Tag: Love

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Life Eternal

Life eternal—eternal love. Nicholas of Cusa was a Christian mystic who lived during the 1400s wrote Vision of God. One quote that touched me deeply last night was “Life eternal is nought other than that blessed regard wherewith Thou never ceasest to behold me, yea, even the secret places of my soul. With Thee to behold is to give life; ’tis unceasingly to impart sweetest love of Thee; ’tis to inflame me to love of Thee by love’s imparting, and to feed me by inflaming, and by feeding to kindle my yearning, and by kindling to make me drink of the dew of gladness, and by drinking to infuse in me a fountain of life, and by infusing to make it increase and endure.”

To know love so completely that you glow with the radiant light of the Son. To feel the warm embrace of His loving arms around you in any and all situations. To see His loving reflection in your eyes, and know that all is well with your soul. That is life eternal.

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Abundance

Oshkosh, Wisconsin      Photo Credit: Denise L. White

 

 

Peer at the clear light of God. Isn’t it wonderful? He provides everything needed for true life-real life. Not the shallow water of despair and futility, but the radiant life which strengthens, embraces, creates and stirs our hearts toward goodness and light-toward God.
John 10:9-11 [New American Standard Bible] states, “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. 11 “I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”
There is one condition to having an abundance life, and it is through the doorway of Christ. Being with Him you find eternal life with the [only]Person who offers you everything both now and forever.
Attempts made at trying match what God offers doesn’t measure up. There is nothing this world offers which compares with amazing treasures awaiting those who enter through the door with Christ. Henry David Thoreau once said, “What is called genius is the abundance of life and health.”
The abundant life is only available in the awesome, magnificent presence and power of God.
Go ahead! Peep in.

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Humility

“True humility is a flower which will adorn any garden.  This is a sauce with which you may season every dish of life, and you will find an improvement in every case.” C.H. Spurgeon

Walking around with a covering of humility in this era of self-promotion seems a bit out of place, or does it? What does it mean to be a humble person?  Is there any value in being humble?  Does the world celebrate the truly humble?  Does it [the world] need more humble people?

Humble means

  1. modest:modest and unassuming in attitude and behavior
  2. respectful:feeling or showing respect and deference toward other people
  3. lowly: relatively low in rank and without pretensions

Think of Mother Teresa, a small woman who showed respect, and love for those suffering due to illness and bigotry.

Think of Martin Luther King, a black man who demonstrated that a person’s worth is not defined by skin color, or race but by the fact they are gifts from God.

Or Sand Springs Baptist Church in Athens, Texas that recently raised money to help an avowed atheist who pushed for the removal of Nativity Scene from the county courthouse.  When asked why they did it, the simple answer was because he needed help.  No fanfare.  No trumpets blazing, just the simple commitment to demonstrate that a humble spirit can experience the wonders of God. 

The world prefers the proud and brash. When it does recognize the humble, it comes after much upheavel. The humble prefers to do their work in quiet, knowing a greater reward awaits them.

The humble person is a witness bearer for the truth.  They may reside on your block, even in your home, but they have learned a wonderful lesson, and that is the immense joy of showing love through humility. 

Spurgeon was right.  Humility is a sweet flower that looks good on any table.  How about yours?

 

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Trust God

Here is a question for today: Do we really believe God? This is one of those questions that should cause the believer to stop and think carefully.
Because if one truly believes God is who he says He is, then we should be okay with God running our lives. Right? After all God is our creator, the Father of us all, and He knows precisely why we were created. He gave us gifts, skills, talents and abilities. He knows our beginning, our middle and our ends. He was before us and holds eternity in His hands. He created everything and design this magnificent world for us to live in. So why don’t we trust Him enough to let go of the steering wheel, or enough to seek His guidance daily? It is an interesting question, because I know from personal experience I stumble around often because I failed to go to God and get the much needed help. Why this is so difficult? Why the hesitation and fear? God knows what best, and He certainly knows what’s around the next corner.

Proverbs 3: 5-6 states,
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.” [NIV]
Why is this so difficult? Maybe because we don’t truly believe God. Well, maybe today you and I can adjust our focus and take our hands off the steering wheel long enough to trust our loving, all knowing, all powerful Father to do what He does best-everything. Let’s trust God for the answers to all the questions. He can certainly do a better job of running things than we can.

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God is Love

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God;…
Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love…
In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us…
No one has seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us…
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.
1 John 4:7-16
Blooming

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The “nature” of love

Psalm 91:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork”.(KJV) All nature shows the love of God. In the beginning, God created a world filled with His glory and His love. He loved us enough to fill the earth with beautiful things-blue skies, and blue oceans, green grass, and flowers in all sorts of color. Mountains, hills, rivers, trees – the firmament shows his handywork. Today was a beautiful day. The birds were singing, blue skies, blooming trees, and flowers, and I thanked God for sharing his love of nature with us.

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No Greater Love

A little 11 year old boy with a bright, shining smile and engaging spirit in one act of love and devotion tried to get help for his mother. He jumped out of the car unto moving traffic on a busy interstate highway. He tried to flagged down a motorist and was struck and killed. His mother was being beaten and dragged by her boyfriend who was attempting to kill her. Her son’s last thoughts were only of her-the object of his love. He wanted only to save her.
Jesus’ last thoughts on Calvary were of us-the objects of His love. He came to knowing full well he would be struck down at the intersection of hate and rejection. However, it didn’t matter. He was willing to go head long into oncoming traffic and take the full impact of an unknowing, blinded, and distracted world for love.
The scripture said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:12-14 KJV
Divine love came to us to show us how to live and operate in the kingdom of God. He modeled love, healing, compassion, truth, justice, grace and mercy. He demonstrated how to use power and authority, and how to forgive. The Divine Expression-the Word became flesh and showed us no greater love.