Christian Devotionals and Scripture Applied to Everyday Life

Love is something that is misunderstood in our day and age. People carelessly throw the word around with comments like, “I love pizza!” or “I love to ice skate!” When it comes to relationships, we often think of love as a mushy feeling or sweet sentiment, but most often there is nothing to back up the feeling. Though most people can perform a loving act at one time or another, true love is much more than that. To understand what real love is we need to look at how God treats us. When God created the world He saw that it was good. But sin came in and corrupted what had once been perfect. Because God loved us He did the only thing that could be done to save us from certain death. He did not spare His only Son, but sent Him to die in our place so that we could live. The love of God was a sacrificial love - He gave up something precious so that we could have life.

Everyone wants to feel protected and safe. Even those who consider themselves “macho” cherish a place of safety and comfort. These blessings are some of the benefits received from  a good father. Throughout my life I have always felt safe and cared for. In my younger years most of that was due to the fact that I was blessed with a good and loving father. From the time I was born my dad cared for me, protected me, and loved me. I have many fond memories of long bicycle trips where I would sit perched on a seat in front of my dad. I didn’t have to try to keep up. I just had to sit back and enjoy the view.

From the time I was young I always loved words. Some of my favorite games to play were Scrabble and Boggle. I love learning new vocabulary and discovering meanings. Words are like keys that unlock understanding. There are many key words in the Bible. Joy is one that keeps popping up over and over again. Though joy may be an easy find in the game of Boggle it is not so easy to find when it comes to life experiences. The Bible states that joy should characterize the life of a Christian. It is a gift of God and a fruit of the Holy Spirit. We are supposed to find it in the midst of trials and the joy of the Lord is to give us strength. Why then are so many of God’s people devoid of this important key word?

Life is pretty rough when we face it alone. God promises He will never leave nor forsake us and often He sends encouragement through other believers. That is why the Bible teaches that we need each other. A good friend can build us up, correct us, strengthen us, help us, stretch us, and protect us. And sometimes a good friend can even get you to dance at midnight!

Discouragement is a tool of the devil. He knows when a person is feeling down and has his ways of utilizing those times to drive a weary soul even deeper into the ground. Those are the times when a child of God must rely heavily on the truth instead of on their feelings. I was having one of those days recently. The holiday cheer had just about done me in and I was sure that I could not go on any longer. I had done everything I could do, said everything I could say, and used all the strength I could muster. I felt that I needed to get out of the house. So since we were low on food, I decided to go to the grocery store to restock the pantry and let my brain chill.

All of us have times when we experience loneliness and friendlessness. These are not good feelings and can create the perception that we are worthless and unwanted. Often these emotions are based on untrue feelings, but sometimes the events of our lives really do put us in a position of rejection and loneliness. As an African American born in 1896, Ethel Waters had every reason to feel alone and unwanted. Born to a 13-year old rape victim, Ethel spent most of her young life raising herself. Though her maternal grandmother had responsibility for her, she spent much of the time running wild in the slums of Philadelphia.