17/10/2024
Devotion
Love Personified
by Margaret Michel
Read 1John 4:8
God is love.�I have tried many times to wrap my mind around it, but failed.�As a young adult, I also vainly attempted to understand my mother’s love for me.�The route to my college was not safe. Many unsavory persons lingered around its dark, remote path. I could not grasp why, in her care for my safety, my mother — a middle-aged woman in failing health — ventured onto this dangerous road to meet me, join me in my peril, and walk me home to safety.�Did she imagine that she could ward off attackers better than I could? I certainly stood a better chance of outrunning potential assailants than she did. Yet, she willingly offered herself as a distraction to bide time for me to escape in the event of a crime. Certainly, in her poor health, she was offering her life in my stead.�My world at the time was filled with logic. I honestly thought that answers resided at the end of any logical path. Mom’s actions were illogical.�As I delved into the Bible, I came face to face with a similar, yet even deeper and broader portrait of the love of God and the sacrifice of Christ. Logic, I learned, was not the resolution for every dilemma. Ironically, Love was.
Prayer
Dear God,
My dearest human relation may be loving, but You are Love personified. Thank You for including me in the greatness of Your love. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
