God’s love

Valentine’s Day is often a day for people to think of love between people, whether as friends or romantic attachments.

For those who put their trust in Jesus Christ, it’s a wonderful opportunity to remember true love.

God’s love is true.

John 3:16 KJV — For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God’s love is timeless.

Jeremiah 31:3 NKJV — The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

God’s love is sacrificial.

John 15:13 KJV — Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

For He created mankind in the Garden to be in relationship with Him.

He warned Adam what to stay away from, as He knew that sin would break the relationship through the consequence of eternal death, separation from God for eternity.

Yet, when Adam and Eve sinned, God gave a promise to redeem them and Jesus is our Redeemer.

He loved each one so much He was tortured and executed to pay our penalty for sin.

That is true love.

As you celebrate Valentine’s Day, or choose not to celebrate, remember there’s one who loves you perfectly.

1 John 4:16 NKJV — And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Let His perfect love be what you share with those around you today.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Dear Lord Jesus,

Thank You for Your perfect love. Thank You for teaching us that You are the only One who does love perfectly. We cannot love perfectly, because sin taints all things even our love, yet through Your Word and Your Holy Spirit we can learn to love as You, we can abide in You and You in us. Lord Jesus, please continue to teach each one of us how to love as You do. Help us to look to Your Word for direction and guidance, truth and wisdom, encouragement and comfort. Lord, only through You can we find all we lack, for You gave us life and salvation and You sustain us daily through Your love. Thank You! May Your name be glorified this day and every day. Amen.

Because love is a verb

I sat in a chair.

Held a cup of hot tea in one hand.

And simply watched them work.

The day was beautiful.

And my family blessed me.

My hubby and our son carefully weeded the flower beds in the front yard.

But I am no longer able to do the yardwork I so enjoy.

And my husband understood how hard it has been for me to look out the window at weeds.

So, he put on his outdoor things and went to work.

Now, the front beds look so nice!

But that’s not why I feel so loved.

It’s because my family chose to spend time working on something for me that I can no longer do myself.

And that’s why love is a verb.

True love is an action which doesn’t expect or require a return.

It simply loves.

True love doesn’t try to manipulate or force anything.

It simply loves and continues to love.

After twenty-two years I can say that my husband and I have not always loved each other with that true love, but we are getting better at it.

And the reason is Jesus.

It’s through Christ’s true love that we learn how to love each other.

It’s through Him we are learning to love our children with that same true love.

Yes, we have an emotional bond with each other and our children.

But love is a choice.

It brings even deeper emotional bonds and it grows wonderful things like trust, joy, and comfort.

But true love is a choice.

During this season, true love is the answer.

Jesus is that true love.

And I praise God for it!

Zephaniah 3:17 NKJV — The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

God is love

LOVE.

It’s often misunderstood and misrepresented.

It’s been used to buy and sell.

It’s been tainted and tarnished in every way possible.

All because true love comes only from God.

Man without God can’t truly understand love.

Although it’s poured out on us daily by our heavenly Father.

Romans 5:8 NKJV — But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Praise God for His love which brought Jesus to the World, that He might demonstrate love.

John 15:9 NKJV — “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.

Through Jesus, through God’s Holy Word, through the Holy Spirit’s teachings, we can find true love.

We can also learn how to love.

Infact the Bible is so full of what true love is, the definition becomes clear.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a NKJV — Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. 

And this is only one portion of the many, many passages which teach us what love is.

God’s love becomes a gift to share as we ourselves understand and daily accept it.

Through personal, one-on-one relationship with Jesus Christ each of us can not only experience true love daily, we can give it freely.

Because God is love.

He already loves each and every single one of us.

I’m learning, each day, a new way to see God’s love and prayerfully, new ways to share it.

I hope you are as well.