Devotionals for the Heart: True Love

An Inconvenient Love
A devotional by Jessica Brodie

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”—Luke 6:38 NIV

Have you ever gone from discomfort to devotion?

At the risk of sounding heartless, I’ll make a bold confession: For most of my life, dogs made me really, really uncomfortable. They were fine at a distance, or if they were super old and gentle.

But most dogs are boisterous and messy, and they like to lick and slobber and jump up on you. There’s very little sensible control when it comes to dogs, at least in my experience with them.

My husband, Matt, brought a huge German Shepherd named Scout to our marriage ten years ago. Scout helped me get used to dogs and learn to love them. But while Scout was my first dog, he wasn’t really mine. He was Matt’s. I wasn’t “Mommy”, even though Scout loved me. I was part of the pack, and I belonged to Matt in his eyes, so he loved me too. But he was fully grown and trained by the time I came along. When he passed away a couple years later, I was sad, but Matt was devastated.

Then, in 2021, I decided it was time: I knew how much Matt missed having a dog, and in my heart of hearts, I knew I needed to bend and grow. I needed to understand what it was like to be a dog person as well as a cat person. So we adopted Captain, a fuzzy, floppy-tongued, six-week-old German Shepherd puppy … and just like that, my world turned upside down. That first year was one of the hardest in my life. I learned firsthand how to do everything that goes with having a puppy. I had no idea how much work it would be! But in that work, I also learned what it was like to truly know and love Captain.

We’re at a sweet spot now, almost three years in. And today, I’ve learned what it means to be a dog mom. Captain is definitely my baby. When I get home, he brings me his toys and whines in utter joy, and my heart leaps at the sight of him. When he’s scared or bored, he cuddles in my lap (I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s the size of our cats). Sometimes I wake up and have to give him a big kiss, just because.

Now, my cats are amazing… when I get home, they sidle up to greet me. They blink with their cat smiles and show how much they missed me in their own special kitty ways. “Welcome home, special human one,” they seem to proclaim majestically. But with Captain, it’s different. It’s like his whole world was wrecked when I walked out the door, and now that I’m home, life can start anew. “Everything is right in the world again because you’re here, Mom!” he tells me with his wild, enthusiastic eyes as he vigorously circles me again and again, covering every inch of my pants in dog fur.

My cats loved me and missed me, but life still went on. But for my dog, it was like a piece of him was missing the whole time I was gone. It got me thinking about how we humans love and treat each other in this world. Imagine with me a moment: What would the world be like if we all were to love each other like a dog loves us? Minus the licks and doggy slobber, I imagine it would be a lot like we all used to get along in kindergarten—curious, mostly friendly, and boundlessly enthusiastic. And yet that’s usually not the case with adults, is it?

Many times we greet loved ones with barely more than a quick “hi” before rushing on to whatever else we need to do. We avert our eyes in stores rather than make small talk with neighbors, and lie “Oh, I’m great!” when someone asks how we’re doing. And that’s just social courtesy. What about really showing love…caring for others in their sickness and hunger, sharing our basic life needs together, such as clothing or money or shelter…how does that look?

It usually looks quite different from what I believe our Savior (Jesus Christ) intended. In Matthew 10:25-37, Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with all of our heart and our mind and our soul, and the second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. As an example, Jesus gave us the “Good Samaritan” parable about a man who cared for a perfect stranger in an extravagant way, tending his wounds and paying for medical care. There’s nothing convenient about this kind of love. Loving this way is decidedly inconvenient.

Honestly, that’s how my dog loves. It doesn’t matter what he’s doing when I get home. If he’s asleep in the corner with his foot in his mouth, he wakes up and races for me. If he’s scratching himself or eating a treat or having some silent communication with one of our cats, he drops what he’s doing and races for me. He stops everything because I am there. Nothing else matters. It doesn’t matter what I look like or smell like, if I’ve been spending time with other dogs, or if I’ve been gone for a couple of days. It doesn’t matter if the last time he saw me I scolded him for being naughty.

He just loves me and he’s happy to see me. Do I love the people in my world that way? Sadly, sometimes I don’t. Grudges get in the way or my own selfish concerns. But what if I were to model a little bit of my dog’s kind of love? What if I treated others, those I love and those who are strangers, with the same boisterous care and enthusiasm my dog bestows on me? I imagine the world would be a much better place, the kind of place Jesus commanded us to create.

This week, let’s see what we can do to love each other better, whether our inner circle, our neighbors, or strangers we encounter. Let’s love from a place of inconvenience. That’s what Jesus would have us do.

Let’s Pray: Lord, please help me to love others with wild, boundless, extravagant care, knowing that the love I show reflects Your perfect love. In Jesus’s Name I pray. Amen.

Song of Reflection: “Love God Love People” by Danny Gokey. Listen to it here.

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Author Bio:

Jessica Brodie is an award-winning journalist, author, blogger, editor, writing coach, and devotional writer with thousands of articles to her name. 

Since 2010, she has served as the editor of the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate, the oldest newspaper in Methodism, which has won 123 journalism awards during her tenure. Her latest book is Preparing Our Hearts: An Advent Devotional to Draw Closer to God at Christmas.

She has won more than 100 writing awards. Jessica is a seasoned speaker and frequent contributor to Christianity.com, BibleStudyTools.com, and Crosswalk.com, among many others. She has a weekly faith blog at JessicaBrodie.com and is part of the team at Wholly Loved Ministries, with her work included in many of their devotionals and Bible studies. Jessica also produced a free eBook, A God-Centered Life: 10 Faith-Based Practices When You’re Feeling Anxious, Grumpy, or Stressed.

Jessica holds a Master of Arts in English. She graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in communications/print journalism from Florida International University. Born and raised in Miami, Jessica now lives in Lexington, South Carolina, just outside Columbia. She has also lived in Ohio and in the mountains of western North Carolina. She and her husband, Matt Brodie, have a blended family of four teenage children and stepchildren.

Jessica has written several novels and is actively seeking publication through her agent Bob Hostetler of The Steve Laube Agency. Her novel The Memory Garden won the 2018 Genesis contest for Contemporary Fiction from American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW), and her novel Tangled Roots won a third place Foundation Award in Contemporary Romance at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference in 2019. She is finishing the third in the series, Hidden Seeds, now.

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Website: https://www.jessicabrodie.com/
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Devotionals for the Heart: Discipleship

Delving into Discipleship
A devotional by Cyndi Staudt

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 28:19 (NLT)

Maybe you’ve seen the adorable video online that opens with an adorable puppy, Daisy, at the top of a flight of stairs. She is scared and apprehensive about going down the stairs.

Despite the encouragement of its owner, this sweet puppy paces across the landing anxiously, unsure of itself. Her whimpers of fear squeak out and this fear keeps her at the top, desperately wanting to join her owner at the bottom of the stairs yet not ready to tackle the mountain of stairs before her. Next thing you know, her older canine brother Simon runs to join her at the top and then bounds back down the stairs, showing her how easy it is. Yet, Daisy still isn’t brave enough to take the steps needed. Her brother runs back to the top of the stairs to show her again. This time, he waits until she takes her two front paws and places them both solidly on the first step. Then he runs down the steps again to show his sweet sister how to take the next steps.

Daisy remains at the top of the stairs, awkwardly paralyzed with her two front paws on the first step and her two back paws still safely planted on the landing. Simon comes back up the stairs and stands in front of her, staring her in the eyes as if to say, “Keep your eyes on me. I’ve got you.” Daisy turns her head and looks back, contemplating just going back to what’s familiar, the safety of the landing. And then she steps back up, just not ready to move forward. Simon bounds back up to the landing with her, not willing to leave her there. After a few more ups and downs, little Daisy finally dares to take one step, then the next, then the next. Simon stays by her side until she is all the way down, and cheering ensues from her family waiting at the bottom for her.

When I first became a Christian I felt a bit like Daisy – scared and unsure of taking steps away from what was familiar. It made no difference how messed up my “familiar” was; it was my comfort zone and I had learned how to survive in it. But God didn’t create us to remain in our comfort zone and He certainly didn’t save us to just survive. His goal is for us to thrive, to give us “more than we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20), “to prosper us and not to harm us” (Jeremiah 29:11). But how was that going to happen for this newly-saved babe in Christ?

While we are guaranteed the wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit, it helps. But let’s face it, it’s a must to also have fellow Christians to share our walk of faith with. That’s where you and I come in. At some point we were all a Daisy. But God wants and expects us to move into the role of Simon at some point. We need to be an encourager and leader and show a new believer how to take their first steps down the road of faith. We should “think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24).

Matthew 28:19 tells us to “go and make disciples of all the nations.” The dictionary defines “disciple” as “a follower or a student of a teacher or leader”. When we put our faith in Jesus, we are saved; but to become His disciple we need to start following His example and studying His teaching. Matthew 28 continues on in verse 20 to encourage us to “teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you”. While we are to introduce unbelievers to Jesus, we are also called to link arms with new believers and help them to take their first steps on their faith journey. In fact, we may have to walk with them for a few months or even years until they are ready to walk on their own. Then they too can move from being a Daisy to a Simon.

Where are you in your faith journey? Are you a Daisy – stepping gingerly into your newfound faith? Do you have a Simon in your life – a Christian mentor who can show you what steps to take and how and when to take them? If you need a mentor, start praying and ask God to reveal who that might be for you. Or have you moved out of your Daisy phase and are now ready to become a Simon to someone?

Can you think of someone in your life that needs to meet Jesus? Invite them to church with you. Do you know a new believer who might not yet have a mentor? Consult God and ask if you might be the one He has in mind to step into that role. No matter what stage you find yourself in, you have a role to play and a purpose to fulfill. Doing your part for God’s Kingdom will help others do theirs. And in this way we live out being the body of Christ!

Let’s Pray: Heavenly Father, help us to remember that our primary call while on Earth is to lead others to you and then help them take steps forward in their faith. As followers of Jesus, let us live our lives in a way that makes you attractive to others (Titus 2:10), giving them a desire to get to know you. May the example we set always demonstrate the love and grace that you freely extend and lead others to a deeper, more personal relationship with you. In Jesus’s mighty name I pray. Amen.

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Author Bio:

Cyndi Staudt is a Jesus-loving, adrenaline junkie who is devoted to living her life for Jesus Christ until the day she is living with Him.  

With a passion for cultivating a craving for God’s Word, her devotions and Bible studies are saturated with faith and hope to stir your soul to connect with God in deeper, more intimate ways.

Through her writing she hopes to ignite your desire to read God’s Word, invite your heart to experience God’s love, and inspire you to live your live life “souled out” to the One whose love has no limits.

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Connect with Cyndi:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/souledoutcyndi/