Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Orange Moon Wednesday, January 29, 2025 "A Miracle (of Love)"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe



"A Miracle (of Love)"



      "How long will ye love vanity (emptiness)?" (Psalm 4:2).


     Left to itself, humanity loves that which bears no true substance, worth, or meaning.  If the Spirit of God were not present in the world to reveal the love of God through the Lord Jesus Christ, we would all completely devote our hearts to wisps and vapors of quickly passing winds.  "Thou lovest evil more than good" (Psalm 52:3).


   Against the backdrop of this sad delusion, the first and greatest command shines as a light that initially condemns, and then redeems all who open their eyes to its rescue from vanity:


    "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength.  This is the first commandment" (Mark 12:30).


    A miracle must happen in the human heart if we are to turn from emptiness unto that which fills our being with vibrant life.  In every born again believer in the Lord Jesus, such a miracle has occurred: "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Romans 5:5).  


    To the unbeliever who sees the love of God in Christ and realizes that such love does not exist in his own heart, the Word of God promises rescue from the void.  God Himself enters the spirits of all who trust the Lord Jesus as the Holy Spirit establishes our hearts as His eternal home.  He comes as Himself, that is, He comes as love - "God is love" (I John 4:8).  Love for us, love bestowed upon us, and regarding our current consideration, love "shed abroad" within us for the purpose of enabling our devotion to God and others.  Believers can love that which will not disappoint us, and that which makes any loss incurred by loving pale in comparison to the gain found therein.  "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it" (Matthew 16:25).


   "To live is Christ" declared the Apostle Paul (Philippians 1:21).  The first commandment reveals that this primarily means "to love is Christ," that is, to love God through Christ.  We cannot do so in and of ourselves.  Thankfully, our Heavenly Father never intended that we attempt such an impossibility.  "Without Me, ye can do nothing" (John 15:5).  He rather made us to serve as the temple of His unselfish character and disposition.  We love Him in response to His love for us, and by the presence of His Spirit in us.  "We love Him because He first loved us… God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him" (I John 4:19; 16).  Thereby, God delivers us from the vanity of loving emptiness unto the eternal substance of loving that - Him - which bears worth and meaning in this moment and forevermore.


    To love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength?  Impossible, to the one who seeks to love by the delusion of his own devotion.  Inevitable, to the one who seeks to love by the devotion that resides within every trusting heart in Christ, namely, the love of God lavishly bestowed - "shed abroad" - therein.  We will not be perfect in this life regarding such a "walk in love" (Ephesians 5:2).  We can grow and be more consistent, however, as we avail ourselves of the love that dwells within us, and that motivates, guides, and empowers that which can only be viewed in terms of a miracle, a miracle of love, that delivers us from vanity unto glory…


"Walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor."

(Ephesians 5:2)


Weekly Memory Verse

    Call upon Me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me.

(Psalm 50:15)








































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