Friday, April 9, 2010

GOD IS LOVE

Blessings (love, grace, peace and joy) to you! Not long ago I wrote down some thoughts while wondering why things turn out the way they do; I found a simple answer (God loves us!) smack dab in the middle of 1 John 4:16 while reading through something Max Lucado wrote (and a poem was born!). Turned out everything I read today was about LOVE so I included ALL of them in this email. And today I listened to Max Lucado talking on writing at a recent Christian Writers Guild - If you've never heard him (or even if you have) take a listen here (hear) or after you're done reading everything in this email - I think you'll enjoy it - I did! Jeff
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And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. 
Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.  1 John 4:16

GOD IS LOVE

God gives bountiful grace 
to those who need Him and 
trust in the finished work 
His Son has done

God gives blessed hope 
to all His children who
believe He stays with us
when we must stand alone

God gives holy comfort to heal 
the wounded who know 
faith trumps everything 
our hearts may feel

God gives perfect peace 
to those who trust Jesus 
and rest assured in the truth
His only motive is love

J E POLLOCK
APRIL 9, 2010 


This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins.

1 JOHN 4:10 ( GOD'S WORD )

Unfailing Love

by Max Lucado

"Love," Paul says, "never fails" (1 Cor. 13:8 NIV).

The verb Paul uses for the word fail is used elsewhere to describe the demise of a flower as it falls to the ground, withers, and decays. It carries the meaning of death and abolishment. God's love, says the apostle, will never fall to the ground, wither, and decay. By its nature, it is permanent. It is never abolished.

Love "will last forever" (NLT).

It "never dies" (MSG).

It "never ends" (RSV).

Love "is eternal" (TEV).

God's love "will never come to an end" (NEB).

Love never fails.

Governments will fail, but God's love will last. Crowns are temporary, but love is eternal. Your money will run out, but his love never will.

How could God have a love like this? No one has unfailing love. No person can love with perfection. You're right. No person can. But God is not a person. Unlike our love, his never fails. His love is immensely different from ours.

Our love depends on the receiver of the love. Let a thousand people pass before us, and we will not feel the same about each. Our love will be regulated by their appearance, by their personalities. Even when we find a few people we like, our feelings will fluctuate. How they treat us will affect how we love them. The receiver regulates our love.

Not so with the love of God. We have no thermostatic impact on his love for us. The love of God is born from within him, not from what he finds in us. His love is uncaused and spontaneous.

Does he love us because of our goodness? Because of our kindness? Because of our great faith? No, he loves us because of his goodness, kindness, and great faith. John says it like this: "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us" (1 John 4:10 NIV).

Doesn't this thought comfort you? God's love does not hinge on yours. The abundance of your love does not increase his. The lack of your love does not diminish his. Your goodness does not enhance his love, nor does your weakness dilute it. What Moses said to Israel is what God says to us:

The LORD did not choose you and lavish his love on you because you were larger or greater than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations! It was simply because the LORD loves you. (Deut. 7:7–8 NLT)

God loves you simply because he has chosen to do so.

A Love Worth GivingHe loves you when you don't feel lovely.

He loves you when no one else loves you. Others may abandon you, divorce you, and ignore you, but God will love you. Always. No matter what.

This is his sentiment: "I'll call nobodies and make them somebodies; I'll call the unloved and make them beloved" (Rom. 9:25 MSG).

This is his promise. "I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself" (Jer. 31:3 NLT).

From A Love Worth Giving


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  Precious In His Sight

Let's see others as through the eyes of Christ.

In the message "Never Forget" we saw that God's gift of Salvation through faith in Jesus is our greatest blessing - a blessing we must never forget as we tend to become discouraged.  In the beginning, "God created man in His own image" (Genesis 1:27).  Then, when sin entered the world and man became separated from God, "He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

This is the greatest love story in all history; "While we were still {lost} sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).  He died for you and me, and also for all those other lost sinners scattered around us.  Jesus Christ, "who being in very nature God" (Philippians 2:6), was born in a dirty stable; "He made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant" (Philippians 2:7).  He lived His life with the single purpose of dying so that ALL who believe could be eternally restored to the Father; "the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men" (Romans 5:18).

God loves us VERY much!  And He doesn't just love those who love Him in return or faithfully serve Him - He loves ALL.  We are precious!  Yes, He hates sin and will one day judge with an eternal damnation all who fail to believe; but His love - His offer of Salvation - extends to all...even to our noisy neighbor and difficult co-worker, our obnoxious family members and the disrespectful kids who wear "strange" clothes.

God's love is so much a part of who He is, and of who we ought to be, that Jesus commands us by His example: "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another" (John 13:34).  We are to love as Jesus loved; and as if this was too difficult a concept for our finite minds, we are commanded to love in terms we can all understand.

Galatians 5:14
"The entire law is summed up in a single command: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"

God wants us to love others primarily because He loves them and desires His love to be expressed through us!  He encouraged this love by creating us with a natural capacity for love.  When we are hungry we feed ourself; when we are hurt we care for ourself; and when we are down, we pray to be lifted up.  These are natural expressions of self-love - the same love God desires we show to ALL.

Let's evaluate our thoughts, words, and actions in terms of their effect on others.  Are we encouraging or adding burdens?  Are we building up or tearing down?  Are we bringing others closer to Jesus or pushing them further away?  Are we as loving to others as we are to ourself?  Let's be His hands, feet, and voice of love in the world around us.  Let's begin to see others as through His eyes; and remember, we are ALL precious in His sight.

Have a Christ Centered Day!

Steve Troxel
God's Daily Word Ministries
 
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Picture from cover of Today in the Word

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