First & Forever Love

Hi friends! I hope everyone is having a lovely week. I posted on my encouragement remind a few days ago on Valentine's day about how Jesus is our first and forever love. I wanted to make a blog post about this topic in order to expand further on the subject. With this being said, the Lord has been teaching me much about the depths and the riches of His endless love.

1 John 4:7–12

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if 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.

I love this passage so much! Let be the first to admit, with Valentines day I can easily get caught up in the allure of all the pink things, flowers, hearts, chocolate (of course), and more. All of these things are not in any way innately bad, and they are actually good things, but I think it is incredibly important to celebrate and remember the greatest love that never changes, Jesus Christ. As imperfect humans, we can so easily get caught up in worldly things (though they might be good things) and forget about the love that truly matters, Jesus. As mentioned in the passage above, we are called to love others because we love God. What if we viewed everyday as a chance to love God all the more so that out of the overflow of our relationship with Him are we truly able to love His beloved people all the more?

Valentine's day really made me think this year about my loves, so to speak. What are the things or people in your life that hold your deepest affections and loves? It is so important that we evaluate where our affirmations are being casted. Is it on Jesus? School? A job? A relationship? Jesus is WORTHY of the first place in our lives. He is WORTHY of being our first and forever love.

With all this being said, on Valentine's Day there is a nation-wide celebration of love. Couples come together to celebrate their relationship, friends come together to celebrate their friendship, families come together to celebrate their familial love. Pondering this made me think why don't we more often celebrate the love of God like this? What if treated everyday like Valentine's Day, but for God? What if we became people that eagerly anticipate the moment when we get to spend intimate time with Him in His Word? Where we await the moment where we can dwell in the stillness of His presence and simply be with Him? Where we lovingly look for affirmations of His love in His creation? Where we thank Him with gratitude all throughout the day? Where we invite Him into every moment because we are desperate to be in His presence? Oh what great love we have found in Jesus! Everyday is a reason to celebrate the unfathomable and steadfast love of God.

Not only this, but also, GOD IS LOVE!!!!! How cool is it that the Lord is literally love. To know Him truly is to love Him. The Father is the perfect picture of what love looks like. We are called to love like Jesus. With this acknowledgement that He is love comes the responsibility to love others. I encourage you my friend to seek to love deeper. There is always more of God to fall deeper in love with. As you fall deeper in love with Him, you naturally love people deeper too. His desires become your desires. As you love Him more, you become more like Him through the process of sanctification.

So, I encourage you to treat every day like it's Valentines Day for God. Celebrate His love! Fall deeper in love with Him! Love those around you all the more!

He is the true lover of your soul.

Your beloved.

Your first and forever love!