“Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39
Nothing can separate the believer from the relentless, persevering, and all pervasive love of God.
St. Valentine’s Day is an odd feast, for little is known of its namesake. In fact, there were several martyred saints by the name of Valentinus. Most notable, perhaps, was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius the Goth. He was arrested and imprisoned for two offenses: marrying Christian couples and aiding Christians who were at the time being persecuted in Rome.
Sweethearts claim the day today as a celebration of marital and premarital love and devotion. It is rightly a time to reaffirm the sacred vows of matrimony and the sanctity of godly family life.
It is also a time to reflect upon the love of God of which every human love is a dim reflection. It is God’s love that never lets us go and sees us through all manner of trial, tribulation, and persecution.
After his sister’s wedding, George Mattheson entered into a time of deep pain and despair. As a direct result of his mental anguish, he felt God dictating the words of this great hymn.
“O Love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, that in thine ocean depths its flow May richer, fuller be.”
© Take The Word Home 2012. All rights reserved.
Published by Take the Word Home · Merri V. Dennis, Editor · Thomas B. Sims, Author
Purchase a formatted, printable copy of this devotional to use as a bulletin insert.
“And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.” Genesis 35:15
Back in the 1930s, B.B. McKinney penned a hymn that reminisced on the experience of Jacob at Bethel so many centuries before and the experiences of many a young man and woman who at their own Bethel, encountered the Word of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
He wrote: “Back to Bethel I must go, Back where the rivers of sweet water flow, Back to the true life my soul longs to know, Bethel is calling, and I must go.” © 1931, renewed 1959 Broadman Press
“Bethel” is taken from two Hebrew words, “beth,” which means “house,” and “El,” which means, “God.” Bethel is then, the House of God.
Where is your Bethel? Is it a physical or geographic location? Perhaps it was the little country church of your youth, a Christian coffee house, or a campus Bible study. It is that time in your life when you first met Jesus. Perhaps it was a conversation or event or merely a vague, but very real memory.
What happened to you at Bethel? What made the difference in your life? What opened your eyes? What commitments did you make there? What would it take to return to that place in your heart and mind and renew your first love for Jesus?
As Jacob marked the place where He met God, never forget that place in your own life. It is sacred.
© Take The Word Home 2012. All rights reserved.
Published by Take the Word Home · Merri V. Dennis, Editor · Thomas B. Sims, Author
Purchase a formatted, printable copy of this devotional to use as a bulletin insert.
“And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away, and be at rest.” Psalm 55:6
It was November 21, 1783 in Paris, France. Physicist Jean Francois Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d’Arlandes fulfilled the dreams of generations when they became the first humans to fly. Rising to a height of 3000 feet, they drifted for 25 minutes before landing 5 miles from where they started in a hot air balloon.
For as long as human memory has been recorded, men and women have admired the great birds of the sky and wondered what it would be like to soar above the clouds.
Helen Keller said, “One cannot consent to creep when one has an impulse to soar.”
The psalmist mused about the possibility of soaring above the cares of life, above his circumstances, and above his limitations until he came to a place of rest and fulfillment.
Soon after the Paris flight, ballooning became a popular recreation. Yet still today, it is cause for amazement and imagination. To fly away and see our little worlds below from the vantage of eternity is a longing that God has placed in our hearts. To rise above our impossibilities is a God-shaped and God-sized dream.
God plants the possibility and the power within us. He has not made us to be ordinary, sedentary, or earth-bound. He has made us to soar.
© Take The Word Home 2012. All rights reserved.
Published by Take the Word Home · Merri V. Dennis, Editor · Thomas B. Sims, Author
Purchase a formatted, printable copy of this devotional to use as a bulletin insert.
