September 9, 2024 Devo

September 9th, 2024

“It’s All About Jesus!”
The Story of Lazarus (John 11)
“But when Jesus heard about it, he said, ‘Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.’ So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days.” – John 11:4-6 (NLT)
“Tough Love”

I heard a story about a grandmother who was visiting her daughter and grandson one day. As they were about to go out to eat, the grandmother went upstairs to see what was taking her daughter and grandson so long. Her daughter was in the doorway, watching her son struggle to get his sweater on. As he fought to get his arms and head through the right holes, the grandmother nudged her daughter and said, “Why don’t you help that poor boy?” The daughter never averted her eyes from her son, but simply responded, “I AM helping him, Mom.”
Sometimes love does the exact opposite of what the beloved wants or expects. A mother, trying to let her son learn how to do things on his own and become self-sufficient, may not look like love to a grandmother or even the son. But it IS love. It’s a higher love. A “looking further down the road” kind of love. A tougher love.
It’s also the kind of love Jesus has. Notice in our passage this striking statement: “So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days.” What?! Our conventional wisdom would say that if Jesus loved them, He would drop everything He was doing and rush to where they were. How can Jesus claim to love them and stay where He was, knowing full well that Lazarus was going to die? Because the love of Jesus wasn’t just a love of compassion. It was a love with a plan and a purpose. They wanted Jesus to stop death. Jesus, out of His tough love for them, was going to beat it!
Maybe some of you are like the boy with the sweater or Mary and Martha. You’re asking God to do something, and He doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to do anything. It may feel as if God is ignoring you. He’s not. It may seem as if God isn’t interested or isn’t responding. But He is. It’s just that His love thinks longer and deeper than we do sometimes. His plans and purposes are sometimes beyond how our minds think. But you can rest in His love today. He loves you tenaciously. He loves you passionately. And He will love you eternally. God will always act in love toward you. Even when His love is tough. That’s God’s Word for you today.