As some of you may remember, one of my overarching goals for the year was to do all things out of love for others, with a focus specifically on charity. I've memorized 1 Corinthians 13 and it blew wide open my distorted and hazy definition of "love."
God has been teaching me so much about His love this year and what it means to love, that I wanted to share it with you today. I pray that it is an encouragement to you and a blessing to your soul. In church, we just finished a sermon series going through Romans 5 and something the pastor said has stuck with me ever since. He said something along the lines of, "It's amazing that God would even think of us--and think of our salvation." The Apostle Paul had been showing parallels between Adam and Christ in this section and one of the dissimilarities was that Christ was not obligated to save us. Think about it. We were enemies. We were ungodly. We wanted absolutely nothing to do with Him. We were helpless to save ourselves from our sinful condition. Why would God want to save us? A simple answer is, "Because of His love." Charity (or love; God's love) can be defined as self-sacrificing concern. Christ demonstrated His love for us by dying on the cross, taking our sins on Him, and giving us an opportunity to live through Him. He made a way for salvation, for a restoration of the union we could have in God through Him. All while we were still His enemies. He thought of us long before we ever came into being, which leads into another point I wanted to make. Have you ever considered the truth that the Lord thinks about us? Yes, it may be hard to process because He is so infinite, and so much bigger than us, but it's true. He thinks about you. He understands what you are going through today, because He is not unfeeling. Christ came and experienced what we experienced (with the exception that He didn't sin). He felt pain, He wept, He was troubled. God's thoughts of us are so many that they can't be counted. "Many, O LORD my God are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered." (Psalm 40:5) In another place it says that "they are more in number than the sand." (Psalm 139:18) Are you feeling discouraged today? Is your relationship with Jesus not as strong as you wish it could be? Don't fret, friends. Know that God loves you and that He is thinking about you. He sees your deepest desires about having fellowship with Him, and He will strengthen you to make that happen. Lean on His unconditional love and be grateful for His amazing grace.
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AuthorHi! I'm Carolyn, a writer seeking to glorify God with my words. Archives
February 2024
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