What a wonderful statement! I ran across an envelope that my father had written comments on about his marriage over the years. My mother and father were married in 1943, during World War II. Dad was stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco, and Mom was working in that city as well. They met on a blind date, fell in love and were married. They both worked hard, and raised their family, and went through some rough times and some good times. And lived happily ever after until Dad passed away in 1977. My mother was so lucky to have a man who would feel free to express to her verbally as well as in action, his decided love for her.
On the envelope – a brown one from the War Department which contains their Certificate of Marriage – he wrote a comment about their marriage for most of the years they were married. I’ll let the words he wrote speak for themselves:
1944 – WONDERFUL!
1946 – Super Marvelous!
1947 – Still WONDERFUL!
1949 – Words fail me – it couldn’t be more wonderful!
1950 – What can I say? I’m in love!!!
1951 – More wonderful than EVER!
1952 – Can’t get any more wonderful – but it does!!!
1953 – Beautiful – Beautiful – Wonderful & Marvelous. These words are so inadequate to express my deep love.
1955 – I’m running out of words – but I love it!
1960 – Still most wonderful, wonderful!!!
1961 – One wish – that all men could have such a wonderful wife and such a wonderful marriage!
1964 – How – How can love be so wonderfully satisfactory and lovely!
1966 – More, More and More Wonderful!
1969 – I wish that all people in the world could share my happiness and love.
1970 – More wonderful than I deserve!
1971 – Beautiful love!!!
1972 – Love! Love! Love!
1973 – Running out of space but never out of love. Our marriage is SO beautiful!!!
1974 – I’m in love!
1976 – I love my Betty so deeply and devotedly! She is marvelous!
Dad had contracted cancer several years before his last entry on the envelope, yet he never gave up his positive attitude, loving Mom and his family. It was apparent to my brother and myself throughout our growing up years, and I learned so much from him.
How life has changed since those days of a good marriage because they worked at it, through good times and rough times. Dad had a very rough childhood, raised by a single mom and quitting school at age 14 to go to work on a boat on the lakes near Chicago. He was later mistreated by his stepdad. He had never gone to church, but insisted that we kids went every Sunday with Mom. Near the end of his life, he accepted Christ into his heart. He suffered greatly – they didn’t have hospice in those days, so Mom cared for him until he passed. He never complained, he always encouraged, he sacrificed to keep food and shelter for his family, and he loved. Oh, how he loved. What a role model and an example in so many ways!
Since then, Mom passed into Heaven, so there would be a grand reunion – sharing eternity with the greatest Love of all – our Lord Jesus Christ.
When you mention love, there are two things that generally come to mind: God’s love and romantic love. Love is a word that is often bandied about without much thought. It is something we are taught to say. “I love you.” Often without giving it much thought or even putting emotion behind our automated responses, we say “I love you” – “I love you too”.
It is important to take time to think about and understand not just the concept of love but the depth. God gave His ONLY BEGOTTEN SON because He Loves Us. He wanted to bring us (you and me) back to Him. God gave the ultimate sacrifice to us, for us, out of love.
There are so many articles, sayings, mentions of love – yet the practice of love is falling short. Instead of reaching out, in love, with an open mind and heart; people are standing on the sidewalks watching humanity go by and making judgements. Instead of encouraging resolution and discussions of our differences; people are throwing rotten fruit.
When we look in the news we see riots, dissension, racism and reverse racism, in full bloom. Things that will tear not only a family, but a nation, apart. When we look to the Bible for guidance, we see Paul saying, “I become all things to all people.” He goes to explain why he does this.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23
19 Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.
Does this mean that we revel in our diversity as a means to condemn others? No. It means that we open our hearts and minds to understand how others think so that we can sway them toward Christ. We show them LOVE. We show them compassion. We open a dialogue that allows each person to speak their mind and come to the table. We don’t cast them out because of these things. We don’t force feed them our beliefs.
Storge Love is familial love
It is the love of parents and children. The love of siblings. It is the love shared with those who have a commonality that binds them together. This is brotherly love. It seems to be an easier love than the one we really need to “love thy neighbor as thyself”. This type of love is difficult for multiple reasons. First, we might not like our neighbor. The second is that we might not like ourselves.
Fortunately, learning to love ourselves and our neighbor isn’t dependent on liking anyone. We can ‘love the sinner and hate the sin’. This doesn’t just apply to ‘others;’ it also applies to us. WE are all sinners. We have all sinned. We need learn to love ourselves (the sinner) and hate our actions (the sin). Then we need to take that seemingly huge step – yet it really isn’t that vast – and forgive ourselves for the sin. (Move out of it and on to God’s path.)
We weren’t called into a place of judgement
“Judge not lest you be judged.” “Let him who is without SIN throw the first stone.” Why are these statements even mentioned? I think it is that sometimes it is easy to distance ourselves from what we are and what we were. We accept Christ into our lives and then think that we are without stain. We’ve accepted the call to be washed ‘whiter than snow’. Psalm 51:7-12 Then there is another step, “create in me a CLEAN heart and renew a right spirit within me.”
We are both a physical AND spiritual creation. Our physical nature is the one we fight with. Our spiritual nature is the one we need to learn to lean and rely upon. In other words, being ‘washed’ is something that is done to the physical. We use baptism as a representation of this. We are being ‘reborn’ in a physical way to give our spiritual man a fresh start. This doesn’t mean we will be able to change who we are instantly.
This is God’s love
He has offered us a way to Him. Yet, we still ‘fall short’ along the path. That is why we have the gift of the Holy Spirit. We also have the gift of prayer – that which allows us to go before our Father and ask for guidance. To ask for strength to help us to move forward in our lives, to love those with whom we don’t agree, and to learn to forgive. Forgiving doesn’t mean forgetting. Forgiving means giving up the emotions that are entangling us. We give up how we feel; angry, bitter, resentful, and allow ourselves to move forward.
Sometimes these emotions are what cause us to react negatively in a situation. We lose our cool. We lose control of our feelings. We let them take us over. That is okay, because we aren’t perfect. We will fall short. However, this is an opportunity, to pick ourselves up to learn to react out of love. This isn’t an easy thing. It is much simpler to type the words here than to act on them. It takes lots of practice, trials, failure and opportunities to grow.
Love is the guidepost we need to learn to use
We need to learn to NOT react out of hate or judgement. We need to learn how to NOT criticize someone within the first 30 seconds of meeting them. We need to open our minds and hearts to the possibility of getting to know an incredible person who may be wrapped in something we don’t like or deem unworthy based on how they look. Most of the time, the outside of the book isn’t a reflection of what is on the inside. If we don’t give that a chance then we may miss some great opportunities. Remember, sometimes people come into our lives for a short season to help us to grow.
Sometimes you may be there to plant the seed. Sometimes you may be there to water it. Sometimes you may be there to reap the harvest. How can you plant a seed if you are unwilling to till the soil to see what is beneath? To see if the ground is good or rocky? We weren’t called to hate. We were called to love. “For God So LOVED the world…” What example will you use? The one you see emulated in the media and in social media? Or will you allow yourself to be open to the truth. That not everything we see or hear is what is real.
God called us to love
He has given us a great example of how to love. He has given us reminders of what it is to love. He left us not only His written Word but also the Holy Spirit which dwells in us. He allows us to come to Him in prayer; to seek His guidance. We can cast all our cares on Him. We may not understand what is going on. We may not know where the path leads. We do know Who has laid our path before us. We need to continue to trust in that. We need to continue to have Faith. We need to continue to show love and be that light.
My prayer for you today is to continue to seek God in these troubling times. To open your hearts and minds to be allowed to be used in a way that will help stem the tide. That that destruction happening around us doesn’t define us. It took one person to start a movement to take prayer from the schools. One person can do a lot.
The Greek definition of Philia is close friendship or brotherly love. In English that equates to the love between siblings, best friends, close friends, confidants and/or parental love.
As any sibling may readily admit, while we don’t always like our sibling, we do love them. We may fight with them but we will also defend them until the end. You may be on opposite ends of the spectrum 90% of the time, but the shared 10% is all a sibling needs to justify their unity. (Truth be known we can do it with less.)
Friendship Love
There are so many phrases we use when it comes to close friends. (“Brother from another Mother” just being one.) Proverbs 18:24 refers to ‘a friend who sticks closer than a brother’. Most people will equate their best friend as being their sibling; sharing secrets, having each other’s back, and being there in both good and tough times. It is this shared history that brings us even closer together through the years. It is easy to see why sometimes people have chosen their friends over their family. (Although this isn’t a new development; we just have to look to the Bible to see how often siblings chose something over their brother; generally out of jealousy.)
The love of family is and always has been under attack. The enemy is doing his job too well; coming to steal, kill and destroy. We see it almost every day in the news, with each bad report, about what is happening in the world around us. Children turning against parents or parents turning against their children to fateful ends – with one ending in the grave and the other in prison. Sometimes, the guilty seemingly go unpunished for their actions. The family continues to be under constant spiritual attack. We are seeing the harvest from seeds planted long ago.
Love Conquers All
Even with all these things that are discouraging and mortifying, love can withstand the attacks. Children will often be bound together not only by self preservation but by the protective instincts that tend to rise up in order to keep their sibling(s) safe. These shared experiences, and others like them, pull them together. However, they may also push them apart as they get older; while trying not to remember their shared history.
We need to remember that there is good in the world and stop focusing solely on the bad. Maintaining a positive outlook is a choice; sometimes it is a very difficult one not only to make but continue to choose to maintain. When the world is throwing itself against us, like a high wind that blows, knocking off not just the leaves from the trees but everything else in its path, it can be virtually impossible to stand up against. When we have all this negative being thrown at us, it is difficult to maintain a positive disposition. It is easy to forget who we are and to challenge our beliefs. Especially, when “so called” friends/acquaintances begin to add to our own doubts.
When we can’t remind ourselves, as we are down, it is our friends and family who help to refresh our memory. The people who have weathered so many storms with us, who understand our true character, and help us to remember who we are. They bring to mind what we are capable; they know us almost as well as we know ourselves. (In some cases they may know us better than we know ourselves.) These are our tried and true friends and our support system, the people we should trust over people we barely know.
It is easy to say, trust in God, yet sometimes we need someone we rely on to come along to remind us that we are capable of remaining strong in the face of adversity. It is one of the reasons that the Bible tells us to gather together to encourage one another. (Hebrews 10:25) This encouragement is meant to help us to stand firm during adversity.
This is an opportunity to build each other up. It’s why going out to coffee or lunch is so important. It gives us a chance to vent to someone we know we can say anything to without (hopefully too much) judgement. (I would like to believe with no judgment. Sometimes it is hard to tamp down the flesh and only respond out of love.)
Be The Friend You Want Others To Be
I think that the saying is more true today than ever before. Remember, our job as a friend is to be there, to be silent while we listen, to encourage, to offer sage advise when required, to not make judgements, to help find resolutions and stand strong WITH our friends and family. Get together and support each other. Be a sounding board. Keep your mouth closed to others about what your friend says. Remember it is THEIR story to tell. They get to CHOOSE who hears it. Not you. Being a true friend means you don’t gossip about them behind their back. That the way you speak about them to others is what you would say if they were standing right next to you.
True friendship is a prized jewel. It is something that is rare and can be difficult to find. It is something that lasts through the years. It weathers storms. It weathers distance, changes in relationships, children, as well as time. It will hold up regardless of if you speak to each other every day or go years without saying a word. When you come back together it is as if you had never been apart. I am blessed to have some friendships like this. I am honored to know there are people I can call on any time and they will be there for me. I am blessed to know that what I tell them goes no farther than their ears.
For you this may be your spouse, your sibling, your best friend. If you have someone who is a true friend, be thankful. If you don’t have anyone in your life, know that they are out there; it may take time to find them but they are out there. Remember, you reap what you sow. Start by being the friend you want to someone else. There have been times in my life when I saw someone and before I had even spoken to them I KNEW they were going to be my friend. Guess what? They are not only my friends but some of my closest ones. God will reveal to you the people you should have in your life.
Just remember that people come into your life for a season. Sometimes a season may be a few days or a few weeks, other times, that season is a lifetime.
In another couple of days, the celebration of Valentine’s will be upon us. It’s a special day, extolled as a celebration for couples in love – a day their single friends bemoan their ‘alone’ status. Some singles use the time to celebrate as well, however, either alone or with their other single friends.
Having come into existence sometime during the 5th century as a Roman celebration for the coming of Spring, which included fertility rites and pairing of women with men via a lottery, over time, it has morphed into the holiday we know now, making February 14th one of the most common wedding days of the year throughout the world.
Valentines Day is a Celebration of Eros Love or Is It?
Eros – Sensual or Romantic Love. This is the type of love shared between two people. Sexual desire, physical attraction and physical love.
In today’s society, we tend to shy away from the discussion of erotic love. The word erotic is associated with Eros, as it is a product of the word itself. Eros defined: Eros (Ancient Greek: “love” or “desire”) is a concept in ancient Greek philosophy referring to sensual or passionate love, from which the term erotic is derived. Sometimes, the word erotic is used in a negative or worldly connotation, but this doesn’t mean the word is bad. Indeed, Eros is a love to be celebrated. One of the best examples of this type of love can be found in the Song of Solomon, which depicts the celebration of love between a bride and her groom.
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— for your love is more delightful than wine. 3 Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes; your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the young women love you! 4 Take me away with you—let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers.
Friends
We rejoice and delight in you[b]; we will praise your love more than wine.
She
How right they are to adore you!
5 Dark am I, yet lovely, daughters of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Kedar, like the tent curtains of Solomon.[c] 6 Do not stare at me because I am dark, because I am darkened by the sun. My mother’s sons were angry with me and made me take care of the vineyards; my own vineyard I had to neglect. 7 Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your friends?
Friends
8 If you do not know, most beautiful of women, follow the tracks of the sheep and graze your young goats by the tents of the shepherds.
He
9 I liken you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariot horses. 10 Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings, your neck with strings of jewels. 11 We will make you earrings of gold, studded with silver.
She
12 While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance. 13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh resting between my breasts. 14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms from the vineyards of En Gedi.
He
15 How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes are doves.
She
16 How handsome you are, my beloved! Oh, how charming! And our bed is verdant.
He
17 The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are firs.
There is No Shame in Sensual, Physical Love
We are taught to celebrate romantic love. Yet there is an underlining ideal that physical love is shameful and should be hidden. However, as we see in the Song of Solomon, there is no shame in the sensual, physical love shared between spouses. There should be no shame in physical displays of affection; kissing, hand holding, hugging. We need to stop feeling like there is something wrong with these things. We should not withhold our physical affections because of what other people think.
This type of thought and behavior is a lot like the belief that Christians should be poor. The Bible doesn’t tell us we need to be poor; it tells us not to worship money, which is NOT the same thing. We don’t need to withhold our affection. We need to be, under the right circumstances, an example of the proper way to love.
As I shared in my previous post, there are different types of love that God has blessed us to be able to share. They are unique to the type of love we give. We work toward having agape love, the unconditional love of God, so we can be a light that points toward Him. We share Eros love with our spouse that celebrates the love between two people. Philia love is what we share with our best friends and family members. Finally, there is Storge love, shared with everyone else in an empathetic (the ability to understand and share the feelings of another) way. God has blessed us with the ability to pour out our love on others and as we do our tanks continually fill up.
More Than A Lover
How great is it to be filled with an over-flowing love toward our spouse. The life partner God has given us. We must remember it is impossible to be everything to one person (only God can fully complete a person). We need to have friends, family and a life both together yet separate from our partner. We grow stronger by remaining unique individuals who build each other up and strengthen each other. (I think Kahlil Gibran describes this wonderfully in his Two Sides of Love – see below.)
“Let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other’s cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts, but not into each other’s keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together, yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.”
Two people are strengthened by the physical love that binds them together. We put our trust in each other; they are our best-friend, our sounding board, our lover, our confidante. They don’t need to share all our hobbies and views. They support us when we are weak. They have our back in times of adversity. They give us wise council – all from a place of love.
When you have a partner who celebrates and delights in the Lord, it is a blessing, as you share not just Eros, the physical love, but agape – the unconditional love. You want the best for that person. When you hear the term that God is love, He isn’t just one type of love, He is all encompassing love. He fully loves us. He wants the best for us. He leads us and guides us with His grace and wisdom. God created Eve for Adam so he wouldn’t be alone. God gave a partner to him so they would share foundational truths, and when they were cast from the Garden of Eden, they still had each other to share the new burdens that were placed on them due to their disobedience. Mark 10:9 “Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”
Being Single on Valentine’s Day Just Gives You a Chance to Celebrate Loving Yourself
Yet, even though we have set aside this ‘holiday’ for couples, it is important to consider that it has become a celebration of love. Transformed from its beginnings as the spring celebration of fertility and all that came with it, we now mark it as a day to celebrate those we love. This means, if you are single, you should celebrate the love you have for yourself. The love you have for your Creator. You should spoil yourself and know that where you are is where God wants you to be. Being alone doesn’t make you less on this day. You are as special as the couples who are celebrating their love; you are just celebrating in a different way.
We don’t follow the rules of man, we acknowledge them. Even the Bible says to pay Caesar what is due to Caesar and give God what belongs to God. So, while the world may say that the 14th is meant for couples, we can acknowledge and agree that it is a day of love. Celebrate love.
As we enter the month of February our focus is love. In this coming month we will delve into the four aspects of love. The first, of course, God’s love for us. It is the most powerful definition of love. In order to measure it all we have to do is read 1 Corinthians 13. It is how we should aspire to love yet we often fall short. This is not a flaw or a mark against us.
We can only set our goal to love like this. This is the ‘target’ that we shoot for and aim to hit. It is a good goal for us to work toward having this type of love. However, we also need to accept that we may continually fall short. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
1 Corinthians 13
The Way of Love
13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[b]6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Aspects of Love
Patient
Kind
Not Envious
Doesn’t Boast
Isn’t Arrogant
Is not Rude
Doesn’t insist on its own way
Is Not Irritable
Is Not Resentful
Does not rejoice in wrongdoing
Rejoices in the Truth
Bears All Things
Believes All Things
Hopes All Things
Endures All Things
Love Never Ends (Fails)
The Four Types of Love Defined
Agape – unconditional love. This is the love God has for us. It is the embodiment of what 1 Corinthians 13 is written about.
Eros – Sensual or Romantic Love. This is the type of love shared between two people. Sexual desire, physical attraction and physical love. This is the difference between wanting one person and wanting multiple people. The difference between being in love and loving someone.
Philia – friends. It is a powerful deep, emotional bond between two people who share commonality; values, interests and/or activities. Trusted confidents.
Storge – empathy. It is a love that develops naturally between family members, parents and their children, siblings. Or through familiarity or bonding by chance.
The Love Of Our Creator
The focus of this post is Agape love. The love that our creator has for us. Agape is an unconditional love. It is REALLY hard to give unconditionally. We like to think we can and sometimes we do, for a short while, until the flesh starts to rise up and we have to fight against questioning what we are doing and why. We struggle with ourselves. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood.” We are fighting a spiritual warfare. We are often so absorbed in what is happening to our flesh, in our physical world, that we forget the fight isn’t ‘here’.
It is one of the biggest reasons we are called to pray. We need to pull our minds back and remember that it is a spiritual fight. One that we fight on our knees in prayer. It is why we are to put on the full armor of God so that we can stand against the attacks we are under. All you need to do is look around at what is happening in society to recognize that we are fully under attack.
Yet, when we ‘forget’ that this fight isn’t a physical one but a spiritual battle, God is patient. He waits on us. He waits for us to remember His word and to trust in Him. He is Kind. When we finally do ‘wake up’ and realize we need to fall to our knees. That we need to pray and meditate on His word, He doesn’t chastise us for our forgetfulness. He doesn’t shake a finger at us for taking all these troubles and cares as our personal burden. He waits for us to remember to cast all our cares on Him.
God doesn’t desire to have what we. Although He is a jealous God, He is not an envious God. There is a difference between jealousy and envy. We need to remember that. Often times we will mix the two up. However, envy is desiring possessions whereas jealous is being fiercely protective and vigilant. We, on the other hand, interchange these two. We become “jealous” over things that we desire to possess.
When we do ‘own’ something, we often tend to boast about it to other people. This is where the ‘love of money is the root of all evil’ comes into play. We could exchange ‘money’ with ‘power’. The love of power is the root of all evil. We see this more and more. People who have a lot of wealth, who think they are better than others. Who desire to control other people and boast about how they have used other people to get to their position of power. They become arrogant and rude while they are drowning in their positions believing they are better than others. (I am not going to go into how God removes and sets up leaders as this post isn’t about that.)
We Have The Power to Choose
When we get to the part of 1 Corinthians about love not insisting on its own way. The greatest thing I can point to is the fact that God gave us FREE WILL. In other words, we are not forced to choose Him and the path He has set out for us. We are not forced to follow His will in our lives. He has given us a choice.
We also know that God doesn’t get irritable, although the word does speak about His righteous anger. Again, there are subtle differences in the meaning of words. This is why education is so important. In order to really understand what the Bible speaks about we have to know definitions so we can fully comprehend what the word is telling us. We also know that God isn’t resentful. He doesn’t get angry when we wander off the path He has for us. He doesn’t get angry at us when we find ourselves out in the brambles and losing our way. No – He is PATIENT AND KIND while waiting for us.
We know He doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing. The very first story we learn is the fall of Adam and Eve. They were disobedient. He wasn’t happy that they did what they weren’t supposed to do. He wasn’t happy when Cain killed Able. He did discipline them in a manner that they would benefit from. In a way that would allow them to see His mercy and grace in their lives. Even though God was disappointed in what they did He wanted to hear them speak the truth. He wanted them to recognize what they had done. Then we could rejoice and know that there was a way back to Him. It set in motion the path for Jesus to sacrifice on the cross for us.
The Greatest Love The World Has Ever Known
It is in the life and death of Christ that we see that love bears all things. Jesus offered up His life as a sacrifice. Why? He bore the burden of our sins so that we could rejoin the family. He BORE the BURDEN for US. All of our sins. Not just some of them. ALL OF THEM. What a heavy weight that was and is. No one else could have done it. Love BEARS ALL THINGS.
He did it because He believed in us. He believed we were worth saving. He believed that the sin that marred us didn’t need to keep us down. He believed we should have the opportunity to ”turn from our wicked ways” to call upon the Lord. He believed we should have the chance to worship our Father in Heaven and that He would Hear us and respond.’ He believed in the reunification of family.
Our hope is in God. It is hope that gives us strength in the darkest of times. God is OUR hope in all things. No matter the situation or circumstances we have an anchor in time of crisis.
Love Endures All Things
God’s love for us endured the loss of His son on the cross. How painful it was for Jesus to see His Father turn away from him when he was on the cross taking our sins upon himself. Jesus belief and hope in our reunion with the Father was His Focus. He endured not just the physical pain of crucifixion but also the emotional pain of loss of connection with His Father. He bore this so we wouldn’t have to. What an amazing love that is!
Love Never Ends
God’s love is eternal, everlasting, it is forever. He is the alpha and the omega. The beginning and the end. The first and the last. He is omnipotent. Almighty. He gave us the greatest sacrifice of love. He didn’t do it for Him, He did it for US. Then He went a step farther and gave us the ability to CHOOSE if we would accept His gift. This most incredible sacrifice that was given. This most wonderous, beautiful gift that was offered, He lets us make the decision to come and be part of His family.
He knows we will stumble and fall along the path. Yet, when we accept Him into our lives, it isn’t the failure that is the focus. It is the acceptance of a gift. A gift that teaches us how to truly love. A gift that lets us know that even when we are weak, He not only can, but will make us strong. He offers us a place of refuge in difficult times. He offers us peace. He helps to turn our weeping into joy. Our mourning into dancing. He is steadfast and patient when we wander off the path that He has called us to. He did ALL this and so much more because He Loves Us! He has called us for such a time as this!
Know that God loves you. Know that we can all put into practice the many facets of 1 Corinthians 13. It isn’t a secret recipe. It is attainable and real. We can love the way that God has taught us to love. There has never been a more relevant time in our lives than now to practice and show God’s love. Be strong it the Lord and the Power of His Might.
Do you want to know more about God’s love?
Would you like to have a personal relationship with Him? The first step is accepting Christ into your heart.Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father but by me.” (John 14:6) . God hears even the simplest of prayers. All you need to do is to recognize you are a sinner and need forgiveness. Say a prayer to the Lord acknowledging these things and invite Jesus into your heart and life as your personal Lord and Savior.
Our relationship with Christ is personal. However, when we first accept Him into our lives, we need to find people who are like minded. We need a body of believers to help support us. With so many churches not being able to meet due to the current pandemic, this may seem like it is impossible. I want you to know it is not. There are so many believers out there and so many churches. If you are on Facebook I would recommend finding one and being a part of the community. I generally do not do this, however, I don’t want to leave you with nothing therefore I am going to post a link to a church I know is on fire for the Lord. Again, there are many out there that you can find on your own. I just want you to have a place to start with your fellowship. 🙂
We have all heard the story of the man who built his house upon the sand and the man who built his house upon the rock. The lesson of the story is that it is important to choose what kind of foundation we will build on. Will it be weak or strong? Not only is it important factor when physically building something but it is in our spiritual lives as well.
If your foundation is made up of lies and taking shortcuts, then the life you grow will be built on them. When you try to shortcut your life. you can end up far away from where you want to be or planned to be. It is easy to find yourself off the path that God has set for you. Not only are you hurting others, but you are hurting yourself. When you build your life on the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, gentleness and self control – you will find that your foundation is strong. It takes a lot to follow this path as sometimes it may seem easier to take advantage of people’s kindness to step on them and get ahead. Yet in the long term, we are not only building our lives for this realm but also for the next one. (more…)
When we can’t remind ourselves, as we are down, it is our friends and family who help to refresh our memory. The people who have weathered so many storms with us, who understand our true character, and help us to remember who we are. They bring to mind what we are capable; they know us almost as well as we know ourselves. (In some cases they may know us better than we know ourselves.) These are our tried and true friends and our support system, the people we should trust over people we barely know.
