November 26, 2024

I was reading this devotional in preparation for Thanksgiving and thought I would share the closing lines: "Love that isn’t faithful is love that has little value. Love that changes with the wind is not really love at all. It is a fickle and momentary put-on that does more damage than it does good. That is why God’s faithful, eternal love is such a huge and motivating comfort.

The question then is, “Where in the world am I going to get this kind of love?” Well, it never comes from picking yourself up and telling yourself that you’re going to do better. If you had the power for this kind of self-reformation, the cross of Jesus Christ would not have been necessary. The only way I can escape the self-focused bondage of my love for me and actually begin to love others is for forgiving, liberating, empowering, and eternal love to be placed in me. The more I am thankful for that love, the more I find joy in giving it to others. God’s love, willingly given, provides the only hope that I can have love in my heart that I joyfully give as well." — Paul David Tripp