Wednesday’s Word
by Dorette Saunders
Do you remember when people used to write letters? Love letters? If the truth be told, there is something about pouring out your heart on paper for someone else to read. If you have your own stash of such letters hidden in your basement or at your parents’ house, you’ll understand how absolutely priceless this is.
Perhaps you’ll say that you don’t subscribe to love letters—but if you think carefully about it, you do. Do you realize that the Bible is God’s love letter to us? Book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. While some may classify the Bible as a rule book, we can equally view it as a love letter from God to guide us over treacherous paths while we live in this world. It’s precisely because God loves us that he doesn’t want us to make missteps.
Think about your love relationships. You navigate each one knowing what the other person likes and expects through conversations and spending quality time with them. The same is true for God. God has recorded his conversations for us in the Bible, telling us what he likes and what he expects from us.
God expects us to have conversations with him and to spend quality time in his presence. In turn, he tells us on every page of his Word just how much he loves us. God also shows us what we must avoid if we are to live a life of victory.
But that’s not all. When we, with rebellious hearts, refuse to believe him, God sent Jesus to tell us of his love for us. God sent Jesus to remind us, to prove it, by writing the letter with his own blood!
Here are some lines taken from the love letters:
The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”
(Jeremiah 31:3, NIV)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
(John 3:16, 17, NIV)
“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
(Romans 5:8, NIV)
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
(John 15:11, NIV)
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”
(1 John 3:16-18, NIV)
Are you willing to read more of the letters? First, pray and ask God to unlock more of his loving words to you so that you may know without a doubt that God loves you, and that his letters were written with you in mind.
Remember, God shares his heart in the Bible by giving you his most precious possession—his Son. How will you respond?
PRAYER: Loving God, write your letter on the door of our hearts. Seal it with your gracious love. Help us to honor and worship you in loving obedience. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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