December 29-Love Letters

Happy Friday and I hope you have had a great week. Yesterday while I was cleaning out, throwing away, and re-boxing, I found love letters from Bob Hudson to Pam Smith from the spring of 1977 (13 cent stamps!) Obviously, I read them all again and couldn’t help but laugh over the 19 & 21 year-old kids so crazy in love. In every one, he says “I love you” or Have I told you lately that I love you?” about 5 times. And of course at that point, we had no idea how much love it would take to actually get through life. 


Stumbling across those letters made me think what it must have been like for the people who first found the written scriptures—like the Dead Sea Scrolls. How exciting it must have been to first discover what they were—Gods love letters to us. 

I’ve heard it said that love isn’t something you find, love is something that finds you and that’s the prevailing message throughout God’s love letter to us. In the Old Testament, God chose a people (Israel) to be the object of His affection so that He could display His splendor and glory through them, but they didn’t always reciprocate that love. Yet God continued to show His faithfulness to them despite all of their rebellion. He pursued them even when they didn’t want to be pursued.

Scripture reminds us that we love because God loved us first. “We love each other because he loved us first.”

‭‭1 John‬ ‭4:19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Paul was convinced that God proves His love for us even when we are lost in sin (“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” Romans‬ ‭5:8‬ ‭NLT‬‬). There is nothing you could ever do to make God love you less, and there is nothing you could ever do to make God love you more. His love for us is steadfast, unconditional, and unrelenting—it’s the perfect love of the Father. 

Today, read some love letters from God and look for all the ways He tells us He loves us in His Word. It’s perfect and it changes the soul. It’s more to be desired than much fine gold, and sweeter than honey from the comb. 


Love you dear one,

Pam

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

January 17, 2020

Happy Friday. It’s the end of another week and we have had more opportunities to share the love of Christ with those around us and sometimes that takes quite a bit of effort. I don’t know about you, but I’m not always anxious to embrace others and really listen to them or share with them (especially those who I don’t know well). Sometimes, I just look at them and think “Are you for real?” I don’t always agree with people over politics, sports or of course, religion. And let’s face it, we’d rather spend time with people we like and mostly agree.  And then I read my Bible. God hasn’t called us to sit in our little groups with only those we naturally gravitate towards, but to love people—all people, even those who aren’t necessarily loveable. In this passage, Paul writing to the people of Colosse remarks on how wonderful it is that they truly love others. That love must have really been something over and above the normal and he tells them that it is evident that it comes from the Holy Sp
Read more

January 15, 2020

Happy Wednesday to you. I hope your week is going well. Yesterday, I went to Sams. I was out of things like trash bags, toilet paper, and chicken, so off I went. I like going to Sams because there is always lots to look at and the isles are nice and wide. Everytime I’m there, I am amazed at how much stuff and everything from diapers to TVs to mangos to beds. It just seems incredible that so many things in such quantities are all under one roof.  King David never saw a store with as much stuff aa Sams of course, but he did see countless miracles and understand that God has plans. He knew from creation and history that he was serving a God of miracles and he know that God loved him and his people and would take care of them. He was amazed and awe-struck by the fact that a God who had done such great and mighty things not only cared about his people but that He loved them with such a great love.  “Many, Lord my God, are the wonders you have done, the things you planned for us. None can co
Read more

January 9, 2020

It’s Thursday and I woke up to the blowing wind! Lots of it—I’m dreading Boomer waking up and having to go outside with him. That harsh, bitter wind seems cruel and almost evil. But I’ll wrap myself up with a fe layers and boots and brave it all.  Sometimes I think we try to do that with things we know aren’t right—things that are evil. We try to wrap ourselves up and just wade into it, but Paul tells us we should reject it—stay away from it. “Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” ‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5:20-24‬ NIV When he wrote this he’d been in Berea and the Christians there diligently searched the scriptures to make sure everything Paul said was in line. Paul here is encouraging the Thessalonians to
Read more