Wear me as a signet ring on your heart, as a ring on your hand. Love is as overpowering as death. Devotion is as unyielding as the grave. Love’s flames are flames of fire, flames that come from the Lord. Raging water cannot extinguish love, and rivers will never wash it away. [Song of Solomon 8:6-7a (GW)]
I was right. In fact, I was so right I deserved a gold star and he was so wrong that he should have gotten a big red “F” but he never admitted it. Although I congratulated myself for not saying, “I told you so!” I still wanted him to eat a little humble pie. Then the Holy Spirit did His job and rightly convicted me of being a bit self-righteous and a whole lot mean-spirited. I was reminded of Luther, a man from our church who I called “a disciple of Christ” in a previous devotion. He always greeted people with a smile and the phrase, “Jesus loves you and I do, too.” As I heard Luther’s words in my mind, I stopped in mid-gripe and remembered that Jesus loves my man and I do, too.
I wrote the previous paragraph several months’ ago and the devotion remained unfinished in my “work on” folder until I came upon it this morning. I don’t even remember what it was that vexed me so much but I do remember how I nearly allowed Satan to drive a wedge between me and the man I love. Had I allowed it, an incident that was trivial then could have developed into something rather troubling by now. Fortunately, I chose love instead of spite. Nevertheless, I shudder at thinking how easily something so trivial could have stolen our joy for even an instant.
If I made a list of my favorite chapters in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 13 would rank way up there. No matter how many times I study it, I never tire of reading about love—not romance—but true love—love that gives of itself, overlooks, forgives and yields, love that is polite, committed, unconditional, and respectful. Love finds joy in sorrow, beauty in brokenness, hope in despair, abundance in scarcity and laughter in tears. Love blesses, honors, shares, protects and endures; it serves, cooperates, builds and trusts. When we love, we delight in one another, listen to each other, and give without expecting anything in return. Love overlooks all those petty annoyances that are part of living with someone and love certainly doesn’t waste a minute griping, nagging or serving up humble pie. Love is a choice and love always remembers that “Jesus loves you and I do, too!”
Let the wife make the husband glad to come home, and let him make her sorry to see him leave. [Martin Luther]
In Leviticus, Moses laid out God’s law regarding sacrifices—only a perfect animal was acceptable. One thousand years later, in the time of Malachi, the priests allowed people to offer blind, crippled, diseased and even stolen animals as offerings. The Israelites were offering God the animals that were worthless or someone else’s animal entirely. Since, by definition, a sacrifice requires the giving up of something of great value to us, those certainly didn’t qualify as sacrifices. The Israelites, like a dishonest salesperson who substitutes an inferior product for a good one, were actually cheating God.
As I grabbed my jacket, I noticed the familiar Under Armour logo on the front. Looking down, I saw that my t-shirt advertised a local boot camp class and my shorts displayed Fila’s logo. Eyeing my husband, I saw that his shorts displayed the same logo as mine and his shirt advertised the physical therapy clinic that has treated him over the years. While my cap sported the famed Nike swish, the name of a local pub was embroidered on his. A red swish peeked out from the top of his shoes while my socks were decorated with New Balance’s logo and pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness. The large “N” on each side of our sneakers identified them as another New Balance purchase. We were virtual walking billboards and we’d paid a hefty price for the privilege of advertising other people’s goods and services!
Warm summer nights at the lake mean campfires, s’mores and fireflies. As the darkness descends, bug jars appear and the children start chasing these fascinating insects. How odd that the same child who will shirk away from any insect during the day will give chase to and capture these flashing winged beetles at night. By the end of the evening, the children have collected a jarful of tiny flying stars (that will be released as soon as the little ones are tucked into bed).
Devotions of the Heart 