Worship Devotional CX

Feb 19

Originally posted to the Facebook group on 2/19/2022.

A Love Like No Other

Worship Devotional for 2/20/22

We know it, we've heard it many times, and we say it often, but it still can be hard to really believe. Doubts arise in the face of our failures. Fear surrounds and clouds our thoughts in the midst of struggles and temptations. Forgetfulness plagues our hearts in the deception of our comfort and complacency. Yet this truth is profound. It runs deeper than anything we can fathom, and speaks to the ultimate purpose of all of existence.

God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and everything in them, the holy and righteous and eternal One, the Judge of the living and the dead, who holds all power and all authority and all dominion forever, whose word is not only true, but the very source and definition of all truth, has declared His love for us.

God loves us. He loves you. He loves me. The one true and living God, who reigns over all the universe, really loves us. How can this be? We have rebelled against Him and sinned in our hearts. We have betrayed Him over and over again, turning away from the source of all life and goodness and truth to worship idols, false gods, which cannot satisfy what the true God put deep inside of us. We don't deserve to live. We don't deserve to be loved. Yet the One who is only ever good and true and righteous and just and holy has made a way for us to be saved from His wrath and judgment and enter into eternal life to enjoy the rich blessings of His love poured out on us forever!

There is no other love like this. Nothing compares. What an amazing truth to behold! The love that God has for each and every one of us is far greater than anything we face in this life. His love has overcome the forces of the evil. His love has even defeated the enemy of death itself. And His love for you and me is eternal. Nothing can stop it. This is why the one true God is worthy of all our praise, of all that we are and all that we have. Our hearts resound with the cry of David, who said in Psalm 63:3:

"My lips will glorify You because Your faithful love is better than life."

Are you unconvinced that such a great love could possibly be offered to you? Do you need proof that God really has this kind of love for us, a love that is so far greater than all other loves, that is even better than life itself? God has made it clear that He loves us and that His love is more powerful than anything that could come against us, even death itself. He has proven His love for all mankind once and for all through the sacrifice of His Son. Hear what is declared for us in Romans 5:6-11:

"For while we were still helpless, at the appointed moment, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person — though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us! Much more then, since we have now been declared righteous by His blood, we will be saved through Him from wrath. For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by His life! And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have now received this reconciliation through Him."

Look to the cross and see the love of God! He really loves you! And oh, how deep and how powerful His love is. Whatever you face in this life, His love will give you the strength and endurance you need to make it through. His love is real, and it is real even in the midst of difficult and miserable circumstances, when reality is bleak. The love God has for us is our reason for pressing on, indeed, our reason for living at all. Because God's love never gives up on us, we also are called to never give up on Him. We hold fast in the hardest of times, knowing that the pain will only last for a moment, anticipating the eternal joy that awaits us because of what God's love has promised and accomplished for us! So don't give up, hold fast to faith and hope, and remain steadfast in love.

As we gather together as children of God to sing and worship and praise God, to hear and receive His word, and to have fellowship together, may our hearts be set on Him and be filled with His love. May our minds be renewed by the power of His love so that we may serve Him in love with our whole being. Let us agree in prayer with what Paul prayed for the church in Ephesians 3:14-21:

"For this reason I kneel before the Father from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit, and that the Messiah may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God's love, and to know the Messiah's love that surpasses knowledge, so you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask of think according to the power that works in us — to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen."

Romans 8:31-39:

"What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He did not even spare His own Son but offered Him up for us all; how will He not also with Him grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation against God's elect? God is the One who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the One who died, but even more, has been raised; He also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or anguish or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'Because of You we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than victorious through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, hostile powers, height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!"

1 Corinthians 13:13: