Today's Devotional

April 15, 2005

Subject:  Love Is The Answer

Mark 12:33 - "And to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."

Giving should be motivated by love, but giving does not prove your love for something.  How many times have you felt a compulsion to give money to a cause or a donation to something or someone and didn't really want to do it?  This happens when our heart is not bent towards that particular thing or service.  However, because our secular culture places much value on material things, we often believe that we can make up for love by sacrificing or giving.  It really doesn't work that way.  

Parents sometimes give kids things, toys, a new car, fancy clothes and other things because they think it will show their children they care or a husband will mistreat his wife and feel that it's okay after buying her a bunch of flowers or giving her a diamond or some other material possession.  In either case, the gift is often inadequate because, in the end, we really don't want more things, we want to be loved.  Yes we want to know that someone cares for us and we'd really like to feel that and be able to reciprocate that.  

While there can be tons of theological debate on specific issues of the bible concerning what God said and what He didn't say, it is perfectly clear that nothing we can give is greater than love.  We can try to "give" all that we've got to Him and it can be meaningless because He simply requires our whole heart, our whole soul and all of our strength.  None of that is material. To love God that way is the first principle of love.  The second is that we should love others as we love ourselves.  Love will manifest itself in giving, but giving does not manifest itself in love.  

Today if you are in doubt on which direction to go in life and which decision you ought to make on a certain issue, find your heart in the matter and see if it matches up with the two principles of love.  If that happens, then any decision you make will be the right one.  Love is always the answer.   

Carlen