6 Ways God Shows His Love

How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings. (Psalm 36:7)

How profoundly does God love you? Consider these things.

He created you – I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:14

Your existence, your life, is not an accident. You were specifically planned for and created by God. He designed everything about you from you physical appearance to your personality type, to be just the way he wanted you to be. You are God’s masterpiece.

He created you in his image – So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

Nothing else in all the creation can lay claim to being “like” God or in his image. Not trees or rocks or birds or any other animal. Only people, like you. He made you in his image, in his likeness, so that you can have a personal relationship with him.

He died for you – But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

Just like everyone else on the planet, from infancy you joined in what has been called, the Great Cosmic Rebellion. You have again and again turned your back on God, rejected his rightful rule over you and chose to follow your own sinful choices. Knowing that you would do so, God came to earth, took on humanity and died in your place. He did that so you could be delivered from sin, given life and set free to be in a relationship with him.

He gifted you – Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 1 Corinthians 12:7 Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. 1 Corinthians 14:26

If you are a believer in Jesus, then you have been given gifts of the Holy Spirit. It may gifts of service or mercy or administration or preaching/teaching or knowledge or faith or evangelism or something else. That is, you have a God-given special enabling chosen expressly for you by God so that you can join him in his work of building the church. Think about that for a minute. Don’t take it for granted. The King of Kings of all the universe has especially given you a Holy Spirit powered gift so that you can use that gift alongside him in the work he is doing of building the church – i.e. making disciples. What a privilege and honor that is!

He empowers you – But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

This is a broken world filled with difficulties and problems, many of which are too much for us. We are broken people who cannot, through our own power, overcome the difficulties and problems that face us. But, we can be confident that, if we are a believer in Jesus, he will graciously give us all the power we need to face whatever comes our way.

He meets all your needs – And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19

Whatever needs you have, relationship needs, physical needs, financial needs, spiritual needs, whatever your needs may be, God promises to take care of them for you. It may not be when you want or the way you want. But your needs will be taken care of the way that is best, best for his glory and best for your well-being, in his time and in his way.

Take a few minutes to really ponder these truths. Think deeply about them. The most powerful and amazing Being in all the universe –

·         Created you

·         Made you like himself so that you could have a relationship with him

·         Died for you when you were lost in sin, making a way for you to have eternal life

·         Gifted you so you could join him in his work

·         Empowered you so that you can face any and every difficulty that life throws at you, and

·         Promised to take care of all your needs

Can you see, even a little, how great is God’s love for you? It’s a pretty amazing thing. Let it sink in, let it saturate your soul and your heart. Then let it move you to love him in return, to honor him and worship him and serve him. That’s what life is all about.

What do you think? I'd love to read your comments.

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Top 10 Quotes for May 3 - 10

Every day, on my social media sites, I post quotes I hope will inspire, encourage or otherwise help those who read them.

Based on “likes” from my facebook page, these are the 10 Most Popular Quotes from last week.

Thanks for “voting” with your likes!

10. All great achievements require time. ---Maya Angelou

9.  When someone does something wrong, don’t forget all the things they did right. Be gracious! ---Christine Caine

8. The man who doesn’t read had no advantage over the man who cannot read.  ---Mark Twain

7. A room without books is like a body without a soul.  ---Cicero

6. Sometimes the greatest thing to come out of all your hard work isn’t what you get for it, but what you become of it. ---Steve Maraboli

5. There are only two ways to love your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. ---Albert Einstein

4. He is your friend who pushes you nearer to God.  ---Abraham Kuyper

3. A person who feels appreciated will always do more than what is expected ---Tiffany Evans

2. Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today. ---Clairporium.com

1.  When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.― Henri J.M. Nouwen,

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Jesus, The Leper and The Touch of Love

What’s the one thing you want more than anything else? Fame? Fortune? A great tennis backhand? For most people, what they want more than anything else is to feel loved and wanted.

It is something that I longed for all of my life. But for most of my life the longing was never totally fulfilled. Then one day I read a story about Jesus that caused everything to change for me. It was a story that I had read many times before, but this time something about it penetrated deep into my heart and soul in a way it never had before. Which story? The story of Jesus cleansing the leper in Mark chapter 1.

And a leper came to him, imploring him, and kneeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean (Mark 1:40-42).

That time that I read this story I was at one of the lowest points of my life. I was feeling acutely aware of my sin, aware of how I had let down people who loved me and depended on me, aware of how far short I’d fallen from the life of righteousness that God requires and deserves from me. I remember feeling like I’d been soaked in filth, like I was covered with open oozing sores.

Then I read that story.

                                                                                                                                                            Leprosy was a terrible, incurable disease. Having it made someone unclean and the law forbid him from contact with other people. Lepers were not allowed to live in towns. They had to live in camps outside the city. If for any reason a leper had to come into town he was required to shout “Unclean! Unclean!” to warn others to stay away. What do you think that did to someone’s self-image?

It was a terrible existence. No one was more unloved and unwanted than were lepers. Imagine going through your life like that. No one loves you, no one wants you. And if ever you happened to come close to someone they would recoil at even the thought of accidentally brushing up against you. Horrible.

That’s how I felt. Not physically. But emotionally and spiritually, I felt a leper. I felt unclean and untouchable.

Then I read this passage. Jesus wasn’t repelled by this man’s leprosy. He wasn’t disgusted. He didn’t turn away from him, as I felt people did with me.

Then I noticed, as if for the first time, what Jesus did. He moved toward the man and he touched him.

Jesus wasn't compelled to touch him in order to heal him. Though he did so many times, Jesus didn’t have to touch people to heal them. All he had to do was say a word and the man would have been cleansed.

Jesus could have said, “Okay, now you just keep your distance over there while I clean you up first.” Jesus could have backpedaled away from him while saying, “be clean” and the man would have been cleansed. But, that’s not what Jesus did. Jesus knew it had been a long time since anyone had come near this man or touched him. Jesus wasn't just interested in healing the man, he wanted to love him.

So the first thing Jesus did was he moved toward him and touched him. Even before he healed him, he touched him.

The moment I read those words something popped open in my heart. I saw that I was the leper. I was covered with oozing sores of sin that caused people to turn away from me. But that didn’t matter to Jesus. He was saying to me, “I am not repelled by you. I love you and I accept you just as you are. You don’t have to change anything for me. I come to you. I embrace you. I love you.”

Jesus loved me just as I was, sin and all. He wanted me. That’s grace. That’s the gospel.

Of course, he didn’t leave me the way I was. Just as Jesus didn’t leave the leper in his leprosy but made him well, Jesus has been making me well ever since. But I have never again, since that day, ever felt like there was no one who loved me and accepted me. I know that whatever else happens, Jesus does.

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You can chose to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings, or by managing preferences in programs such as Norton Internet Security. However, this can affect how you are able to interact with our site as well as other websites. This could include the inability to login to services or programs, such as logging into forums or accounts.