A little over a year ago, I was awoken around 7am on a Sunday morning and was asked if I could preach last minute at church that morning. It was sudden and unexpected so I had to immediately go to God and ask Him what He would have for that fated morning.
As I was reflected on various truths and Bible passages I was brought to a very simple, yet often overlooked one, and I knew it was needed:
The Love of God.
The Love of God is a theme I’ve revisited many times and is one that I have to remind myself of often and I felt I should share it with you as well.
Although we live in a culture that has devalued and misconstrued love as something you feel or an undirected affirmation of anything someone else wants, God’s love towards us is an undying care an affection that we could study our entire lives and never reach it’s depths or expanse.
One of my favorite hymns describes God’s love this way…
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry
Nor could the scroll contain the whole
Though stretched from sky to sky
That verse paints such a vivid picture of how we cannot fully understand or appreciate the vast love of God.
But we can certainly try.
And so I have tried to make the habit of taking 5-10 minutes a day to simply reflect on the love of God, and I invite you to join me.
I’ve written some verses below for you to simply read through,
To slow down,
And simply think about God’s love and care for you.
“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.” – Deuteronomy 7:9
“But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” – Psalm 86:15
“Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.” – Psalm 136:26
“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” – Zephaniah 3:17
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:9–13
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” – Romans 5:8
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – Romans 8:37–39
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.” – Ephesians 2:4–5
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” – 1 John 3:1
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” – Galatians 2:20
“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins..” – 1 John 4:9–10
Thank you Travis for your post on the Love of God. After reading this I began to think about how I have taken His amazing love for granted. His love is so pure and beautiful!