The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
“The Infinite River”
Our grandson Jackson has long been known for saying things in a way that brings smiles to our faces and warmth to our hearts. As a little boy, he once told me as he left our house after spending the weekend with us, "Tell Grannie Frannie she loves us!"
Jackson immediately knew he had crossed up his words, having meant to say, ”Tell Grannie Frannie we love her!" His face immediately broke into a smile, as did my own. "I'll tell her, Jackson," I responded, "I'll tell Grannie Frannie that she loves you!"
As has often been the case with Jackson, his comment was fraught with a wonderful spiritual implication. Indeed, we do well to frequently affirm to God His love for us in a world filled with constant temptations to forget or neglect His devotion, commitment, and affection.
"We love Him because He first loved us" (I John 4:19).
Our love for God always and forever flows as a tributary of the infinite river of His love for us. First, He loved us by creating and sustaining our being, providing for us before we even knew Him (Acts 17:25). He then loved us by convincing and convicting us that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior, and that we desperately needed a Redeemer from our sins (John 12:32). He poured out His love into our hearts when we believed, through the entrance of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). Finally, He continues to work in us to motivate and enable reciprocal response to the continual overtures of His lovingkindness. "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
Born again believers live for God by living from God. The Lord Jesus is "before all things," including and especially the fruit of the Spirit produced in us by God's ongoing presence and working (Colossians 1:17). The dynamic of "we love Him because He first loved us" forms and informs our understanding not only of birth into relationship with God, but also of growth into the likeness of His character, disposition and way. “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus, so walk ye in Him” (Colossians 2:6).
If it were possible to quantify godliness and find the most devoted believer presently living in the world, we might raise the question, "What does it feel like to love God so much?" The Christian would instantly recoil from the notion, confessing, ”Oh, I've barely even begun to love Him! However, I grow more and more overwhelmed by the wonder of how much He loves me, how much He loves you, and how much He loves all!" Yes, the focus of true godliness sees clearly the infinite river - "God is love" - and the fact that in both time and eternity those who truly love Him become increasingly enraptured and fixed not on their devotion to Him, but on His devotion to all (I John 4:16).
Frances rejoiced in hearing Jackson’s "Tell Grannie Frannie that she loves us!” Doubtless, the same rejoicing will fill our Heavenly Father's heart as we affirm to Him and each other the wonder of His love that "passeth knowledge" (Ephesians 3:19). We may tell Him that He loves us with confidence that we are faithfully expressing His Word, the reality of His heart, and the truth that leads us to love Him because He loves us.
"And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God."
(II Thessalonians 3:5)
Weekly Memory Verse
We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts.”
(II Peter 1:19)
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