Abide in His Love

As with each Valentine’s Day, most of us usually spend a little more time thinking about love.  Our love for others. Their love for us. We recount our love and devotion to others through cards and gifts. 

However, all human love pales in comparison to the greatest Love of all. The One Who is Love.

We might receive or give flowers and chocolate.  We might demonstrate our devotion through hugs and kisses.  But there is One Who gave His very life’s blood for us. There is One Who demonstrated His love by dying on a crude wooden cross. This One is Love.

Today, of all days, is the day to spend some extra time meditating on God’s love.  On what He has done for us.  On His surpassing greatness and faithfulness to us, His unworthy servants.  Let us abide in His love.  Jesus said,

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love” (John 15:9).

Our Savior’s love for us surpasses all greatness!  Jeremiah 31:3 reminds us,

“The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:
“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;
Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.”

He loves us with an everlasting love!  He has drawn us with His lovingkindness.  And now He has invited us to feast on His love. To abide in His compassion.

God’s love is beyond comprehension.  And it is our desire “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-19).  We haven’t even scratched the surface of His great love for us.  Yet we are invited to dive deep into the rich oceans of His lovingkindness.  We have been summoned to abide in His love.

We can abide in His love by meditating on the Scriptures that exemplify His amazing sacrifice for us.  In the Scriptures, God reveals His heart of mercy and lovingkindness, and when we dive into its pages, we too can catch a glimpse of the majesty of His love.  His heart is for us.  He loves us.  He longs for us.  And we can behold that glorious truth through the Word of God.

There is so much of God’s character that is hidden beneath the surface of the Scriptures.  To uncover the veiled truths, we must truly meditate on the Scriptures.  In the words of John Chrysostom, “To get the full flavor of an herb, it must be pressed between the fingers, so it is the same with the Scriptures; the more familiar they become, the more they reveal their hidden treasures and yield their indescribable riches.”  I invite you today to bask in His love. To meditate on His love.  To abide in His love.

And, as His love takes first place in our heart, as we are filled with the knowledge of what He has done for us, that love bubbles forth from our soul.  We are filled to overflowing and just can’t keep it in.  And so as a result of God’s love for us, we demonstrate love for God.  As 1 John 4:19 says, “We love Him because He first loved us.”  It is His love that prompts our love in return.  As a result, the more we know of His love for us, the more we love Him in return. This isn’t really a concept that can be explained, so I encourage you to try it for yourself. Then you will truly understand.

So today, and every day, take some time to abide in His love.  “Feed on His faithfulness” (Psalm 37:3).  Taste His goodness (Psalm 34:8).