Forthright Fixation

February is the love month. On the 14th of the month, every year without fail or exception, you will find sweethearts all over the world declaring their undying devotion to one another as well as exchanging gifts of chocolates and flowers, and taking romantic strolls and whispering sweet nothings over candlelit dinners. On the same day, you will find singles all over the world lamenting the day they were born as they have no one to love or be loved by. It’s all quite sad, really. I say that, not as someone who spent the day swimming in a truckload of flowers, but as someone who, despite being single, has been given the greatest love the world has ever known freely and without measure. This love that I am talking about is the love of God, as I’m sure you have guessed.

I began pondering the magnitude and greatness of God’s love for me long before Valentine’s Day was even nearing the horizon. There have been some trying times within the last few months where I really began to wonder how God could love me. Yes, I was saved. I believed God was love. I believed that Jesus died for my sins. I believed that God chose me and that apart from His saving grace I would never be able to stand before Him justified. I did not doubt God’s love in my salvation. I merely forgot some very important truths. I knew the Lord disciplines His children, but I forgot that He does so because He loves them (Proverbs 3:11, 12). I knew that I was a dirty, rotten sinner and nothing but the blood of Jesus would save me, but I forgot that He died an agonizing death on the cross for my sins because He loves me (1 John 3:16). I knew that God picked me – unworthy – out of all the people in the world to be called by His name because He is sovereign, but I forgot that His sovereignty isn’t void of love, it’s full of it (Ephesians 2:4-6).

One by one I have been reminded of each of these truths. Slowly the edges of my heart that were hardened by cynicism began to break. Slowly a very real hope in the steadfast love of God began to emerge. I have a regained confidence that in God’s love I can rest during life’s stormy moments and for that I rejoice!

And so, dear friends, as you think of past Valentine’s days and those that are yet to come, do not be discouraged. Take no heed of the messages of this world and those whose sole message is: “Singles, content thyself!” Cling to the promise of God’s love. Cling to the hope that is found in Him. Yield your affections to Christ in return. Remember that we are able to love because He first loved us:

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 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. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:7-12, ESV)

Filed under: Knowing God