Zondervan Inspire

Love Is Never Passive

From the Editor: Love is so much a part of who God is and who He wants us to be. Even the two greatest commandments as identified by Jesus have to do with loving God and loving others. John talks about love for one’s brother as a litmus test for whether or not someone is a true believer. May your holidays be filled with the love of God this year and always.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith 

Religion exists not because God loves too little but because we need love so much. We've been told that God is a reluctant lover and that his standards must be met before there can be any talk of love. This is lunacy. Love exists because God is love. Our souls will never find satisfaction until our hearts have found this love that we so desperately yearn for.

God is not passive, for love is never passive, but always passionate; and passion always leads to action. Like Solomon's lover, God is going up and down the streets of the city, traveling the most obscure paths and untamed wilderness, searching for the one he loves — and that one is you and it's me. Read More from This Book.

 

From A Faith and Culture Devotional: Daily Readings on Art, Science, and Life by Kelly Monroe Kullberg and Lael Arrington

 

The Only Measure

From the Editor: "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1 John 4:7-8)

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith 

The only measure of our vertical relationship with God is the loving quality of our horizontal relationship with others. We are not truly acquainted with God if we don't love and respect the human beings for whom Christ died. How is it possible to love the Head and be indifferent to his precious Body, which includes believers of every race and background?

Only when we share his heart toward people — and follow through with real, tangible actions of love — can we earn his "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the blessings I have reserved for you." Read More from This Book.

 

From You Were Made for More: The Life You Have, the Life God Wants You to Have by Jim Cymbala

 

It's as Simple as That

From the Editor: A good reminder for me today. If I don't have love, "I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal" (1 Corinthians 13:1).

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith 

One of the greatest spiritual self-deceptions is the idea that we are living close to God even though we care little about the people around us. This simply does not square with 1 John 4:8: "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." We can study the Bible as diligently as the Pharisees did; we can boast in our doctrinal statements; we can raise lots of money and build impressive church campuses. But if we are not loving others, including those who are unlike ourselves, we are ignoring the truth of 1 John 4:20, which says, "If we do not love a fellow believer, whom we have seen, we cannot love God, whom we have not seen." It's as simple as that. Read More from This Book.

 

From You Were Made for More: The Life You Have, the Life God Wants You to Have by Jim Cymbala

 

He Wants You to Be with Him

From the Editor: This picture reminds me of some of the children I ministered to in El Salvador two summers ago. It was amazing to watch them respond to God’s love.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith 

Jesus places a high value on his relationship with us. How high a value? He died on the cross to make a relationship with him possible (see John 15:13). He wants us to be with him where he is for all eternity (see John 17:24). Look again at these two facts, and let them overwhelm you for just a moment: He died for you. He wants you to be with him.

The way in which Jesus values his relationship with us is one of the greatest motivations for pursuing stronger relationships with each other. John puts it this way: "Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other" (1 John 4:11). Read More from This Book.

 

From The Relationship Principles of Jesus by Tom Holladay

 

His Very Best

From the Editor: I believe our definition of what is “best” needs to change. God values our faith, which is “of greater worth than gold.” God’s best can mean painful and uncomfortable trials (1 Peter 1:3-7).

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith 

It seems the entire world is searching for happiness, love, and fulfillment. Yet so many of us search for these things everywhere except where they truly can be found — in God alone. Even as believers in Him, we as Christians often have a warped view of God, seeing Him as somewhat stingy, carefully doling out His blessings — a little here and a little there. Yet the apostle Paul wrote, "He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).

In essence, Paul is asking us this question, "Isn't it absurd to think that if God gave us the very life of His Son, that there is anything He would willingly withhold from us? After all, He has already given us the very best!"

From Look Unto Me: The Devotions of Charles Spurgeon

by Jim Reimann

As the Opportunity Arises

From the Editor: Two excellent examples to follow. I pray we all learn to walk as Jesus did.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith 

Jesus could only physically be with one person or group of persons as he walked this earth in his human body. How did he love? He simply loved people as the opportunity arose during the normal traffic patterns of his life. If he was in Jerusalem, he loved the people on the streets of Jerusalem. If he was traveling from Judea to Galilee, he loved the people he met along the way. When he was with his disciples, he showed love to them.

My wife, Chaundel, practices this command to love our neighbors better than anyone I know. She finds out that one of our neighbors is in the hospital, and she's immediately there to visit them. She drops what she's doing to go next door and help a neighbor with a practical need. She commits to facing difficult and frightening circumstances with someone on our block. She goes for a walk in the neighborhood and meets a new neighbor also out walking — and the new neighbor is at a Bible study in our home the next week.

From The Relationship Principles of Jesus

by Tom Holladay

God Chooses All of Us

From the Editor: The authors are talking about God choosing everyone in the sense of God wanting everyone to be on His team. Have you ever been the person last to be chosen in gym class to be on a team? I have. No fun. Thankfully God specializes in choosing people that others would leave behind.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith 

The Old Testament tells of God's "chosen" people, the Jews. It is full of stories of who God chose to do this or that. He chose Abraham to lead his chosen people. He chose David to be his greatest king. He chose prophets like Isaiah to deliver his message.

Jesus, however, tells us that now God chooses all of us. "Whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). We've always liked the stories in the New Testament of who Jesus chooses to talk to. It often is not the "choosable" people. In John 4, for example, Jesus talks to a woman who has three strikes against her: she is a woman, she is a Samaritan, and she is an adulterer. She could have been stoned for her sin, and yet this is who Jesus talks to about salvation.

From The Seven Desires of Every Heart

by Mark & Debra Laaser

Love Is at the Core

From the Editor: It sounds so simple, but it’s impossible to do without divine help. The good news: I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith

To please God, we do not have to spend years in theological training. Neither do we have to master some thick rule book that covers each and every situation. What we have to do is remember, every moment of every day, to treat others as we would like to be treated. As the apostle Paul put it, "Love is the fulfillment of the law" (Rom. 13:10). Love is at the core of what a godly life requires.

If we Christians would, through the grace of God, conscientiously obey this one sentence, we would have covered the essence of God's desire for us. What a difference this would make! It would help us grasp that God's greater blessing for each of us is built on a foundation of selfless love. As Jesus said in his sermon, "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:43–45).

From You Were Made for More: The Life You Have, the Life God Wants You to Have

by Jim Cymbala

Any comments or testimonies today?

Wired for Touch

From the Editor: Not only do I need to increase my exercise quotient, I could stand to increase my “hug” quotient, too! It’s amazing how something so simple as loving human touch can have such a profound impact.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith 

Have you ever watched a newborn baby? They cry and cry until they are picked up and held, and often just that skin-to-skin contact seems to comfort them. That desire to be touched stays with us throughout our lives. That's why a hug from a coworker is a great pick-me-up in the midst of a stressful day. It's why we hold hands at funerals. Our bodies are wired to desire this touch: a recent study by scientists at the University of North Carolina found that people who hug a lot have a lower risk of heart disease!

Once we were on a plane flying home from Korea. On the same plane was a proud set of parents who had just adopted a little girl. This cute little baby appeared to be several months old. We asked the father how old she was, and he said, "She's a year old." To our surprised reaction, the father said, "The orphanage where we adopted our daughter is a wonderful place, but they are short-staffed, and the babies spend lots of time in their cribs without being held." That is the power of touch and the problems the lack of it can create.

From The Seven Desires of Every Heart

by Mark & Debra Laaser

Return to Putting Him First

From the Editor: This picture and this post remind me of how much I need to put God first and depend on him daily—like a small boy depends on his dad.

Wishing you blessings today,

Keith 

Like a husband's first love for his young bride, that's how God feels about you. Like a loving parent desires his children to trust his guidance, God longs to lead you into life. But when we put things that are worth less first in our lives, before God, we end up feeling worthless ourselves. We can never feel secure enough, we can never get enough, because we've abandoned the fountain of living water to dig wells for ourselves that are full of cracks and can never satisfy our deepest thirst. God pleads with people through the prophets to return to putting him first.

From Soul Revolution: How Imperfect People Become All God Intended

by John Burke