Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
So really quick question: Does true love really change the way that we act? I know that's kind of a big question. I think about my wife. We've been married now for going on four years. She's my baby. I love her dearly, and I know how much it means to me for her to feel honored and for her to feel loved by me in all the right ways.
I don't always get it right. I'm human, but it matters so much for me to get it right. Sometimes honoring her looks like doing the dishes when I know she's expecting to come home and have to do them. Sometimes it looks like learning how to cook a new meal. Sometimes it looks like just sitting and listening. There's a smile that she has on her face when I picture her in my mind—that's priceless. And then I also know what she looks like when I don't get it right.
There's this longing that I have for her to be blessed by the way that I care for her. And there's goodness attached to both of us experiencing the other person loving the other the right way. Today we're going to dive into Psalm chapter 119, verse 40, and it says, "I long to obey your commandments! Renew my life with your goodness."
I think about my relationship with God, and obviously my relationship with God is very different than the one that I have with my wife. But at the same time, I want God to feel blessed by the way that I love Him too. What does that look like? It looks like learning how to better obey His commands.
And the cool part about this too, is just like my relationship with my wife, there's goodness in it for me as well when I do it the right way. God has a way of renewing your heart. The way that He designed His commands to begin with, they include the peace that you need. The joy that you need. The comfort that you need. The clarity that you need. He renews us. And it's all starting with learning how to obey His commands.
So my encouragement for everybody today is, what if we leaned in to our relationship with God and asked the same thing? I know for me and my wife, there's this love of communication. There's this dialogue, and obviously we can't hear God most times in an audible way, but you can ask Him questions.
I ask my wife all the time, "How can I improve in this way? How can I better serve you in this way?" And I sit and I listen and I learn. What if we took that same approach to our relationship with God? His word is living and breathing, and it speaks back to us.
So lean in. Let's lean in together. Read His word. Figure out, "Lord, where are you challenging my heart today? Where are you asking me to do better than I did yesterday?" His grace is a gift that He gives. There's nothing that we could do to earn the goodness that He promises right here in this verse. But as we lean in and do our part in our relationship with Him, He does promise to respond.
So once again, let's lean in together. Learn what it means to long to obey the commandments of God a bit more. Watch how He responds.
