“And we know and rely on the LOVE God has for us.  God is LOVE.  Whoever lives in LOVE lives in God, and God in him.” (John 4:16)

God loves you!  

Let that soak in. The God of all creation loves you!

His unfailing love is a free gift; and He gives it to all his children.

And what are we to do with all that LOVE?!

Ephesians 5:1-2 says – “Therefore be imitators of God as beloved children.  And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

We need to soak in this great LOVE, to believe it, to relish it, to let it fill us.

We need to absorb it until we feel so full, that we must give it away!

Can you imagine being so aware and full of the feeling of LOVE that you are brimming over!

Doesn’t that sound great!?

So, why are we not feeling full of God’s LOVE continually and constantly giving it away?

Maybe life gets in the way, smothering our awareness of God’s LOVE.

Maybe we spend so much time tuned into noise of the world through our many devices, that we don’t have much time for the things of The Spirit. 

Maybe worry, bitterness, anger, sadness, anxiety, loneliness, and pain take up too much room for LOVE to fit in.

Perhaps you have heard the story of the old Cherokee teaching his grandson about life.  “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.  “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.  One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”

He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.  The same fight is going on inside you – inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Every time the battery on our phone gets low, we feed it. We plug it in to charge it up.

And just like that battery, we need to be fed with a daily charge from God. We need time sitting quietly with no noise or distractions, just plugged into God, to get ourselves recharged with his GREAT LOVE!

The stronger our charge, the more LOVE we have to share!

Prayer

Lord, help us to keep a full charge!  Pull us to your LOVE that we may be brimming over and sharing your LOVE with everyone we encounter!

This devotional was written and read by Bernice Howard.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org.

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.