Human
love is fragile, fickle, fading and disappointing at best. We try to keep love
alive, but life gets in the way. Our personalities sabotage our best
intentions; and our vows mean little after the hurts, which we experience, mount up.
However,
God's love is pure and satisfying (1 John 4:8). Jesus personified that love
throughout His life through His obedience as a son, healing the sick, caring
for the children, teaching the multitudes, and ultimately suffering the
horrifying persecution, crucifixion and death on Calvary's cross.
God's
love is unconditional and never fails. His love is patient, kind, keeps no
record of wrong doing, nor does it take pleasure in evil; it is not envious or
boastful or proud or rude or self-seeking or easily angered (1 Corinthians
13:4-7).
He
never holds grudges against us for our thoughts, words or behavior. He pursues
us with His amazing love all the days of our life. Yet, many people never
respond in kind, and fail to come to Him in humble repentance and adoration
(Jeremiah 31:3).
As
authentic Believers, our human love is replaced by God's Spirit with this
divine character of God's love. As He sanctifies us day after day, He heals the
trauma of our past and the lies that Satan planted in each event along the way
(2 Peter 1:4).
This
enables us to forgive our self and others, as well as to love our self and those
who wounded us in the past. God's love flows out of us to the world all around
us, drawing in the hurting humanity that we meet.
If
we let go of our bitterness and anger, and stop clinging to temporary earthly
possessions and relationships to fill our soul, His love fills in all of the
cracks in our life and makes us whole and complete, lacking nothing (1 Thessalonians
5:23; Luke 21:19).
Prayer:
Father
God, we struggle most of our life from the results of the wounds of our past.
We feel unlovable and never able to measure up. We attempt to perfect our
personality and behavior through our human strength in order to gain that love.
However, the façade that we construct never stays in place long enough to
achieve our goal.
Yet,
when we repent of our sins and ask Jesus to sit on the throne of our life, Your
love come flooding into our soul and fills us to overflowing with everything we
need to feel whole and complete (Psalm 23:5). Help us to cooperate with Your
Spirit's sanctifying work, so that we can be vessels of Your love, brimming
with genuine care for everyone we meet.
Thought
for the Day:
God's
transforming love heals the effects of rejection, abuse, abandonment,
belittlement, etc. that we experience along life's road; and it overflows in
our heart as we feel the ultimate fulfillment that is attainable only through a
life in service at the pleasure of our King Jesus.
