~ "What love really means..."

And we have known and believed the love that God has to us. God is love; and he that dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16)

John has a habit of repeating to us over and over again that God is love and that he loves us! We know the full measure of God's love for us. He sent his son to suffer and die. We drove the nails into his hands by our sins. The pain and suffering was caused by all of mankind, not just those who came before him. He has paid for the sin we will commit tomorrow!

We have God's assurance that he will not abandon us. Each day is an opportunity to become closer to him through prayer and meditation on his word. We have a greater purpose than we realize.

In him, there is strength. Our humble beginnings as infants in the world, and as infants in his word, soon change. We grow and become rebellious teens, questioning everything. Our quest for knowledge of him never ends. As we reach our early adult years, we feel we can tackle the world - that we know better than others, we have more energy than those who have been around for half a century. As we reach that half way mark, we begin to balance our lives more completely. We begin to realize that our lives are nothing without him! He has guided our every step by his design of life for us. As we reach our "senior" years, we know our time is short and that soon we will be with him for all eternity.

God's plan for us is loaded with love! He's packed us full of compassion, understanding and wisdom - we just need to tap into it! He has a story that needs to be told. He asks that we tell the world about what he has done for us. Each of us has a few "miracles" stored up inside that no one knows about! Those instances where there is no logical explanation; the ones we feel no one would believe are the very ones he wants us to share! There is great power in testimony! There is great love that brings about the miracles in your life.

We are loved - not by what we have done or what we may become - God has shown us that love - in Jesus!


(photo by Susan Beaver)