Happy Valentines Day!
Psalm 52:8 “But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.”
“Meditate for a while on God’s unfailing love. It is TENDER LOVE. With a gentle touch, He heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds. He is as gracious in the manner of His unfailing love as in the manner of it. It is GREAT UNFAILING LOVE. There is nothing little in God; His unfailing love is like himself - it is infinite. You cannot measure it. His unfailing love is so great that it forgives great sins to great sinners (like me), after great lengths of time, and then gives great favors and great privileges, and raises us up to great enjoyments in the great heaven of the great God. It is UNDESERVED UNFAILING LOVE, as indeed all true unfailing love must be, for deserved unfailing love is only a misnomer for justice. There was no right on the sinner’s part to the kind consideration of the Most High; had the rebel been doomed at once to eternal fire he would have richly deserved doom, and if delivered from wrath, sovereign love alone has found a cause, for there was none in the sinner himself. It is RICH UNFAILING LOVE. Some things are great, but have little efficacy in them, but this love is a cordial to your drooping spirits; a golden ointment to your bleeding wounds; a heavenly bondage to your broken bones; a royal chariot for your weary feet; a bosom of love for your trembling heart. It is MANIFOLD MERCY AND LOVE. As Bunyan says, “All the flowers in God’s garden are double.” There is no single mercy. You may think you have but one mercy, but you shall find it to be a whole cluster of mercies. It is ABOUNDING LOVE. Millions have received it, yet far from its being exhausted, it is as fresh, as full, and as free as ever. It is UNFAILING LOVE. It will never leave you. If this love is within you, God’s love will be with you in temptation to keep you from yielding; with you in trouble to prevent you from sinking; with you living to be the light and life of your countenance; and with you dying to be the joy of your soul when earthly comfort is ebbing fast.”
Lord, how can I thank you for the way you love me? I am so unworthy. Thank you for your constant and unchanging mercy. I pray that you will help me to love others as you love them. May the people I come in contact with see your love in me, especially, my family. I pray that you will help me to set aside my own desires and instincts, so that I can love without expecting anything in return. Help me to love and not envy. Help me to not think of myself as inferior, but as equal. Help me to tread the path of love boldly even when it is rough. Help me to love and pray for my enemies. Help me to speak words that build up and encourage. I am really struggling with this and need your strength. I want to be an example to my children. Amen.
This is great stuff Christine. Obviously you are striving to put into practice what you are reading. Journaling is one of the best ways to help things stick in your brain, and it is really fun to look back years later into your journal and see how much you have grown!