Starting to Leave Your Past Behind - Day 1
People in all walks of life have their own definitions of love these days, including those who go to church. It really matters how you look at it. If you grew up with it the way God looks at it, and defines it, it might have saved you from much grief in your life.
For 33 years I worked with people in the prison system and on various probation and parole programs in Florida. Lots of people had friends and family who tried to keep them out of trouble when they were young. Maybe a loving relative tried the “geographic approach” (you know-moving from the bad neighborhood) but that didn’t work. Maybe a pastor tried to help out with a sympathetic judge or P.O., but reality still took over and so did that person’s instincts to be back on the streets, living that lifestyle.
And each time they got away with something, or got caught, their heart got harder. Like the concrete on those walls of the jails or prisons that often surround them, that is what is becoming of their hearts. Sadly, they may not even think God has anything to do with it, but that is the biggest mistake they make inside. In this loveless pit they are in, there is really only one way out and it isn’t—right now, at least—a physical gate. And the regret is passed on to their families outside. Maybe even you.
Paul, alias Saul in an earlier life, was a hateful soul. I wouldn’t have liked him, and you probably wouldn’t have either. He would get licenses from the religious authorities to go out and catch Christians, then torture and kill them! Eventually, Jesus got hold of him and changed his mind by striking him blind.
Even then, no one trusted him enough to care for him but once he was nursed back and persuaded about the love and salvation of Jesus, he was all in. He would die a willing prisoner to God. Decapitated by the Romans, but faithful to the end. He wrote a letter to an ancient people who needed to know what true love meant:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV)
This devotional will help, even if you have never been in trouble with the law. We all have things that make us “convicts” of one kind or another. Maybe it’s a mindset, a bad habit, or a way of seeing people or the world.
I have known many people who were locked up for decades who only survived by the Words you will read in Scripture. Paul spent many of his years in prisons writing letters to churches all over Europe and Asia before he was killed. This is why love matters and what you believe about love really matters.
Salvation only came to us by God’s love, so it only makes sense that this is the perfect definition! Right? Before the Romans killed him, Paul wrote another letter that said what we had to do to be saved forever and it was a basic start for our relationship with Jesus. Paul had it right:
If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)
Prayer: Lord Jesus I believe in You. I believe in my heart and mind You died for me on that cross to save me from my sins, and I am justified by my faith in You—just as if I had never sinned. I will declare it with my mouth faithfully forever. Thank You for filling me with Your Holy Spirit. Build me with Your wisdom, and courage through the difficult times ahead. And help me lead others as You have led me. In Your Most Mighty Name. Amen.
