The Upper Room Daily Devotional from The United Methodist Church of Nashville, Tennessee, United States for Sunday, 12 November 2017 "Love Never Fails" by Lily Hiser (North Carolina) - Romans 5:1-11
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DAILY DEVOTIONAL FOR SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2017
Love never fails. As for prophecies, they will be brought to an end. As for tongues, they will stop.
As for knowledge, it will be brought to an end. (1 Corinthians 13:8 (CEB))
Last summer I worked at a local preschool as a summer camp assistant. Three days a week, I was known as “Miss Lily” to a group of two- and three-year-olds. We made finger paintings and watercolor caterpillars and played make- believe on the playground. I loved my job, but the most difficult part was always the morning drop-off. Each day, no matter how much fun we had the day before, many children didn’t want to leave their parents. I reminded the distraught preschoolers that their parents would return. Then, at noon, just as I had assured the children, their parents would arrive without fail and joyously greet their children.
At times, when we feel that God is far away, we may find ourselves as distraught as my preschoolers. But just like the parents, God will always be there to pick us up. In today’s reading, Paul writes to the Corinthians about the characteristics of love, reminding them that “love never fails.” When we feel hopeless, we can trust that God is always with us. God’s love lifts us up and makes us strong.
Last summer I worked at a local preschool as a summer camp assistant. Three days a week, I was known as “Miss Lily” to a group of two- and three-year-olds. We made finger paintings and watercolor caterpillars and played make- believe on the playground. I loved my job, but the most difficult part was always the morning drop-off. Each day, no matter how much fun we had the day before, many children didn’t want to leave their parents. I reminded the distraught preschoolers that their parents would return. Then, at noon, just as I had assured the children, their parents would arrive without fail and joyously greet their children.
At times, when we feel that God is far away, we may find ourselves as distraught as my preschoolers. But just like the parents, God will always be there to pick us up. In today’s reading, Paul writes to the Corinthians about the characteristics of love, reminding them that “love never fails.” When we feel hopeless, we can trust that God is always with us. God’s love lifts us up and makes us strong.
TODAY'S PRAYER:
Dear Lord, help us remember that your love is always with us even when life is difficult. Amen.
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Romans 5:1 So, since we have come to be considered righteous by God because of our trust, let us continue to have shalom with God through our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. 2 Also through him and on the ground of our trust, we have gained access to this grace in which we stand; so let us boast about the hope of experiencing God’s glory. 3 But not only that, let us also boast in our troubles; because we know that trouble produces endurance, 4 endurance produces character, and character produces hope; 5 and this hope does not let us down, because God’s love for us has already been poured out in our hearts through the Ruach HaKodesh who has been given to us.
6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time, the Messiah died on behalf of ungodly people. 7 Now it is a rare event when someone gives up his life even for the sake of somebody righteous, although possibly for a truly good person one might have the courage to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in that the Messiah died on our behalf while we were still sinners. 9 Therefore, since we have now come to be considered righteous by means of his bloody sacrificial death, how much more will we be delivered through him from the anger of God’s judgment! 10 For if we were reconciled with God through his Son’s death when we were enemies, how much more will we be delivered by his life, now that we are reconciled! 11 And not only will we be delivered in the future, but we are boasting about God right now, because he has acted through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, through whom we have already received that reconciliation.
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No matter what happens, God’s love never fails.
Childcare workers
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More from Lily Hiser BY LILY HISER (NORTH CAROLINA)
It is hard to believe that it has been almost two years since I wrote my devotional “Love Never Fails”. In those two years, my life has completely changed. When I wrote this as a junior in high school, I had no idea what God had planned for me. I didn’t know that only a year later I would be accepted into my dream school. I didn’t know how hard it would be to leave my family and friends and embark on a new path in life. I didn’t know the excitement and anticipation I would be filled with as I began this new journey. I certainly didn’t know how hard college would be, but I also didn’t know how much I would grow to love my new home.
Most significantly, though, I did not know how well the words of my devotional would resonate with me all these months later, perhaps even more than they did the first time I wrote them. I am no longer in the authority role at the preschool in my life; instead, I am in the preschoolers’ shoes. When my parents dropped me off at my dorm before school started, I knew that they wouldn’t be coming back to pick me up at the end of the day. I knew that I was, for all intents and purposes, on my own in this new journey of my life. For the first couple of days, and even weeks, I struggled with feelings of anxiety, loneliness, and despair as I tried to navigate a world I was completely unfamiliar with. I let myself forget the words that I written about not that long ago: love never fails.
Looking back on those first few weeks, I realize now that when I thought I was completely alone, I wasn’t. I had God’s love protecting and strengthening me even in my worst moments. God was there in the little victories of the first few weeks. He was there in the beautiful roses blooming on my walks to the store. He was there in the chance meetings which turned into friendships. Most importantly though, God was there in my heart, the little voice encouraging me to go talk to those new people, to try out a different activity, to keep putting myself out there even when I felt scared.
We all forget that we aren’t alone sometimes. When things are new, scary, confusing, and just downright hard, it is difficult to feel like anyone is looking out for us. It is easy to focus on the negatives, to turn inwards and let ourselves forget that we are loved. But we are loved: we always have been loved, and we always will be loved. God won’t leave us or abandon us, and God certainly will never stop loving us.
Unfortunately, this does not mean that our paths will be without hardship. In this life, we are not guaranteed smooth sailing. I know that I am just at the beginning, and there are many more trying times in my future. But it is these moments of darkness and despair that allow God’s light to shine most brightly. And when we overcome these trials, which we will, the light of our hearts will shine even more clearly with the fire of God’s love.
Link2Life - November 12,
2017 BY LILY HISER (NORTH CAROLINA)
Lily with some of the children she cared for at the preschool
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Header Photo Credit: "Harvested Land," Beth Shumate. August 15, 2014. (link)
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