Sunday 17 Feb 2019

February 17: Jeremiah 31:3

Key Verse: Jeremiah 31:3
The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”

Devotion:
We don’t have to look too deeply in the Old Testament to find places where God reminds us of His everlasting love, albeit something we do need to be reminded of because of our tendency to forget! When God expresses His love to us, He does not say “I love you here and now and may not love you tomorrow if we don’t get on” but simply say “I love you, always”. If we were able to do this to the people around us we would be able to move forward in our lives with a new vigour!

God’s love for us does not start when we drop down on our knees and pray to Him and it certainly will not stop when we do something wrong in front of Him. If any of that were true, then we would have a God that changes! We know He is our Living God “with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning” (James 1:17) so when He tells us He loves us, we know He has loved us from the beginning and will do so to the end – not the end of our lives but the end of time! His love is not hidden under a stone but is shown to us openly and totally too. His demonstration for His love to us by giving His life for us is something we need to take note of and not treat like a piece of history.

When we express our love to others, we often attach strings or requirements before we do. God does not. Our love for others may well wane when we are faced by adversity or by wrong behaviour, God’s love does not wane. When we get upset by others, we take action against them which brings into question our love for them. When we do things against God, He does not turn His back on us; He may well allow us to walk off into the distance, but He will always remind us He is still there and still loves us no matter what we do.

Because God continues to show and express His love for us, we need to hold onto that truth and grasp it with all our strength; allow His love to draw us in and strengthen us and shower us with peace and comfort. His love is nothing to be hidden but is everything to be displayed and shown to others too – because it is a love without question.

Points to Ponder:
How easily do you say “I love you”?

Do you realise just how much God loves you?