“May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love…” 2 Thessalonians 3:5
Keep yourselves in the love of God..”Jude 21
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” John 15:9
Often essential truths about the love of God get pushed aside as introductory matter. We take a few bites and then advance on to more important things. Unfortunately, this approach makes us anemic, burned out and eventually unable to carry the weight of those “more important things.”
We need to experience the rich revelation of the love of God frequently. If we don’t partake of this glorious truth, we simply won’t thrive. Even as a baby who lacks touch and emotional engagement will decline, so will we if we don’t regularly enjoy the nourishment of His love.
God, who Himself is love, created us in His likeness. He Himself lives in an eternal, affectionate relationship within the Trinity. And as unbelievable as it might sound, we were created to experience and enjoy Their relationship and be part of Their intimate circle of love. Take a minute and bask in this quote from The Trinity: Living in the Relationship at the Centre of the Universe, by Darrell Johnson
“At the center of the universe is intimacy. a deep abiding tender, affectionate belonging. And Jesus tells us that it is for that intimacy we were created and redeemed. As he prays to the Father, ‘I in you, you in me and they in us.’ All our longing is longing for this intimacy. All our hungers are finally hunger for this. Intimacy himself draws near to us so that he can draw us within his intimacy.”
This is why Jesus came that night in Bethlehem, that is why He died and rose from the dead. And why He has given us His Spirit within, and led the way to the Father. Now we too can live with Him in this privileged place of intimacy. (John 14:20 and John 1:18, Eph 2:6)
When we genuinely experience this intimate love, we stop looking to fill ourselves with other things to appease the gnawing hunger inside. Being deeply loved also enables us to love Him, others and ourselves. We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19
My encouragement to myself and to you is to take time frequently to let Intimacy Himself direct and draw your heart into God’s love. May we become in practice what we already are in reality: Beloved. Listen to Him say, “Let go of all the things you think you need to do to get to me. We are already one. Receive my love, remain in it— bask in it, feast on it, savor it. Delight in Me as I delight over you. You are my beloved child.”
“Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvelous love that He has lavished on us! He has called us and made us His very own beloved children.”
1 John 3:1
Cathy
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