Our Hope: A Love For Every Day

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16 (NKJV)

Love comes to us in many ways, from many different places, and for many different reasons. But no matter where it comes from, if it is good and pure and faithful, then it is truly a gem in our lives. And because there is a love for every day, it should never be assumed that any one day would go by without love showing itself to each and every one of us.

“For God so loved the world … ”  Yes, He did, and He does.  He does not love the worldly world, He loves the souls in the world.  There is a huge disparity between the two meanings.  When we, as Christians, speak of the world, we generally mean either the place itself, or, even more commonly, the evil influence of the powers of darkness who rule this world (Ephesians 6:12).
But in the context of this verse, it means the people who reside in this world.

God’s love is shown every single day to each of us because we are alive, and we breathe and we function.  We have free will to do what we choose to do, to say what we wish, to simply be.  However, even though God shows us His love, we do not always show that love back to Him.  Often it is because we do not know how; quite often it is because we either do not believe, or we do not care one way or another.

“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”  (Deuteronomy 6:5)

The key to recognizing the love of the Father is to love Him back.  He loved us first, as we know, because He created us (1 John 4:19).  He loved us enough to give us life and the future of a heavenly life with Him.  He lulls us to sleep at night with His promise of protection, and He awakens us each morning with His light, whispering kiss, full of the promise of a new day ahead.  God never withholds His love, but when we come to know Him and His ways, then we will see His undeniable love in every area of our existence.

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
(1 Corinthians 13:4-7)

These characteristics of love are also the characteristics of our God.  When we embrace all these expressions and attributes of love each day, then we will know the unquenchable joy in His love for us.  He loves us more than we can even imagine.  And while these words about love are also for us to live out to the best of our abilities, we know we will fail, but God’s love will never fail.

He is Our Hope.  He sent Jesus to this earth to show us what love truly is, and to learn to live it just as Jesus did.  Embrace His love today and each day.  For each day has love in it, and all love comes from Him.

How has God’s love touched your life?  How do you touch His heart with yours?

Blessings!