Love That Will Not Let Me Go

Posted on February 19, 2012 by Rebecca

Valentines Day has come and gone.

Relationships are formed and relationships are broken.

The concept of love in our culture is a sorry tangle of conflicting messages and images.

And yet, the love that holds me close is the same today as it was yesterday and will be forever. Every day, the One who wooed my heart reminds me again how much He cares for me. The longer I know Him, the more I realize how much there is to learn and it thrills my heart to think I have an eternity to do so.

“And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD” (Hosea 2:19-20)

Sweeter than the most fragrant flowers or creamiest chocolate is the love Jesus has poured into my heart. Precious because it is much more valuable than I will ever know. Undeserved, unearned, and yet given freely.

When the storms of life knock me about, when way ahead is hazy and unclear, this one thing I know: “Neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39)

To know this is true, complete joy.

Lord, I do not want to be merely satisfied by Your love. I want to be enlivened, transformed, and overflowing. My feeble affection is a small droplet beside Your vast ocean, and yet I pray that would be all Yours.

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

>This is Love

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Rebecca

Not that we have loved God.

But that He loved us.

And sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins.

I like to think of Valentines Day as a fun excuse to wear pink, eat chocolate, and read John Donne sonnets. Well, I do those things anyway, but once a year there is a day when they are validated in the name of love.

I like to think of love as a warm fuzzy feeling full of brightly-colored flowers and sentimental music. I throw the word around as a temporary assignment of affection — I love snow, but not when it brings toe-numbing temperatures that last for weeks; I love shopping, but not when I see my balance at the bank; I love to bake, but not when all three batches of cookies burn. And almost always I love pink, chocolate, and John Donne, except for maybe the day after Valentines.

I’ve trivialized love so much. It is so much more than the superficial romantic glitter that our culture generously sprinkles on mere shadows. It is more than a feeling; it is life-transforming. It is more than an earthly relationship; it is a heavenly marriage.

This is love: that God loved me! HE loved me. He LOVED me. He loved ME! And because He loved me, He sent His Son to sacrifice His very own, holy life so I might have a relationship with Him.

True love! The fulfillment that every heart longs for is found in the redeeming love of the Cross and the eternal love of the resurrected Christ. His love enters into the unglittered, unromantic, nitty gritty crevices of my heart. When I am lonely, He is always present with His steadfast promises. When I am weak, His strength under girds me. When I am fearful, His peace surpasses all my understanding. When I am discouraged, He reminds me to hope in His plan.

“And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord” (Hosea 2:19.20)

No John Donne sonnet can compare.

This Valentines Day and onward, may we strive ever more to have our hearts intertwined with that of our heavenly Bridegroom. May we allow the reality of being loved by Him transform our minds, and shape our desires, and direct our actions. And may we go with eager purpose to people who only know the fleeting shadow and bring the real thing.

“Beloved, God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:11,12).

Count not the value of love by candy wrappers. Dive into the matchless, endless love of Jesus and there be satisfied. Today and always.

*Picture by Jenny

>Rethinking Valentines Day

Posted on February 13, 2010 by Rebecca

>When I was a little girl, Valentine’s Day was the equivalent of chocolate — dark chocolate, milk chocolate, chocolate covered everyting, more-than-I-could-eat-but-would-eat-anyway kind of goodness. As I grew, Valentine’s Day meant slipping dozens of paper But, although I loved the chocolaty, doilied aspects of Valentines Day, I always felt as though I wasn’t and couldn’t celebrate the holiday in its truest sense. Valentines Day was for married people and until then, I couldn’t understand what it was really all about.

Well, I’m over that now. I’ve come to the opinion that married people do not indeed hold a monopoly on the Day of Love. How can they when I am in the most meaningful relationship possible? I am betrothed to a Bridegroom in whom is found complete and perfect love — far above that of any human being. There is nothing magical in February 14 of course, but this year it is a reminder to me renew my vows to the Lover of my soul — my Prince, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Instead of focusing on what may not be humanely mine this Valentines Day, this is what I’ll be meditating on:

Fixing my affections on my Bridegroom.
So many distractions keep me from fixing my heart on Jesus. So much more than candy hearts and red roses rival for my affections and seek my attention. But what are those frills and fancies, those desired pleasures of this earth, to the everlasting love Christ offers me? His love is like no human’s. It never fades. It is not here on February day and gone the next because the love that endured Calvary cannot weary.”The Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (Jeremiah 31:3). In light of that, how can we allow other things, or other people, to claim our minds and hearts that Christ gave His life to ransom?

Living as His Bride.
I am my Beloved’s and my Beloved’s mine. I belong Him. He has ransomed me, rescued me and given me His name and inheritance. He has led me “with cords of kindness” and bound me “with the bands of love” (Hosea 11:4). Now His love calls me to be devoted to Him with my whole heart. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). I can demonstrate my devotion by consecrating my life and all that I have and am and will be to Him. Wherever I go, I can shine forth His glory. To whoever I meet, I can be the reality of His love. I wear the badge of my Beloved; being His Bride defines who I am.

Delighting myself in the Lord.

“Delight yourself in the Lord , and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). To truly delight in someone is to hold nothing back and let no fear hinder us from pouring ourselves into that person. To know true fulfillment is to open my heart – with all of its deepest desires – wide to Christ and let Him in. It is look to Him, surrendering my will to Him, and allowing Him to shape my life according to His desires. Delight is pouring myself as a love offering at His feet and watching how He more than abundantly fills me with Himself. “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:20,21).

People in love find each other to be the consuming thought around which their life revolved. It should be the same way with Christ. We should be occupied in knowing our Prince because the more we know of His character and His ways, the more We can love Him. Everyday, our goal should be “to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge,” (Ephesians 3:19).

Cherishing the words of my Beloved. When others are receiving sentimental verses of affection, I will read the love letter that Christ has written to me. I’ll read it to affirm the fact that I am precious in His sight and that my love for Him is not in vain. I’ll read it to know Him more and to treasure Him more. I’ll memorize His words and engrave them on my hearts and let the knowledge that I am loved penetrate every aspect of my life.

Dear sisters, all the time — Valentines Day and every day — remember that Christ is waiting for His Bride. “A sound! My beloved is knocking. ‘Open to me, my sister, my love,’” (Songs 5:2). After we’ve been redeemed, this life is a walk down the aisle to an eternity with our Bridegroom. It may be a solitary walk, but it is never a lonely one because His love sustains us. “You have said, ‘Seek my face.’ My heart says to you, ‘Your face, Lord , do I seek’” (Psalm 27:8). One day we will behold Him face to face and live in perfect unbroken fellowship. For all of eternity, we will enjoy His overwhelming, all sustaining, most fulfilling love.

Our wedding awaits and the thought of it should will us with joyous anticipation.

The Bride eyes not her garment, but her dear Bridegroom’s face;

I will not gaze at glory but on my King of grace.

Not at the crown He giveth, but on His pierced hand;

The Lamb is all the glory in Immanuel’s land.

It’s a love worth celebrating.

>Reflections on Valentines Day

Posted on February 14, 2009 by Rebecca

>Today I received a love letter. It contains repeated affirmations of my Beloved’s great love for me. He asks me to return His love and promises that nothing will ever separate us. In this letter, my Beloved tells me all that He has done for me and all that He is going to do, all because He loves me. In fact, He tells me that He has loved me before I even knew Him. It is a very special letter. It is so special that I can read it every single day and never tire of it.

Today I told my Beloved again that I love Him because He first loved me. And today, I want to show my Beloved just how great my love is. I will live so that He knows. I will delight in doing what gives Him pleasure; to serve Him will be my greatest joy. I will run to Him when I am rejoicing, I will hide in Him when I am mourning. He will have first place in my heart. Because He has given His life for me, I will give my life to Him.And every day I will read my letter to learn of my Beloved and be reminded of His great love for me.

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins. ~1 John 4:9,10

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. ~ 1 John 3:1

And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. ~ Ephesians
5:2

>Is Love a Fancy or a Feeling?

Posted on February 5, 2009 by Rebecca

Actually, it’s neither.

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

John 15:13

Our culture gives us so many images of perfect “love” but true love consists of so much more than romantic candlelight dinners. It is sacrifice, faithfulness, patience, and sometimes even denying the “feelings” of the heart.

I was so happy to hear that Sherwood Pictures, the makers of two of my favorite movies, Facing the Giants and Flywheel was making a movie about marriage. And it went way above and beyond all my expectations. This movie blew me away with the power of its message that marriage is forever and the moving storyline of one man who wins back his wife’s heart.

Although the story is about marriage, Fireproof is absolutely applicable to young people, who can learn now what a Godly marriage looks like. Unashamedly Christian, Fireproof overflows with Biblical truths concerning God’s purpose and desires for marriage. In the midst of the distorted perceptions that of love and marriage that Hollywood usually offers, here is a beacon of the truth. Also present is Sherwood’s classic humor which never fails to make me laugh!

Watch the trailer. If you are able, watch the whole movie this Valetines Day. Have a box of tissues handy and prepare to remember what true love is.

http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/_widget/widget_sm.swf

>Growing in Grace

Posted on February 3, 2009 by Rebecca

>Jenny gave a wonderfully thought-provoking introductory lesson on Love at our Bright Lights meeting Friday night. She included this quote by Martin Luther that I thought was most insightful:

“Faith, like light, should always be simple and unbending; while love, like warmth, should beam forth on every side, and bend to every necessity of our brethren.”

You can read the lesson here.

Category Archives: Valentines Day