It’s easy to tell someone you love them. Our Caleb will tell me he loves me almost as often as I want him to. All the grands say I love you with ease. But ask Caleb for a kiss and he is hesitant and most times says no. A high 5 is always available and sometimes a hug. But a kiss is rare. Yesterday he told me he couldn’t give me a kiss because he’d get worms! I know! He has been told not to kiss the puppy because he’d get worms so he pulled a great excuse out of his pocket just in time to keep from having to give me a kiss.
Often we say the words I love you. It’s all over the world. On pillows and signs, on windows and plates. It’s written out in smoke signals and chocolate as well. It’s a great greeting and something we all enjoy telling people as we depart from one another. And yet just like Caleb withholding his kisses, human love might withhold something. Human love can be lost, can be scrimped on and can be forgotten.
But when I tell you that God loves you, I’m not talking fondness or compassion or consideration. I’m not talking companionship, affinity or like-mindedness. I’m talking love. It’s beyond me how He loves us. It’s beyond you. It’s beyond earth and every earthly relationship ever created or observed or enjoyed. God loves you. Yes, He loves the whole world. But He loves you. If you were the only person on the face of the earth He’d love you. Unlike the world, whose love ebbs and flows with every human feeling imaginable, God’s love is constant. It never changes. It never recedes. It never recoils from whatever is thrown its way. God says I love you with an everlasting love and He means just that. He’s not moved by your emotions or your commitment or your fickle heart. He’s only moved by Himself and God IS love.
Oh beloved, it’s time to believe. It’s time for you to quit looking at your flaws and your faults. It’s time to stop counting the times you’ve messed up or disappointed someone. It’s time to leave behind the past with its mistakes and missteps. Yes, those things happen. But God loves you. It’s time to quit counting things as the ration of His love. It’s time to stop measuring yourself by others’ expectations. It’s time to quit beating yourself up over wasted time. God loves you. Are you seeking freedom? God’s love will free you to be all you can be. Are you seeking acceptance? God’s love is the proof that you can be accepted. Everything you aren’t He is because of His great love.
Go ahead and abandon yourself to God’s love. He speaks His love Words over you from Genesis to Revelation. He adds nothing to His love because His love is enough. With His love comes grace and mercy and peace and joy and contentment. But you can’t find those things, not really, apart from His love. Everything you have looked the world over for is found in Him. Letting God love you just the way you are because of Who He is will change you completely. His love changes everything. You won’t have to worry about what might happen if you let yourself be loved, for God will never leave you or forsake you. His love is immutable. It is irreversible. You can’t do a thing to make Him love you less and you can’t do a thing to make Him love you more. He just loves you.
Rejoice, precious one for He calls you His beloved. All you have to do is accept His love shown in the manger, on the Cross, at the Tomb and beyond. Christ is the epitome of this eternal, everlasting love and Christ can be your all in all. Christ’s love compelled Him to make the sacrifice for you. His love is your hope for today and your faith for tomorrow. Christ has made a way for you to be accepted in the beloved. Because of this great love, He’s with you to guide you, protect you, redeem you, and keep you all the days of your life.
Psalm 117:2 For He loves us with unfailing love; the Lord’s faithfulness endures forever. Praise the Lord!
Romans 8:38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. NLT
1 John 4:9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
2 Thessalonians 3:5 May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ. NLT
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