1 John 4:19, 21 (NLT) 19We love each other because he loved us first. ... 21And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.
Clue #1: My brother and I were the only two siblings in our immediate family unit. Clue #2: My brother was the older sibling. Clue #3: My brother had a very unlovable little sister. Mmmm; I wonder who that could be? And when I say ‘unlovable’ the words selfish, bratty, and tattletale come to mind. Now true enough, my brother knew how to provoke me and how to get me ‘all stirred up’ as they say. Nevertheless, between the two of us, my brother definitely had the larger challenge. No matter what the squabbles were; one thing was never in question. My brother loved me.
Our Dad died when I was 12 and my brother went to work at 15 to help Mom pay bills. My brother watched over me when Mom was at work. He made sure I was the first to get a college education before himself. And on March 28, 2009, he called me to see how I was doing and if everything was okay. We talked for a long time – what I thought was just a routine chat – but what he knew was most likely our last communication. He was aware of his heart growing weaker and the next morning, Palm Sunday, he collapsed and died at his home. But the night before, he made sure his little sister was okay. Now THAT is love. I might have been an unlovable little sister while we were growing up; but I was never unloved. Neither are you! You might have moments of poor attitude, selfishness, anger toward others... you might have many unlovable moments and traits... but YOU are not unloved!
Romans 8:38-39 (NLT) 38And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the powers of [the grave] can separate us from God’s love. 39No power in the sky above or in the earth below – indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1 John 4:9-10 (NLT) 9God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10This is real love – not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Romans 5:8 (NLT) But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Lord God Almighty, our Father;
Thank you for placing people in our lives who love us unconditionally even when we are the most unlovable. Yet even greater still, thank you for the amazing love you have for each of us that you would sacrifice your only Son as the means for our salvation. Because of your great love for us; let us be the conduit to show that love to others.
In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
The devotional Unlovable – But not Unloved appeared first on Write From My Heart at https://writefrommyheartblog.blogspot.com
Email: Dotty Willmon, writefrommyheartblog@gmail.com
Scripture quotations marked NLT are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Special courtesy thank you to Dr. Joe Barnett for providing the idea for today's title.
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