When the real love touch of God is breathed into your soul, what a transformation takes place. There is probably no more delightful thing on earth than to watch a soul praying to God when the light of God comes on, and the life of God fills the nature and that holy affection that we seek from others finds expression in Him.
I am convinced the greatest act of love we can ever perform for people is to tell them about God’s love for them in Christ.
The Lord Jesus loves us with all His heart. He desires that we love Him with all our heart; and until we do, we will never know the sweetness of His love for us. We will have some faint concept but that is all. With how many people do we share the secrets of our heart and with whom do we share them? We will be intimate with the person we know loves us, the person we know is committed to us, the person who has given himself or herself to us, and with none besides. It is so with our Lord. There must be response of love to love.
Jesus opened His heart to those who might never love Him back, because He wasn’t loving to get something in return. He was loving them for them.
It is easy to find fault, to despair at all that is wrong in the world or the church, and do nothing. The fact is all people are flawed, all churches have issues and entire cities, even nations, can backslide. The goal for us is not whether we can see what is wrong – that’s important, but it’s not the goal. Our objective is to look squarely in the face of what is wrong and persevere in love and prayer until that which is wrong is redeemed and made right.
Affliction is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives.
Love is sacrificial in its actions and intents. It stands up to injustice, unrighteousness, and oppression regardless of the personal or professional costs to us. I would argue that sacrifice is the most difficult facet of winsome love. Silence is often a tempting alternative to engagement in this age, when the slightest misstep can unleash a disproportionate quality and quantity of outrage. But when we choose sacrificial love, we move from nice words to concrete actions. Sometimes, as we will see, such love requires that we pay a heavy price.
Love leans in first. It listens long enough to understand why. It hears what a person fought through to get to where they are. It listens until it can hear with empathy.
If only the beautiful Gospel of love could spread as quickly and be accepted as easily as a conspiracy theory on Facebook.
We can be a part of God’s rescue mission to heal the land and its people. Indeed, as we serve our communities in love, we heal our own minds. Love is the most powerful healing force. True love is not only a miracle but also creates miracles—true love has a “pay it forward” snowball effect. It is the key to a life of happiness, health, and peace for everyone and everything.