Good morning and welcome to a new challenge from Mustard Seed Faith. We have a new devotional to share with you. Thanks for stopping by. At the end you'll find the new challenge and lovely creations by our design team.
Chesed or
Steadfast Love
Have you ever been rejected? Have you ever been betrayed by
a spouse? Or had a good friend suddenly and unexpectedly stab you in the back?
Does that make it worse, when you don’t see it coming? And how do you recover?
God experiences rejection on a daily basis. God sees the
pain in relationships and specifically the pain in our relationship with Him.
Because the bible is not just a book and Christianity is not a religion—it is
all about relationship with Jesus Christ and with the Father, our relationship.
How many times have you sat in church during a sermon and
have someone pop into your head, “If only (insert name) could hear this sermon!
This was tailor made for them!” When what we are supposed to be doing is
examining our heart, our lives. Where are we sinning? How do we run from God,
from His desire for relationship with us? No, you might not be prostituting
yourself but how easily idols slip into our lives and capture our thoughts,
attention and hearts! Social media, facebook, jobs, hobbies, anything that
takes us away from our first love, or what is supposed to be our first love,
which is God. “They are all adulterers”
(Hosea 7:4) and Hosea 6:4, “Your love is
like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.”
The book of Hosea is actually a beautiful demonstration of
the faithful constancy the Lord has for us. We are Gomer, we are the nation of
Israel, unfaithful time and again and yet God’s love for us, chesed love, never fails. God never
gives up on you. This chesed love
demonstrated in Hosea was, under the new covenant, ultimately demonstrated when
Christ gave himself up for us on the cross.
One of my favorite verses is Lamentations 3:22-23 “The steadfast love of the Lord never
ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is
your faithfulness.”
God is the greatest friend, the greatest example of
steadfastness you will ever experience or witness. Our Lord and savior calls us
friend and loves us with a depth we can never fathom. (Romans 8:39) And we need
to extend that same faithfulness to others, our spouses and the people placed
in our lives that we call friends, because our model is Jesus Christ. And if we are to walk with Him we need to soak in the Lord's teachings and try to pattern our lives after His. This week’s challenge is to create a project
or card that has something to do with relationships, for a friend, an
anniversary, or wedding. We look forward to having you participate.
Now for the lovely inspiration from our design team!
