older friend, she leaned forward and said, “Mary, can I tell you something?” The intensity of her eyes told me it was important.

“Yes,” I said. 

Her blue eyes looked into mine. “Mary, you don’t love.” 

The words hit me like a freight train. It was true—horribly true. I didn’t love. The first few verses of 1 Corinthians 13 flashed through my mind. “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.…” I didn’t love and love was the most important thing. I was nothing—nothing but a loud, irritating noise-maker. 

I was failing miserably at the most important thing in life. The affair had ended years ago. I’d told my husband and he had forgiven me. We were going to church as a family and had youth group meetings in our home. Multiple Sclerosis was less of an issue for me and I was able to care for our children and do volunteer work for a mission organization. I was trying so hard to be good and love God and others. But life wasn’t working and I didn’t know why. 

I came out of my chair and lay face down on the living room carpet. What was wrong with me anyway? Why couldn’t I love? 

In total desperation, a prayer gushed out. “God, fix the wrong in me. I want to love. Whatever it takes.” 

Ponder for a Moment 

Consider a time in your life when you felt you didn’t deserve to be loved. What made you feel that way? 

Do you think God agreed with your opinion of yourself as being undeserving of love? Why or why not?

Day 17

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. (John 13:34) 

Two years had passed since I’d prayed on my friend’s living room carpet: “God, fix what is wrong with me. I want to love. Whatever it takes.” 

In those years, “Whatever it takes” had taken a lot—so much, that had I known what was entailed, I would not have prayed those words. My marriage of 24 years had ended in divorce. My oldest son, a brilliant student-athlete, had fallen into alcohol abuse, dropped out of Harvard, and ended up in a mental hospital. The grief was almost more than I could bear. All my attempts to maintain the shiny façade of my “good Christian” life (and “help” those around me maintain the façade as well) had come to a painful end. My self-inflicted, rule-based version of Christianity had failed. 

I was broken and desperate … when one Sunday I heard a freeing truth. 

“What is the most important command that Jesus gives?” the visiting speaker began by asking. My pastor raised his hand: “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind’ and ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37– 39). I would have responded similarly. 

But the speaker opened his Bible and pointed out that these were Old Covenant commands. Jesus had spoken in answer to a question posed by a Pharisee, “Teacher which is the greatest commandment of the law?” (Matthew 22:36). And then, to make it extra clear that these were Old Covenant commands, Jesus had concluded by saying, “On these two commands hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:40). 

God intends that we live with Him in love. But the purpose of the Old Covenant wasn’t to get us back into loving relationship. Even before He gave the law through Moses, God knew that His commandments would be impossible to always obey. Rather, the purpose of the law was to make it abundantly clear that people were incapable of keeping the commandments. 

God’s intent was that the law would help us realize that our best efforts are not enough. We need help. We need a Savior! “The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ” (Galatians 3:24). 

Jesus brought a New Covenant with a new commandment to replace the Old Covenant with its Ten Commandments. On the night of the last supper, He took a cup of wine and shared it with the disciples saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood” (1 Corinthians 11:25). Then He gave one “new commandment” to go with the New Covenant. He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” 

Wow! A new commandment—a new way to love—made possible by Jesus! I could hardly believe what I was hearing. 

Without realizing it, I had wrongly assumed that because I’d accepted Jesus, I was living in the New Covenant. Yet really, I’d been trying to meet the impossible demands of the Old Covenant. 

But this new command was different. It wasn’t about trying to love God and my neighbor out of my own strength. It was believing that Jesus loved me. Knowing God’s great love for us allows us to love others. God Himself is the source of the love. Believing Jesus’ love for us fulfills the command. 

This was why I wasn’t loving. Because I wasn’t letting myself receive God’s love (because I didn’t feel worthy … because I’d sinned so horribly), I had nothing to give away except a cheap imitation of “love” dressed in “good-Christian” façade. 

Dear brother, dear sister, God didn’t intend that Christianity be just another religion with impossible rules to obey. Trying to follow rules, do the right things, and love God and others in your own strength doesn’t work. God is the source of the love you get to freely receive … and freely give. 

Ponder for a Moment 

In what ways might you be trying to live in both the Old Covenant and the New Covenant at the same time? 

What connection do you personally feel between knowing you are loved and loving others? 

Day 18

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us. (1 John 4:10) 

We love Him because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) 

We are born to be loved. The soul of each and every one of us carries this foundational need. If we dig down deep enough past the temporary satisfactions that come from worldly pleasures, we will find it. If we let ourselves feel the need we try to cover up through addictions and busyness, we will find it. 

We all need love: God preprogrammed us this way. We can’t be the people He intends without knowing we are treasured, valued, and accepted. It is as if God made us with holes in our hearts that can only be filled in loving relationship. 

It isn’t enough to supply a child with food and shelter. Babies need to be cuddled and cherished. From birth, we are made to be cooed at and fussed over, held close and carried about. We are meant to know from early on that we are special and adored. 

Research has shown this to be true over and over again. Children reared in understaffed orphanages or by inattentive caregivers struggle throughout life. Newborns who do not receive nurturing care grow up to be socially and emotionally distant. Relating to others—even caring others—is difficult. Rather than feeling connected and secure, they feel anxious and uneasy. These same infants often grow up to be poor parents themselves. They can’t give what they haven’t received. 

God created us to be loved … and so, “He first loved us.” 

Think of a good father with his newborn. He holds the baby close to his chest. He strokes her tiny head with his fingers. When the little one opens her eyes the father smiles and coos. He rocks the baby and sings to her. What joy the father experiences in just being with his child. 

Through spit-ups, dirty diapers, and crying in the night, the good father treasures and adores his baby. Nothing can shake that love. 

Think about it. The father doesn’t demand that the baby love him. The father doesn’t hold the little one at arm’s length and say, “Love me, baby. Love me with everything in you. Love me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Love me and I will love you in return. Just be good and I will love you.” No. The father doesn’t do that.

And neither does God. How could God’s love for us be any less than a good father’s love for his child? 

Yet somehow we often act like it is. It is easy to fall into the trap of trying to love God or others without first really knowing (not just intellectually, but experientially) that our Father loves us. The impossible demands of the Old Covenant law ring in our ears. “You shall love the LORD your God.… You shall love your neighbor….” (Matthew 22:37, 39). 

But without first knowing we are loved, it is impossible to follow these commands. Just like children raised in understaffed orphanages, we can’t give what we haven’t first received. 

Jesus came to earth to make a new way—to forge a New Covenant. God as a baby in a manger— God as a man nailed to the cross—is the source and supply of the love we all so desperately need. 

God loves you first. You are valuable and precious. You don’t need to do anything to earn it. You don’t need to hold a certain set of beliefs. You don’t need to be anything different than you are right now. Every bit of God loves every bit of you. He is for you in every way. God loves you despite…. He treasures you always…. He cherishes you just because…. Jesus came to fill the holes in your heart—the holes designed to be filled with love. 

Ponder for a Moment 

How do you explain the source of your desire to belong and be accepted, to be appreciated and valued? 

In what ways might early life experiences have made it difficult for you to receive care and affection from others? from God? 

Day 19

Search me, O God and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23–24) 

“Search me.” “Know my heart.” “Try me.” “Lead me.” This is David’s cry. He is asking for God to shine His light into his deepest thoughts and feelings—into the depths of his heart. There is no hiding, bargaining, or game-playing. David lays his heart—the organ of spirit and soul together— open for God to renew anything that is not right within. David is serious about letting God do His work, whatever it takes. 

What enabled David to pray this prayer? What enabled him to be so honest and vulnerable before God? 

David could approach the Lord like this because he understood God’s nature. He knew God would not be put off by his sins or wrong thinking. He knew God would not reject, despise or shame him. This gave David confidence to return again and again to God, in times of failure or triumph, sadness or joy. 

After Samuel confronted King David about his affair with Bathsheba, David prayed, “Have mercy upon me. O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.” “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 51:1, 10). 

King Saul wasn’t like this. When he sinned, he ran from God and hid behind excuses. When he failed to wait for Samuel and presented the offering to the Lord himself, he gave excuses. “The people were scattered … you did not come … the Philistines gathered” (1 Samuel 13:11). 

We also see this difference between Peter and Judas. Peter denied knowing Jesus three times. But he was so eager to be with Him again that he leaped out of the fishing boat and swam to meet Jesus on the shore. Judas, on the other hand, betrayed Jesus and then went away and hung himself. 

The difference between David and Saul, between Peter and Judas, was not that one sinned less than the other. Each and every one of us sins in too many ways to count. The difference was that David and Peter turned toward God even in failure, whereas Saul and Judas turned away. 

After eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve hid from God and that has been the default position of the human race ever since. Our “opened” eyes do not see God as He really is. We avoid the One who wants to be with us and help us. We run from the One who forgives and restores. 

Knowing that God is for us gives us the confidence to come to Him and let Him do the searching. Now we can be vulnerable and welcome Him into thoughts and feelings hidden even from ourselves. We all have distorted thinking patterns that warp our minds and twist our feelings and actions in ways of which we are unaware. God knows these things and He will bring His freeing truth to us. 

When we welcome Him, the Holy Spirit will search, He will find and He will uproot what is not right. He will cleanse us of hurtful ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. When David said, “See if there be any wicked way in me,” the words wicked way actually mean way of pain, stress, brokenness, and misunderstanding. David gave God permission to look for deep-seated patterns of thoughts and their associated feelings that were causing him to be less than the man God intended. 

Trusting God to have His way in us allows Him to do the work of changing us from the inside out. We come to know God as we let Him know us. As we share our thoughts and feelings with Him, we experience Him in our ups and downs, our healings and hurts, our victories and sins. 

Ponder for a Moment 

“Search me, O God and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” 

Let David’s prayer be yours today. 

Day 20

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24) 

God designed us in His image. He wants us to know and radiate His nature of lovingkindness. We are called to be like Jesus in this world. 

So, how does God intend that we function? How did God make us to be like Him? 

We are made up of three parts: spirit, soul, and body. Each has a different and vital function, but God designed that the parts work together in agreement with Him. 

Our spirit is designed to be the resting place for God. “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16). When we believe in Jesus, He comes to live in our spirit and we are “born again” into eternal life. 

But our life in Christ isn’t meant to stop there. Our soul and body also need restoring. 

Our soul is composed of our mind, will, and emotions; it is our unique self. God made our mind, will, and emotions to be filled with Him—permeated by His thoughts and feelings. We are meant to be led by His Spirit in our spirit. But we have free will. Our soul can do as it pleases. It can agree with the Spirit or it can hold to thoughts and emotions that oppose God. It can choose its own will over God’s. 

As we grow in relationship with God, we surrender the ways of our independent soul and let Him lead. Untrue, hurtful thoughts and feelings we learned from trying to survive on our own in a messed-up world die away as we grow in agreement with Him.

We don’t lose our unique self as we grow in Christ. Our personality is a lasting gift God gives to each one of us. We may still enjoy painting or playing soccer, for example. We may still tend to be quiet and reserved or talkative and outgoing. But now God’s nature flows through our unique personality. 

Our body is the house for the inward, hidden spirit and soul. “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you” (1 Corinthians 6:19). The body keeps us alive on earth. It eats, drinks and interfaces with the physical world. In God’s design, our body expresses our mind, will, and emotions. When our soul is renewed, as we paint, we portray the beauty of the earth He created or the compassion of a mother for her baby. When our soul is renewed, we treat other soccer players with the same care and compassion God has for us. It is the contents of our soul—not our spirit directly—that causes our body to act as it does. 

We are not meant to forge our own way in life by relying on the strength of our independent soul and trying to make ourselves look “right” on the outside. God’s intent is that we be led by the Spirit—not the soul (no matter the “good” or religious nature of its intentions). God’s design is that we know His love deep inside of us and radiate Him from the inside out. Our spirit is made alive with His Spirit. Our soul is renewed so that we come to think and feel about ourselves and others as God does. And our body manifests the contents of our soul, giving God expression on earth. 

In this way, God is seen and heard through each and every one of His children. He is the source of His image in us. Just as God showed Himself through Jesus Christ, He shows Himself through us. He is the source of love and we are the spirit-soul-body channels that express His love on earth. 

It is a promise. The God of peace will sanctify us completely in spirit, soul, and body. “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.” 

Ponder for a Moment 

In what ways does this understanding of how God created you—spirit, soul, and body—bring clarity to your struggles and/or purpose in life? Explain. 

Day 21

Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane…and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death, stay here and watch with Me.” He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” (Matthew 26:36–39) 

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus fought the greatest war of eternity. The souls of every man, woman, and child who had ever lived and who would ever live were at stake. Jesus battled for us all that night. His agony of soul was for you and for me. 

God created humankind to live in relationship with Him and to reign over the earth in keeping with His lovingkindness. God intended that we express His will on earth. He intended that the soul (the mind, will, and emotions) of humanity be under His guidance because that is what is best for us. 

But, in the Garden of Eden, Adam fell for Satan’s temptation and chose his own will over God’s. He cut himself off from relationship—from life in God’s goodness. After the fall, humans, with their “opened” eyes and new-found knowledge of good and evil, had to make their own decisions. Now the independent soul, separated from God, reigned over earth. 

The Father sent His Son as a man to accomplish in the last garden (Gethsemane) what Adam had fallen from in the first (Eden). He came to win back our place in union with God. 

In this passage, we see the intensity of the battle that raged in the last garden. Jesus asked for the cup to pass … but nevertheless willed His suffering soul to hold fast to God’s will. “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death…. O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” 

We cannot grasp the anguish. As he battled in the garden, Jesus sweat drops of blood knowing what lay before Him. 

Scripture records the horrid physical events that followed in vivid detail. Jesus was betrayed, falsely accused, whipped, spat upon and cursed. He stumbled along a path lined with mockers to a hill called Golgotha. A crown of thorns was pressed upon His head. Onlookers despised the “King of the Jews” nailed to the cross for their sins. 

Yet the internal horror is hidden from view. The suffering of the “cup” was far greater than we can comprehend. It was as if Jesus’ heart was being torn in two. Throughout His life, He had always done His Father’s will … and known He was pleasing to His Father. But now, doing God’s will meant not unity, but separation; it meant experiencing the Father’s judgment and wrath. 

When Jesus surrendered His will and took the sin of the human race upon Himself, the relationship He knew with His Father was severed. In agony of soul He cried out from the cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). Our Savior bore the punishment of separation and wrath our sin deserved. 

In the last garden, Jesus chose His Father’s will over His own. Our restored relationship with God—our acceptance and embrace—came through Jesus’ loss of these very things. Jesus took the wrath we deserved for our sin and gave us instead His life in union with God. In this way, Jesus became the perfect expression—the unbroken channel—for God’s love on earth. 

Dearly beloved, let your soul rest in Jesus’ sacrifice. He chose to lay down His life, becoming in His death the greatest expression of love the world will ever know. He bore the penalty for your sin; He took the separation you deserved. Jesus reconciles you, as you really are, to the Father, as He really is. This is the vastness of His love for you. 

Ponder for a Moment 

Consider Jesus’ struggle to surrender His will to the will of His Father. What does this mean to you personally? 

Day 22

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder.” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8–10) 

Obedience to the Old Covenant law is not the basis of God’s acceptance of us; and it is not the means by which we come to enjoy eternal life. Following rules and regulations, even those based on Scripture, will never get us back to God. 

The Ten Commandments clearly spell out the good to do and the evil to avoid, but the law doesn’t provide the ability to actually do what it says. The knowledge of good and evil (as clearly defined by the Old Covenant law) drives us to try and become like God by doing good and avoiding evil. But our independent soul, separated from God, simply cannot do the “good” it intends; religion doesn’t work. 

When God gave the Ten Commandments, He knew that in our fallen nature, obedience was impossible. But He gave the Old Covenant anyway … so we could learn that fact for ourselves. He gave the law to show us our utter inability to obey the law … so we would come to the end of ourselves … give up on our independent soul-led living … and find life in Jesus. “The law was our tutor to bring us to Christ” (Galatians 3:24). 

Voices in our heads may tell us differently. Satan is a legalist; he will whisper condemning thoughts based on our failures to measure up to the standards we hold. He will tell us things like, “You lied again.” “Shame on you.” “You won’t ever be good enough!” 

Don’t listen to these lies. God’s lovingkindness is the basis of your acceptance. “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). The love of the Father, Son, and Spirit is the firm, unshakable foundation of your eternal life. It’s not about your sins keeping you away; it’s about God keeping you close. It’s not about your exclusion and failure under the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil; it’s about your inclusion in Jesus’ victory. 

God doesn’t love you because you are good. He makes you good because He loves you. 

As we come to know God’s love, we become naturally obedient. When we know we are loved, we treat others with that same love. And, the one “who loves another has fulfilled the law.” If we love someone, we won’t commit adultery, murder, or steal. We will honor them, respect them and want what is best for them. Knowing we are loved makes us good so that we radiate His lovingkindness from the inside out. 

Scripture doesn’t say, “Love abolishes the law.” Love doesn’t do away with the law. It doesn’t make stealing or adultery OK. Love isn’t lawless. Rather, love verifies that the law is right. Love fulfills the law; it makes the commandments naturally doable for the soul at rest in God’s love. 

We live out the life God desires and promised for us, not by putting external rules on ourselves to stifle “bad” behaviors, but by truly becoming good from the inside out. Our soul isn’t meant to try and live by obeying rules. It is meant to live by obeying the Spirit—by living in agreement with God who is love. 

With our spirit alive with His Spirit, our soul abiding in Jesus’ love and our body naturally expressing that, the law is fulfilled! “Love is the fulfillment of the law.” 

Ponder for a Moment 

What thoughts and feelings arise in you as you consider the statement: “God doesn’t love you because you are good. He makes you good because He loves you.” 

What thoughts and feelings arise in you as you consider the Scripture, “Love is the fulfillment of the law”? 

In some way might you have been thinking God desires your obedience or holiness more than He desires you? Explain your answer.

Day 23

The grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:14) 

Throughout the New Testament faith and love are repeatedly spoken of together. Both are vitally important and inseparable. 

In his letters, Paul thanks God for these two “exceedingly abundant” expressions of the grace he sees in others. “We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ … since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints” (Colossians 1:3–4). “Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you” (Ephesians 1:15–16). “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren … because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other” (2 Thessalonians 1:3). 

Why is Paul so thankful for the faith and love he sees in others? 

Paul is thankful because faith and love are evidence that God is at work in us. God is the source of our faith and our love. Jesus is “the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). “God has dealt to each one a measure of faith” (Romans 12:3). And God gives us the love that makes our loving possible. “We love Him because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). 

If we think of faith or love as something we are responsible for generating, then we put ourselves back under the law and its impossibility. Faith and love are not a result of our independent efforts; they come from receiving what God freely gives. Faith doesn’t earn us life in Christ; it connects us to that life which Jesus has already earned for us. Our part is not to try to earn God’s love; our part is simply to accept that we are loved. 

Receiving faith or love is like unwrapping a gift. Someone can give us a present, but unless we choose to open the present, we can’t enjoy it. Although it has been bought and paid for, we can’t enjoy its amazing benefits until we unwrap it. 

Faith comes first because belief is what connects us to God so that what He has already done for us becomes real in experience. The Christian life is meant to be lived by faith—by being led by the Spirit (not by the soul). Without faith, we can do our own religious (or non-religious) things, but we completely miss the mark of living in life-giving relationship with God. 

Love comes second because it is the essence of God who we come to know by faith. Believing that we are always welcomed by God gives us the freedom to stop pretending to be somebody we hope will be acceptable and live in the freedom of knowing His acceptance. Knowing we are valued and treasured allows us to treat others as the valued and treasured people they are. 

In this way, through actions based in love, our faith comes alive in expression. Scripture tells us, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). Our belief in God doesn’t just stay silent within us. It works itself out in love. The works that faith does are done in love. Faith reaches up to God; then love reaches out to others. 

God designed our lives to be lived in faith and love. We take a step of faith—of looking to Jesus—with one foot. Then we take a step of love—of compassionate works prompted by faith— with the other. “Faith [works] through love” (Galatians 5:6). 

My brother, my sister, God’s joy in you rises with your acceptance of all He gives. He is so pleased when you accept His “exceedingly abundant” grace. It fills Him with delight when you receive the “faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.” 

Ponder for a Moment 

Have you ever tried to work up faith in yourself? What has been the result of that effort? 

Have you ever tried to work up love in yourself? What has been the result of that effort? 

Think of someone (or several people) you can be thankful for today … because of their faith and love. 

Day 24

Then Peter, turning around, saw [John] the disciple whom Jesus loved. (John 21:20) 

If somebody asked you, “Who are you?” what would you say? How would you describe yourself? 

You might answer by talking about your job, your possessions, your children, the color of your skin, or your country of origin. You might define yourself by what other people say about you or by what has happened to you in the past. These types of responses paint a picture of how the world sees us. 

But the Apostle John saw himself differently. He chose to be known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (see John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7; 21:20). 

John did not describe himself as “a Jewish man from Galilee,” nor as “a fisherman.” He did not even call himself “a follower of Jesus” or “the disciple who loved Jesus.” John called himself, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” John’s identity was firmly grounded in Jesus’ love for him. 

John knew his identity in Christ, yet all too often we resist ours. We struggle against the love He gives. We wonder, “How could He really care that much about me?” It seems too good to be true. 

Instead, we are tempted to accept the thoughts concocted by Satan, “the father of lies” (John 8:44), and supported by the world around us. Since the fall, Satan has bombarded all of us humans with untrue thoughts and feelings that, if we believe, leave us feeling worthless, rejected, anxious or, on the opposite extreme, smugly self-satisfied and superior to others. Layers of guilt and shame on the one hand, or egotistical pride on the other, obscure our true identity. 

We were made in the image of God. But all too often we reverse God’s original intent and make Him fit the image we have of ourselves. We develop a view of God (often aided by religion) that supports our false view of self. In our minds, we fashion God so that He somehow fits with the lies Satan throws at us. For example, if we condemn ourselves for a certain behavior, we will make up a God who condemns us—even though Scripture tells us, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). 

Oblivious to the truth of who God is, we unwittingly live life guided by visions of a being who exists only in the warped perceptions of our souls. 

Jesus understands the genesis of our darkened minds. He feels the abuse we suffered. He knows the grief, the heartaches, the sorrow, the anxious strivings. He is aware of our family, its dysfunction, and how, from our mother’s womb, we grew to hold false ideas about ourselves, others, and God. 

Jesus took all that upon Himself. He took our sins and unbelief and entered into our fallen state. Yet He stands before the Father, seeing Him as He really is. Jesus knows the bondage and blindness of our fallen minds and He knows “what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1). He knows our Father’s heart and He shares the Father’s heart with us in our darkness. 

As the Spirit brings light to our twisted thinking, we come to a fork in the road. We have a decision to make. Will we stay jailed in our world-based way of thinking or will we embrace the unknown freedom of life God’s way? Will we hang onto our old thought paradigms or will we embrace the new? 

John the Apostle embraced the new. In chapter 13 of his Gospel, it was as if the veil fell from John’s eyes and he saw Jesus’ love for him and all humanity. On the night of the last supper, just after Jesus washed his feet, John began to call himself, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” 

Ponder for a Moment 

Can you identify any thoughts you might be telling yourself about yourself that aren’t true? If so, record those thoughts. 

How might your view of self be impacting your view of God? 

“The disciple whom Jesus loves.” Write that name for yourself on something you can see every day … as a reminder of who you really are in Christ. 

Day 25

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35, 38–39) 

Paul says it clearly. He has lived it and he knows. “[Nothing] shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Nothing can stop God from loving you. But evil can and does work to prevent you from believing you are loved. Over and over again, in various ways, Satan tempts us to think we are unworthy of God’s affection. “You are a disgrace,” Satan whispers into our thoughts. “How could anyone want to be with you?” 

Consider the life of Saul (who became Paul) and the condemning thoughts he must have had to overcome. As a zealous young Pharisee, Saul had participated in stoning Stephen. He had persecuted and put to death believers. If anyone deserved to be cut off from God, it would have been Paul. Think of how Satan must have tempted him to think God couldn’t possibly want him after what he had done. 

Another trick Satan uses to separate us is to make us think that we can earn God’s approval if we just try harder. He tempts: “Obey these rules.” “Try this program.” “Pray more.” “Give more.” “Keep trying.” 

Prior to his experience on the Damascus Road, Saul was living in this trap. He was a self-described “Hebrew of Hebrews … a Pharisee … concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless” (Philippians 3:5). Saul was zealously following the rules of his religion. But no religion can fix the problem of our separation from God. 

Jesus is the only solution. The freeing truth is that He died for our sins. He repaired the gap. He reconciles us to the Father. 

Yet another trick Satan uses is to tempt us to think that when something bad happens, it is proof that God doesn’t care. “If God really loved you,” he whispers, “why didn’t He prevent the cancer?” “The abuse and suffering?” “The child’s premature death?” 

As a believer, Paul was stoned, shipwrecked, beaten, and jailed. He witnessed his friends being persecuted and killed for their faith. Yet, he remained steadfast; he knew tribulation and persecution, famine and sword were not signs that Jesus had abandoned him. In fact, he wrote, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed…. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:16–17). 

My friend, your suffering is not a sign that God is unhappy with you. Your afflictions are not evidence that God has abandoned you. Rather, God uses the hard times to draw you to Him so you can come to know and trust Him in deeper ways. Through the trials, He is working His glory—His nature—into you. 

Falsely believing that we can be separated from God causes us to act like it. If we don’t recognize God’s constant lovingkindness toward us, we will live life trying to get back into His favor. Instead of living from the foundation of knowing we are loved and valued, we will live struggling to earn love and value. 

It isn’t our job to try to keep ourselves in God’s love. In Christ you and I are in His love. Whether you agree with it or not, whether you believe it or not, you are loved by God. Your belief does not change the truth, but believing the truth does change you. 

Your position in Christ is one of inseparable union! Absolutely nothing can come between you and the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. 

Ponder for a Moment 

Is there something that you think can separate you from the love of God that is in Christ? If so, what does this Scripture speak to you specifically about that something? 

How would you personally sum up today’s Scripture?