For Such A Time as This July 9, 2020 – Bethany Hoffer

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To the Good Folk of the Palmyra Church of the Brethren,


Joys and Concerns

If you have a joy or concern you would like us to share and pray about, please call, text or email it to me.  If you would like it included in our Sunday Worship sharing and prayer time, please share it with me that week by Friday morning.


Thank You:

To all who call others to check in on them and share our emails and devotions.


Today’s Devotion

I am thankful to Bethany Hoffer for providing today’s devotion.  Bethany first shared this devotion on April 19 in her weekly Connect post on our website Youth Page.  If you wish to respond to Bethany directly, her email address is bhoffer@palmyracob.org .

Shalom, Dennis


Scriptures

Galatians 5:22

By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love...

John 15:12

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.


Thoughts

The Greek language, which the New Testament was originally written in, has 4 different words for love. They all have a little bit different intention. There's a romantic love (eros), love between friends (philia), love of family (storge), and unconditional - God like - love(agape).

In the two verses shared above, as in many of the passages in the New Testament, the love used here is "agape". We are commanded to love each other unconditionally. That means that no matter what we did or what someone else did, we should still love them as God loves us: unconditionally.

This is not an easy task. I have to confess that there are moments where I do not follow this commandment well. Sometimes there are people in our lives and in the world that do things to us or others that makes them seem unlovable. Yet, we know that God loves everyone - even those who are difficult to love or seem undeserving of our love.

Let me be clear though: You can love someone and not like them. You can love someone and not spend time with them. Agape love is simply recognizing the humanity in them - looking deeper than surface level. We don't have to be best friends or friends at all with someone who is not healthy for us. But we can still offer empathy and grace.

How can you practice agape love in your life right now, with those who you are stuck with and those who you encounter through social media or by phone or email?

Prayer

God of Love, fill me with your unconditional love, so that in being loved I can love others.  Help me to make good friendship choices, so that strengthened by such friends, I can know what healthy relationships are like and offer healthy friendships to others who need a good friend.  Amen.

 

 

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