Love Deeply | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Love Deeply | Previous Challenge Entry
By Marlene Custer
10/16/19
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I am making plans to attend a reunion soon. It has been 56 years since we started college together. I was asked to share a brief devotional, and after saying, “Yes”, panic began to set in. What can I share that would be meaningful to a group of women that I met in my youth. We were eagerly beginning life as adults, and now 56 years later after achieving all our hopes and dreams, or at least all we are going to achieve, we are at the other end of the spectrum. My hope is to encourage as well as challenge.

Reflecting on the past years, I grabbed my Bible and found Isaiah 46:4 (NIV). God promises, “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you.” That is an encouraging thought!

As I pondered on a relevant challenge, three action steps came to mind. Love—now that was definitely on our minds 56 years ago. Is it still relevant today? I have learned through the years that love involves much more than we thought about then. In his first epistle the Apostle Peter urges us twice to ‘love deeply’. Deeply here means very intense, extreme, immeasurable. I think we have no trouble loving our children and grandchildren deeply. But how about that annoying neighbor or the church gossip, or the homeless person we meet on the street. Jesus said this is how all men would know we are His disciples, if we have love for one another. Yes, I would encourage a deep love for others.

Second I would challenge my classmates to forgive unreservedly. We have all lived long enough to be hurt. Perhaps it was a careless word, or someone questioned your motives, or worse, they hurt your child or grandchild. Recently, I saw a quote that said, ‘The most influential person in your life is the one you haven’t forgiven.’ Does refusing to forgive make that hurt better or worse? My husband, John, has an amazing testimony of healing that took place when God helped him forgive someone that had betrayed his trust. Looking back we see that God took that wrong and used it for good.

Having worked along side of Bible translators from all over the world, we have heard numerous accounts of whole villages being transformed by the power of forgiveness. Jesus taught that we must forgive others if we want God to forgive us. That’s reason enough to just ‘let it go’!

And third, I challenge each of us to savor God’s Word daily. Savor means to enjoy to the fullest. Who wouldn’t enjoy sitting down with God and having a conversation. When we read God’s Word we are allowing Him to talk to us. Yet we so often neglect that great privilege. Psalm 119:105 (NIV) declares, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” We not only need light to guide our physical feet, we need light on our spiritual path. An added benefit is as we immerse ourselves in God’s Word, loving others and forgiving them becomes easier.

So, what would I want to say to my former classmates? I would say, go from here with a new determination to love deeply, forgive unreservedly, and savor God’s Word daily. And never forget His promise that He will sustain you.

NIV 1 Peter 1:22, 1 Peter 4:8, John 13:35, Matthew 6:15

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