In this week’s Martha Monday video, Laura shared the March ‘Do It!’ List … along with some of her favorite tips (and recipes) for mastering the art of meal planning. Visit our YouTube channel for a link to the FREE menu planning download mentioned in the video!
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“Within your temple, O God,
we meditate on your unfailing love.”
Psalm 48:9
It is good to be still—to think, ponder, wonder, and meditate on God’s unfailing love.
Soak it in. Let it marinate in your heart. Marvel.
Allow it to amaze, overwhelm, and astonish.
The more I focus on who God is, the more I am aware of who I am not: My sinfulness contrasts with His holiness. My inability is eclipsed by His all sufficiency. My never-enough is lost in His more-than-enough.
Only a humble heart can fully praise Him. Only a humble heart is desperate for Him.
A heart that recognizes its own sin, and is broken by that realization, is profoundly grateful for the sacrificial love that declares it clean and pure. A transformed heart can worship with abandon, marveling at God’s unfailing love that makes it all possible.
Meditating on His love individually prepares us for coming together corporately. The Lord is glorified when the body of Christ—a group of broken hearts glued together with the blood of Jesus—comes together in worship. And when a sanctuary full of humble hearts meditates together on His unfailing love, the result is real, unvarnished, God-honoring, holy worship that makes much of Him.
Are you meditating on His unfailing love today? Are you joining your heart with fellow believers in worship?
Our Heavenly Father wants our praise, but He won’t demand it.
Our great God desires and deserves our worship, but He won’t compel it.
As you and I meditate today on His unfailing love, may it prompt praise from our lips and joy in our hearts.
This week’s Bible study was canceled due to an ice storm in Northwest Arkansas, but Laura recorded her teaching lecture for our YouTube channel. Watch Lesson 5 as we see the long-awaited fulfillment of God’s promise (from I Kings) to bring judgment on the house of Ahab.
Today we’re sharing a throwback video from early 2020. This week brings cooler temperatures for much of the U.S., so it’s a perfect time to revisit this delicious (and nutritious) recipe for White Bean Chili made with chicken … a healthier alternative to many other versions you might normally make. Download a copy of the recipe here.
Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
Psalm 63:3
Life is good. You’ve probably said that a few times – perhaps in response to a passing “How are you?” from a friend. The response has become almost a cliché, on par with:
One organization has successfully transformed “life is good” into a thriving business. (Maybe you own a Life Is Good tee shirt.) Their mission is to spread the power of optimism and their tag line reads:
LIFE IS NOT PERFECT. LIFE IS NOT EASY. LIFE IS GOOD.
As a follower of Christ, I can’t argue with that statement. In fact, I agree with it. My life is good. I am grateful for the life I have and am well aware that I am blessed well beyond what I deserve. Even though life is never perfect and is often not easy, life is still good.
Life … is … good.
But God’s love is better. Because of God’s love we need not settle for good. We get better. We get eternal life. We get freedom in Christ. We get hope for eternity. And all that is made possible because of God’s love. Love that is better than a life that is good.
The nerdy part of me wants to make it work in an equation:
Life = Good
God’s Love > Life
If we pause to count our many blessings – to make a list of all the things that make this life good – that list might include:
The list is endless. Some seem trivial and others more substantial, but all are blessings of a good life.
As good as this life may be, God’s love is better. God’s love trumps every other blessing. God’s love brings peace and joy that transcends this life and reaches to eternity. Because of God’s love, my destiny for eternity is secure. I have confident hope.
Life here is good. I love the blessings this life brings. Anticipating that life for eternity is even better brings wonder … amazement … peace … joy.
As I ponder and embrace the truth that God’s love is better than life, the only possible response is praise. I can’t help but glorify Him. As natural as breathing is the song on my lips to the God who loves me. The one whose love is better than life must be praised. He must be glorified. The deep sense of belonging – of abiding in Him – brings a delightful desire to glorify Him.
Surely, there is no better way to observe the Sabbath than to allow our lips to glorify our great God! Let’s declare with the Psalmist: My lips will glorify you!
Although our Spring Bible study is taking a break this week, Laura has a few thoughts to share about II Kings 8 in this short bonus teaching video:
In this week’s Martha Monday video, Laura shared favorite recipes for homemade chocolate cake (made with ingredients you probably have in your pantry!) and easy, creamy chocolate frosting. Be sure to visit YouTube for links to FREE downloads of both recipes … and while you’re there, we hope you’ll take a moment to subscribe to the Cross My Heart channel.
Happy baking!
What does God love? According to Psalm 33:5, the answer is righteousness and justice:
The LORD loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of his unfailing love.
Psalm 33:5
God doesn’t play favorites. He is no respecter of persons. He doesn’t treat the rich better than the poor (or the poor better than the rich). He is not impressed by designer labels or false humility. He is colorblind.
And I’m convinced He delights when we do the same.
If we are being transformed into the image of Christ, then what He loves, we should love.
To love righteousness and justice means to celebrate fairness, to be happy when morality is exercised.
As I think on righteousness and justice, they also sound a bit harsh … even legalistic. They suggest an unattainable standard. They convict me, as they highlight my own lacking – in my sinfulness, I love righteousness and justice when criminals are punished, but when I consider my own sin, I’m eager to read the rest of the verse! – to be reminded of God’s unfailing love.
Righteousness and justice bring a standard of perfection we could never meet. They clash with God’s unfailing love and mercy. But in the person of Jesus Christ, God’s righteousness and justice are both satisfied, as He extends love and mercy.
As I think about His character, I picture parallel train tracks – His justice and righteousness running alongside His unfailing love and mercy. Both must be embraced to understand God’s eternal nature and character.
Have you ever focused on train tracks as they travel to the horizon? At that point they seem to meet and become one. That point on the spiritual horizon is the cross of Christ.
Righteousness and justice satisfied by unfailing love and mercy. Certainly, an oxymoron from a human viewpoint. But our great God is not limited by finite views or understandings. His unfailing love is almost illogical, from our human perspective.
Do you love justice and righteousness? Are you grateful for God’s unfailing love? Are you celebrating today the cross of Christ, where both come together to make eternal life possible in days to come, while spurring us on to live victoriously in the here and now?
If so, ask yourself how your choices demonstrate you love what God loves.
How are you and I claiming, experiencing, and releasing His unfailing love?
This week’s teaching video from II Kings is now available on our YouTube channel. In II Kings, chapters 6 and 7, Elisha’s servant awakened early and found the city completely surrounded by the enemy. He cried out, “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” We hope you’ll take time today to watch as Laura discusses Elisha’s prayerful response to his servant and God’s answer to them:
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A prior version of this post by Laura was published on
AReasonForHomeschool.com
This week, we’re sharing a throwback post from last year. We hope you’ll enjoy these easy Valentine’s Day decorating tips from Laura!
But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
Psalm 13:5
Do you remember the old game show $10,000 Pyramid (or $15,000, $25,000 or $100,000—depending on the decade you tuned in)? Teams of two worked together, one giving clues to help the other guess the word or phrase in the box on the screen. I loved playing along and calling out clues to the television screen—convinced that my clues were helping!
If the box said unfailing, what clues would you give? A few may come to mind:
Love, on its own, is a powerful word. With Valentine’s Day approaching, we see the word love everywhere. We love our spouses and our children. We love life and the opportunities it provides. We love God, we love His Word, and we love serving Him.
All that love flowing from us is made possible because of God’s love first flowing to us.
God’s love is unconditional, sacrificial, and providential.
In the book of Psalms, the Psalmist uses the word unfailing 33 times to describe God’s love. When unfailing is an adjective describing love, we can only be referring to God’s love. No human love is unfailing; because we are fallible, we are incapable of unfailing love. Only God Himself will never let us down. Only He loves us with an unfailing, everlasting, dependable, steadfast, reliable, constant, without-error love.
It’s so perfect, it borders on unbelievable.
It’s so wonderful, our hearts can scarce take it in.
Whether I am obedient or disobedient. Whether or not I skipped my quiet time, yelled at the kids, or disrespected my husband. I may have been selfish, insensitive, and prideful. I may have let down a friend, and blown an opportunity to help when it was within my ability to do so. But God still loves me. He keeps loving me.
His love is UNFAILING.
Do you believe that? Do you live like you believe that?
Once you truly take hold of this beautiful truth, it will change how you live. It will reshape your motivations. It will color your day and transform your why. It will bring freedom from condemnation, from feeling compelled to perform. It will elevate have to until it becomes want to … or even delight to.
Take a moment and soak it in, revel in it, be amazed by it: God’s unfailing love.
And then pause to praise along with the Psalmist:
…I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
Unfailing love is indeed cause for rejoicing!
If you have subscribed to our YouTube channel, you may have already seen this week’s teaching video from II Kings. If not, we hope you’ll take a few moments to watch as Laura shares insights from chapters 5 and 6 of II Kings — the story of how God chooses an unnamed “young girl from Israel” to fulfill His plans.
If you have not already, we invite you to visit us on YouTube and become a subscriber today!
A prior version of this post from Laura was published on
AReasonForHomeschool.com
In this week’s Martha Monday video, Laura shares tips for processing the mail that comes into your home. Regular readers might recall Laura’s S.P.A.M. (Sort, Purge, Arrange, Maintain) approach to household organization … and this week, she has applied the method to dealing with your family’s mail!
Be sure to visit our Downloads page for your free copy of the February ‘Do It!’ List (available in standard or blank versions). You’ll also find this month’s Write the WORD bookmark and optional S.O.A.P. study pages.
When I typed love in the BibleStudyTools.com search box, 526 verses popped up. You and I can most likely anticipate (and even quote) many of them:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16We love because he first loved us.
I John 4:19But the fruit of the Spirit is love…
Galatians 5:22Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Matthew 22:37-39
A myriad of others—verses we have written, quoted, cross-stitched, calligraphed, memorized, savored, and prayed back to God over the years—could be added to the list.
Look again at the list above. Besides the word love, what do they all have in common? They are found in the New Testament.
Does an unconscious part of us view the God of the Old Testament as the God of righteousness and judgment, while the God of the New Testament is one of love and compassion?
He is the same!
To celebrate HIS GREAT LOVE, our Write the WORD focus for February is love. That’s probably predictable since it is Valentine’s month, but what might be unexpected is all of these verses will come from the Old Testament. When evaluating that list of 526 scriptures, I found 326 in the Old Testament—far too many for our 28 days of Write the Word in February!—so I pared down even further and chose all our love verses from Psalms. (Even then, there were 143! It was excruciating to choose only 28!)
As we celebrate love this month, we may send gifts and valentines to our spouses, our parents, our children, our grandchildren, and many others we love. But let’s begin by celebrating the One who loved us first. The One who not only is loving, but is the embodiment of love. The One who, in creating love, makes it possible in every other relationship. He is love personified. He is God Almighty.
As we love our way through Psalms, we will be empowered and motivated to pray God’s Word back to Him. We will take note of beautiful, almost-poetic prose that the Psalmist repeats over and again:
We will note that God’s love is good, it is great, and it fills the earth. Savor these words. Write them out. Pray them back to Him. Let them marinate in your heart and mind throughout each day. And let them prompt praise back to the One who created love and who loved you first.
Visit our Downloads page today for your own copies of this month’s Write the WORD bookmark and optional S.O.A.P. study pages, then prepare to write verses about God’s great LOVE during February.
In this week’s teaching video from our study in II Kings, Laura discusses the story of the Shunammite woman from chapter 4. Although we don’t know this woman’s name, we can relate to her and learn from her:
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An earlier version of this post by Laura
was originally published on AReasonForHomeschool.com
