Cross My Heart Ministry

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts,
always hopes, always perseveres.
I Corinthians 13:6-7

If asked to define love, many of us would use words like joy, delight, and acceptance.  Some might describe butterflies in the stomach, floating on air, or extreme happiness.

But when Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he talked more about what love does than about how it feels. And he also used an extreme qualifier: always.

He tells us that love protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres. And he added that love always does these things. In other words, it is faithful. This is the kind of love found in the person of Jesus Christ — the kind we, too, can release as we abide in Him and allow His Spirit in us to lead out.

Paul also conveys what love does not do: delight in evil. As he shares this trait, he contrasts delighting in evil with rejoicing with the truth. No shades of gray here. My heart is pierced as I read this. I’m compelled to ask myself, “Do I rejoice with the truth?” And then the sobering reality: a step away from truth is a step towards evil.

A choice to rejoice in truth goes beyond knowing the truth, agreeing with the truth, and even supporting the truth. And Paul makes it clear: if I’m not all in for truth, I’m supporting evil.

The correlation between love and truth is clear. If we truly have love, we celebrate truth — we embrace it, refuse to distort or compromise it, and delight in it.

Real love refuses to just tell people what they want to hear, refuses to affirm their sin and celebrate dangerous behaviors. Instead, it shares real truth … and hates the sin, but always loves the sinner.

Real love is tenacious and faithful — always is the qualifier for each trait mentioned in verses 6-7.  Love cannot be authentic and take off one day a week. It does not take a break from truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres.

How easy it is to love those who love us back, embrace our values, receive our counsel, agree with our positions, and respect our beliefs. But when we have a neighbor, a prodigal, a co-worker, or a friend who rejects the truth and exchanges it for a lie, our hearts are broken. It may be easier to withdraw than to engage. It may be less painful (and certainly more peaceful) to become emotionally and physically distant. The stress and tension of awkward conversations, of finding safe topics, of walking on proverbial egg shells, of discerning when to “turn the other cheek” and when to respond to sharp barbs and critical comments, is mentally and emotionally exhausting.

But love compels us to keep on … to keep praying, keep engaging, and keep loving.

If someone you love has stepped away from the light of truth, keep on loving. Ask God today to help you be faithful and steadfast in your love for this person, and to show you how to best demonstrate love that:

• Always protects — covers in prayer.
• Always trusts — believes God loves him or her more than you and will keep knocking on the door of his or her heart.
• Always hopes — as long as there is life, there is hope. Let’s rejoice in hope! (Romans 12:12)
• Always perseveres — keeps on loving the lost, misguided, or unlovable, remembering that you, too, were loved and redeemed by Jesus even when you were caught up in sin and far from the truth.

Ready to do some lovin’? Let’s do it!

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“For I know the plans I have for you,”
declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11

 God has a plan for us. It is a plan for our good. His plan includes prosperity and hope.

Is it enough that we know that He knows what the plan is? Do we insist on knowing all the details in advance?

Knowing that He knows and being okay with not yet knowing ourselves is choosing to walk by faith. By its definition, faith includes an element of mystery—of not yet knowing but still trusting.

Pride demands to know.

Humility waits in faith.

Humility says, “I know God. I know that He knows. That is enough.”

Faith believes God has a good plan for tomorrow even when our today does not look or feel good. Abiding in Him means my circumstances do not dictate my reality.

Do you love God? Every person who has called on Him for salvation would say, “Yes, I love God.” If we love Him, we can also trust Him. Believe Him. Abide in Him—come what may.

Even if today brings heartache, frustration, disappointment, and hard things … even if today is painful … even if today is not unfolding according to my expectations … you and I can carry on and keep on. We can abide in Him by faith. We may not know all the “whys” and “what fors,” but we know Him. We know He has a plan. We know it’s a good plan.

We know Him. And He is enough. He is more than enough.

This week’s Sunday Soaking (like every Sunday Soaking) is inspired by a verse from the monthly Write the WORD bookmark. This month’s word is HOPE. Each Friday in June, we’ll be releasing a new video devotional, focusing on one of the HOPE verses. You can view the most recent video on our YouTube channel, or watch it here:

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“But the needy will not always be forgotten,
nor the hope of the afflicted ever perish.”
Psalm 9:18

In the midst of hurt and pain, it is easy to believe God does not see or does not care. Today may find us in great need, in dire circumstances, or caught off guard.

When all is well, we seldom ask: God, why have you chosen to bless me?

But when hurting, we often ask: God, why did you cause this? Why won’t you fix this?

We are living in the middle—the time between our salvation and our glorification. This middle part may bring joy or pain, delight or despair, happiness or sadness. But we always, always, always have hope.

Because our hope is in Christ, our hope is confident. Sure. Absolute. Guaranteed. Our tomorrow will be better than today, because heaven awaits in our tomorrow.

But must I wait until heaven to be happy? Am I destined to suffer here?

Some do suffer more than others. You may be enduring a pain that threatens to break you—a pain that others do not endure.

Why my husband? Why my job? Why me?

And those questions prompt even more questions:

Does God cause pain – or merely allow it?

Does the existence of pain mean God has overlooked or forgotten me?

Is God punishing me?

Do both good and bad people suffer?

In times of gut-wrenching circumstances, we question what we do not know, but the better focus is to declare what we do know:

God is good.

God is great, faithful, and mighty.

God loves me. He is for me.

God sees my pain and is present with me in it.

This middle part does bring pain, but it is never without hope. We can be assured that God will sort it all out in the end.

Justice will come.

Healing will be delivered.

Peace will be provided.

This is the confident assurance—the sure hope—for those who love God.

Today is not my end and it is not yours. This is the middle. This world is not all there is. Today brings opportunity for God to be glorified … both in our joy and in our pain.

Whatever our today brings, tomorrow will be better. May we never become so comfortable and pleased with our present that we stop longing for our blessed glorious future.

Lord, our hope for today and tomorrow is in You!

In this week’s Cross My Heart teaching video, Laura examines the topic of suffering and pain as she looks at the conversation between Job (who is suffering) and his friend Bildad (who is lecturing). You can view it here:

This month’s Write The WORD bookmark focuses on verses about HOPE. If you haven’t already downloaded a copy, please be sure to get yours today and jump in this week as we read, write, and study what the Bible tells us about HOPE.

Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Psalm 100:2

The Psalms call us to praise — they equip and empower us to worship, providing words to pray back to God when we have none of our own. They put words on our tongues to communicate the meditations of our hearts.

The Psalms can be prayed, quoted, and sung, in personal solitude or corporate worship. They offer counsel to our souls and are helpful as we mentor and disciple others.

The Psalms, like all Scripture, bring us to a proper view of God and, by extension, a proper view of ourselves. They keep us humble, as we behold His greatness. They teach us dependence, as we acknowledge our need and His provision.

The Psalms bring hope, encouragement, conviction, counsel, joyful praise — whatever emotion we are processing, the Psalms provide words for us.

This month’s Write the WORD bookmark will take us verse by verse through three of the 150 Psalms: Psalm 1, 8, and 19. As you write the assigned verse for each day, I suggest you read (and perhaps sing or pray) the entire Psalm it comes from … allowing you to see it in context, while also drilling down on the nugget embedded in the one verse.

These three Psalms were chosen to dovetail with our FREE online Bible study for May: Psalms of Faith. Thanks to the generosity of Joy of Living, the study guide for these three Psalms is available now for download here.

I invite you to not only Write the WORD along with others this month, but also to  consider going deeper as we study these three Psalms together. Each Friday in May, you will find a weekly teaching lecture for this study on the Cross My Heart YouTube channel. I would like to encourage you to subscribe to the channel, so you’ll be notified when each new video is available!

Our Lord Jesus, the Son of God and promised Messiah of the Old Testament, often quoted Old Testament Scripture. Can you guess which book was quoted most often by Jesus? Yes … the Psalms! If they were on the tongue of our Lord Jesus Christ, may we endeavor to have them on our tongue — and in our hearts and minds — as well.

I pray you will allow these Psalms of Faith to strengthen your own faith this month!

Download this month’s Write the WORD bookmark and S.O.A.P. study pages,
as well as the 4-lessons study, Psalms of Faith — compliments of Joy of Living!

Write The WORD: Psalms (May 2021)

Write The WORD: May 2021 S.O.A.P. Bible Study pages

Joy of Living study — Psalms of Faith

Subscribe to our YouTube channel to be sure you don’t miss the Psalms of Faith teaching videos as they are made available each week in May!