Understanding Love

Many people simply can’t believe that the Lord loves them. Others think He does, but only when they perform to some imaginary standard of excellence. Why is it so hard for some of us to accept His unconditional love? One reason is that we have a hard time loving other people without restrictions. The way we show care and acceptance can be shaded by self-interest. Or it might ebb and flow, depending upon the other person’s behavior. The fact that human love can…

This is a love story, dear friends. God is love, the apostle John tells us, and then he says it again so that we don’t forget, “God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God” (1 John 4:16). Love is the single most defining quality of his character and his life. God is a passionate, and jealous, lover. (Is there really any other kind?) Out of his love he creates us for love. “We love, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). The…

If then you are wise, you will show yourself rather as a reservoir than as a canal. A canal spreads abroad water as it receives it, but a reservoir waits until it is filled before overflowing, and thus without loss to itself [it shares] its superabundant water. (Bernard of Clairvaux) A beautiful picture. The canal runs dry so quickly, shortly after the rains subside. Like a dry streambed in the desert. But a reservoir is a vast and deep reserve of life. We are called to…

Do we expect God to come to us with His blessings and save us? He says, “Look to Me, and be saved….” The greatest difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and His blessings are what make it so difficult. Troubles almost always make us look to God, but His blessings tend to divert our attention elsewhere. The basic lesson of the Sermon on the Mount is to narrow all your interests until your mind, heart, and body are focused on Jesus Christ. &ldquo…

A few days ago I'm driving along one of my favorite back roads, alongside a creek, on my way to work out. I notice a school bus approaching at about two miles per hour, without its warning lights on. The driver in front of me is clearly perplexed and brakes, and I see a line of six cars behind the bus. Finally, I see the cause: About 20 wild turkeys are meandering along on both sides of the road, eventually crossing from my left to my right. Turkeys cross only in…

In times of urgent need, our prayers become fervent and our desire for a quick answer intensifies. It seems that if the Lord doesn’t intervene soon, the very thing we dread could happen. And without a detectable response from God, we may feel as if He doesn’t care—even though Scripture assures us He does (1 Pet. 5:7). This may have been the way Mary and Martha felt after asking Jesus to come and heal Lazarus. They knew that the Lord loved them, but when He didn&rsquo…

What is it that God wants from you? He wants the same thing that you want. He wants to be loved. He wants to be known as only lovers can know each other. He wants intimacy with you. Yes, yes, he wants your obedience, but only when it flows out of a heart filled with love for him. “Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me” (John 14:21). Following hard after Jesus is the heart’s natural response when it has been captured and has…

Two stately stone lions watch over the entrance to the New York Public Library. Hewn from marble, they’ve stood there proudly since the library’s dedication in 1911. They were first nicknamed Leo Lenox and Leo Astor to honor the library’s founders. But during the Great Depression, New York’s Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia renamed them Fortitude and Patience, virtues he thought New Yorkers should demonstrate in those challenging years. The lions are still…

Living in this fallen world can make us question God’s goodness. We might wonder why He doesn’t always fix our problems and give us what we want. For example, when Eve listened to the serpent’s lies, she began to doubt that the Lord had made the right choice in forbidding her to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Why would He deprive her of wisdom and the enjoyment of such desirable food? Our thoughts are similar to Eve’s when we don&rsquo…