Devotions
Fjeldberg – Devotion for February 27th, 2025
READ (Leviticus 17: 18)
“Do not take revenge on anyone or continue to hate him, but love your neighbor as yourself.”
REFLECT
After my second son was born, I changed from a full-time nursing position to two evenings a week at a Nursing Home in Ames. I worked with Nurses’ Aides whose husbands were foreign students at ISU.
One night toward the end of our shift, one of the aides told me that it was raining so much that the streets were flooding. I commented that we may need an Ark to get home. She said “What’s an Ark? I said, “You know, Noah and the Ark.” She told me she had never heard of Noah or of an Ark. I told her a brief story about the great flood and God commanding Noah to build an Ark.
I knew she was from the Middle East, but I didn’t know her religious beliefs, if any. Later, as I thought about our conversion, I wondered, if I were her, would I believe that the events of Noah and the Ark could have been possible? With the multitude of the religions in the world, I have questions about the gods they worship, their beliefs and practices.
There has been a history of violence, hatred, and wars over our differences, and it continues today. There have been references in the Bible referring to love, respect, and show mercy to every human being in the world which includes members of all religions. The command to love your neighbor as yourself expresses it in simple terms.
PRAY:
May we strive to follow your command to not take revenge, or hate, but to love your neighbor as yourself. Amen
Devotions by Mary H