Devotion Booklets for Seasons of the Church Year Advent-Christmas Devotional - 2017 - single page | Page 23

Frustrated Love
Monday, December 18th
1 John 3:1
Have you ever read or heard something that you absolutely disagreed with - so much that you were even a
little upset about it? (I’m talking about the kind of thing that sticks in your head so much you almost end
up muttering like a frustrated old curmudgeon shuffling down the sidewalk.) Have you ever, after reading
or hearing this, pursued the topic with some research and careful, objective discussion only to discover
that the issue at hand is more nuanced than you’d realized? Seeing the bigger picture, gaining a little
perspective, and acknowledging legitimacy on all sides of an argument can be illuminating. It always
helps.
There’s an increasing muttering of frustration in the church. I hear it often. Christian people are asking
questions like:
“How can we stop the world from getting worse and worse at every turn?”
“How can we preach the gospel when the right to do so seems so constantly under attack?”
“How are we supposed to get them to listen to us when they hate us?”
People who ask questions like these are sincerely concerned for those who, if they were to die right now,
would go to hell. Sometimes, though, in weakness, fear, doubt, and the midst of change, these questions
come from a more selfish place. People don’t like to be uncomfortable or challenged, and when the things
you believe are condemned by the culture around you, it is uncomfortable and challenging.
The solution is in front of us. John explains it in 1 John 3. When the world is rejecting the things Christians
say and do, it is uncomfortable for us - but the solution is not to be louder and force them to get to know
us and the things we say and do. The solution, instead, is to introduce them to the one for whom we do
those things.
“The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”
God loves unconditionally, cares eternally, and makes lives better. It’s that love which answers our
questions. Love others with the love of Jesus. The world will always reject you and your priorities. But
God’s love changes hearts.
Prayer: Lord, it is exciting and humbling for us to spend time considering how great your love for us is. It
moves and motivates us, and it creates in us a real hope even in the midst of rejection. Remind us, every
day, that your love is the solution when we face rejection from the world. Your love is the thing that can
move and motivate those who are not in your family now. We pray for them, that your gospel message
would flow through us into their hearts. Amen.
Activity: Have each person participating in this devotion name two wonderful things about God. Try to
think of things many people don’t know about God that they would respond well to if they understood
them.
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