Friend,
I’ve been showing up here in your inbox for SEVEN years. (Ok. Maybe not your inbox, specifically.) But I’ve been writing this devotional almost every single week, week after week, for 381 weeks—hoping to encourage your heart, praying God would speak to you through his Word, wondering if you’re just as challenged and floored as I am each time we tackle another truth of Scripture.
This is my driving passion and the heartbeat of Dwell Differently—to help you know God’s voice and hear his God’s words in your own heart and mind all the time.
It’s why we do all we do (the podcast, the membership, Instagram, the book, the Bible study, and these devotionals). But after seven years, we’re finally doing something we’ve longed to do the whole time—we’re including a Digital Bible Study in our membership! It’s a much fuller way to help you really engage with God’s Word. And I couldn’t be more overjoyed! But here’s the thing: I’m only going to send you one devotion a month going forward. This is NOT goodbye! You can still hear from me each week on the podcast, and we’ll still send you our weekly All Good Things email. But as the main writer over here, I only have so much bandwidth!
For now, I wanted to encourage you with one little bit of goodness from this month’s Digital Bible Study below. You can also try it free here or sign up to get it every month here.
Love you my peeps!
Nat
P.s. You can follow my personal Instagram NatalieJoyAbbott for devotional posts and pictures of my real life!
LOVE LIKE JESUS
Ok. I have to confess that this day is a little bit of a wake up call. But the truth is, as I was praying through 1 John 3:16, the Spirit brought to mind a particular story Jesus told. And frankly, it’s a bit challenging, but it’s exactly what I needed. I’d been feeling self-righteous about giving someone what they deserved (justice), but had withheld mercy from them. This passage convicted me of my hypocrisy. The perfect judge has not given me justice without mercy (thankfully!). So who am I to withhold mercy from someone else?
Here is what the Spirit brought to mind: Jesus tells the story in Matthew 18 of a rich master and an indebted servant. The servant owed 20 years worth of wages—so much that the master was going to sell him and all he had to pay back the debt. But the servant begged him to be merciful, promising he would find a way to pay the debt. Incredibly, the master was merciful—far more merciful than the servant could have imagined—he not only let his servant go, but canceled the debt entirely! What a reason for rejoicing!
Only the servant didn’t rejoice.
Instead he grabbed a fellow servant who owed him a day’s wages and threw his peer into prison because he couldn't pay his debt. When the master heard of this, he was incensed and had his servant thrown into prison until he could pay back all he owed. Jesus finishes off this story by saying, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (Matthew 18:35).
In this story, we’re forced to consider how we treat others. While our verse gives us a positive motivation for loving others, Jesus’s story is a negative illustration of the same principle. He shows us what it looks like if we refuse others the mercy we’ve been given. It’s an ugly picture for sure. And none of us want to see ourselves as the unmerciful servant. Yet, haven’t we all withheld mercy at one time or another? I have. Haven’t we held onto bitterness and unforgiveness? I have. What about you? What about now?
Is there someone you have been withholding love, forgiveness, or mercy from? How might you make peace with them, if not in person*, at least in your heart?
What’s one way you can love someone that you find difficult to love?
(Note: Sometimes reconciliation isn’t possible with hostile people, but forgiveness in your heart is always possible.)
