February 8,, 2022

Dear Ones,

Hope you awaken today with a fresh outlook. After you read the devotion for today, can you think of a false narrative you have  told yourself about the Lord and need to eliminate? 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

How many times do we spread false narratives or tell ourselves false narratives, while not taking the time to investigate if they are true? There are some things we can just eliminate right off the bat when it does not line up with scripture and so we can just dismiss it. There are also questionable things that we need to try to go to the source and see if things line up as truth.

While at coffee one day, one of the residents shared how she was awakened at 3 a.m. by a loud T.V. blaring. On other nights if she heard a loud TV she assumed it was her next door neighbor, and for a few minutes she thought so again. But there was one problem; her neighbor was in the hospital many miles away and no one was in her apartment; That meant that all of this time she made the wrong assumption. If she had chosen to, she could have spread a false narrative about how noisy her neighbor was, but she didn’t. She is still trying to figure out if it is coming from the floor below or just where but she no longer blames her next-door neighbor.

I thought of this in relationship to the Lord and how we blame Him for things that give others a false narrative. Some say He is a cruel judge who is waiting to punish us. But the truth is He is our loving Father that went to great lengths to show His love for us. It says in I John 4:10 (God’s word). “This is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be payment for our sins.” Others may paint a false picture by saying that being a Christian is a joy-spoiler and a dull life of rules. But the true narrative is that Jesus came to give us a full abundant life and free us from the law, and to love Him from our hearts. Some falsely say that God is illusive and distant and yet we are told He is closer than a brother for He lives in us. In fact, we are promised that if we seek Him we will find Him and if we call to Him, He is always ready to answer. Some claim God doesn’t hear our prayers unless we pray in a certain way or simply doesn’t answer when we pray. But Jesus said, we don’t have to be wordy, but just tell Him our needs and He will answer according to His perfect will… and that doesn’t mean all our preferences.

Let us be done with false narratives, even those secret things we tell ourselves; instead, may we be truthtellers and live in freedom and love.

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to correct you when you give a false narrative and become a truth seeker.