“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”
Jeremiah 31:3
Pets can be great teachers. If nothing else, they can provide ministers with lots of examples and stories they can use in sermons and Bible lessons—just ask Nicole.
In the picture above, there are two dogs. The dog on the left is our dog, Waffles. The dog on the right is Fendt, and he belongs to the Forrest family, who also happen to be members of PBSC. Fendt has come to our house for a couple of overnight stays through my daughter Rheece’s “pet sitting service.” I use quotations, because Rheece’s dad ends up doing a lot of the sitting…
Waffles is not a very food driven animal. I can give him a bowl full in the morning, and it may still be there by that evening. He eats when he’s hungry but mostly does a lot of grazing. On the other side of that spectrum is Fendt. Fendt is incredibly food driven. Shannon told me just that Fendt will follow him to the fridge in the morning as he makes his lunch to make sure he can’t get some of what Shannon is eating first and then scarf down his bowl of dog food. I’ve watched Fendt hit his automatic feeder with his paw to knock out just one piece of dog food. And then, he promptly repeated that process as long as the feeder kept letting one piece slide through.
On Sunday, when I asked, “What comes to your mind when I say the word, relentless,” the entire Forrest family looked at each other and said, “Fendt with food.” Fendt is relentless.
As we start our new series together, we begin with this overarching statement—God’s love is relentless.
God’s love is persistent; He never stops seeking His people.
It is unyielding; His love doesn’t back off, even in the face of our failures, our mistakes—our sin.
His love is merciful yet fierce, tender yet unstoppable, all at the same time.
His relentless love should lead us to remember, to worship, and to be humbled that He really loves us.
Prayer: God, thank you for relentless love. Teach us to share it with others in the same way you give love to us. In Jesus’ holy name we pray, Amen.