Love is Resolute

“As the time approached for Him to be taken up to heaven,
Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.”
Luke 9:51 (NIV)

Love creates powerful feelings, but love is more than just a feeling.  Love is a choice.  The fake news in our culture today would have us believe that love is an uncontrollable emotion.  “I can’t help myself! I just fell in love!”  You might fall into attraction, but the truth is, love is a determined action. It’s a decision that involves more than just our feelings.  It involves our will. 

How many times have you ever heard a pastor or judge, for that matter, ask a groom at his wedding, “Do you feel like taking this woman whose hands you hold to be your lawful and wedded wife?” The question is “Do you…” not “Do you feel like it….” It’s a determined decision.  A choice of your will to act upon.  You may not even realize that until after your honeymoon, when you are on the threshold of another choice.  Will you love each other even when you don’t feel those loving feelings?  It’s in those moments you begin to understand Calvary’s love.  The deliberate love Jesus demonstrated when He chose the nails for you and me. The gospel writer, Luke, recognized that kind of love in Jesus.  Despite knowing the painful rejection and crucifixion that awaited Jesus in Jerusalem, Luke says, “As the time approached for HIM to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.”  (Luke 9:51, NIV) His love was resolute!

Why would He subject Himself to such suffering and pain?  Love!  Real love!  The kind of love that makes a deliberate choice to love regardless of the response.  Luke uses the word “resolutely”.  Jesus was resolved to go to Jerusalem.  He was determined to pay the sacrifice for our sins so that we could be forgiven and reconciled to God.  Apart from His sacrifice, none of us could be made right with God with no chance of a restored relationship.  We would be forever lost in our sins and estranged from God.  That would be hell.  But the Bible says, “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (NIV).

Real love is more than just a feeling you fall into or out of.  Love makes a choice. When you choose to love, you experience God, because God is love.   

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To read this devotional online or catch up on past ones, visit https://kerryshook.org/blog.

Another important part of your daily devotional is spending time with God in prayer. The Woodlands Church Prayer Board lists prayer requests submitted by our members and provides a way to send them some encouragement by using a button on the page to let them know that you prayed for them. Whether you use the Prayer Board, or pray from your heart, the goal is to build the habit of incorporating prayer into your quiet time.

Need prayer yourself? Let us know by submitting a prayer request on the Woodlands Church Prayer Board.