Weekly Devotional

I love love. More specifically, I love the idea of love. That kind of storybook love will overcome any challenge. The kind of love that you can’t help but fall into. I recently rewatched the classic 80’s film The Princess Bride. And that movie is one of the best movies ever made (don’t try to change my mind). In it, a sick boy’s grandfather reads him the story of a farm boy-turned-pirate named Westley who encounters numerous obstacles, enemies, and allies in his quest to be reunited with his true love, Buttercup. Westley was thought to be dead, and so Buttercup gave up hope on his safe return. When they were reunited, Buttercup said “But you were dead!” And Westley replies, “Death cannot stop true love. It can only delay it for a while.” He had spent the past five years battling all kinds of crazy circumstances in order to get back to Buttercup. And here I was, sitting on my couch, watching a cheesy 80’s movie, and thinking about how this is just like God’s love for us. We are like Buttercup. We give up. We think, there is no way that God can still love us. It’s been too long; I’ve done too many terrible things. And God says no! I have always loved you, and I will always love you. There is nothing that could possibly separate you from my love. Romans 8:38-39 says this, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor ANYTHING else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Those are pretty powerful statements there. And believing that is hard. It is rare, in today’s world, to find unconditional love. As humans, we are flawed, and we don’t always love the way we should. But God is perfect. And he loves us so much that I couldn’t find the words to describe it. But the feeling of being loved for exactly who I am, and being loved so powerfully that there’s nothing that can separate me from it- it’s a pretty good feeling. So, I encourage you to find time to sit in God’s love today. Ponder its complexities and try to really understand how deeply he loves us. It’s truly a love for the storybooks.

Constance Baker