Yesterday, the preacher spoke from the book of Jude. Included in the reading was a verse that my parents shared with Robert and I, as we began our married life.
It was a great reminder to me of what matters most in our lives.
Keeping God's love central.
It's what should unite every married couple, who loves the Lord. God's love for us, and our love for God.
If love is central, everything else will work itself out. There is a reason why Jesus told us that love is the most important thing. It's because, well, it IS!!!
Loving each other as God loves us - sacrificially, totally, unselfishly, gently, passionately, intensely, entirely. If we are immersed in God, and His love, our desire TO love will be far greater and more evident. It will exude from every part of our being, if we constantly keep His love for us, foremost in our minds.
Do you see, though, the verb here?
KEEP.
Love, like anything else that is worth having, requires EFFORT. It will not do to just "feel" love, at the beginning of a marriage, and then hope it lingers without any work. We need to KEEP God, and His love for us, central in our lives. We need to make the effort to soak up God's Word daily. To commune with Him. To experience His love for us, by having a relationship with Him. To remember His words and His teaching when things are not going well. To keep His love as the binding force when things are shaky. To keep His love in our hearts and minds on days when everything is making us feel like we are drowning in life.
When things are a struggle in our marriage, KEEP in God's love.
When days are draining, KEEP in God's love.
When emotions are overwhelming, KEEP in God's love.
When circumstances are demanding, KEEP in God's love.
Don't let your love for your husband be an empty word. Meaningless. Just a "motion".
Show it. Demonstrate it. Express it.
Do you go the extra mile in letting your husband know you love him more every day? Do you make sure that, regardless of whether you feel it back, he knows YOU love HIM? Doing things he will love, in little ways as well as big ways?
Do you tell each other that you love each other? And mean it? Seal it with a kiss? Are your children used to seeing you express your love? How will they learn to love, if they don't have you demonstrating it to them??
How about your family and friends? Do you show the love of God to them? Work at relationships so that love is central? Care for them, and have an attitude and act of generosity and kindness to them?
KEEP yourselves in the love of God.
Every day.
Every hour.
Every moment.
Every word.
Every action.
Every thought.
How I fall short. How much I need to do to KEEP myself in God's love.
May God give us grace as we daily seek to KEEP.
"Keep yourselves in the love of God"
Jude verse 22
It was a great reminder to me of what matters most in our lives.
Keeping God's love central.
It's what should unite every married couple, who loves the Lord. God's love for us, and our love for God.
If love is central, everything else will work itself out. There is a reason why Jesus told us that love is the most important thing. It's because, well, it IS!!!
Loving each other as God loves us - sacrificially, totally, unselfishly, gently, passionately, intensely, entirely. If we are immersed in God, and His love, our desire TO love will be far greater and more evident. It will exude from every part of our being, if we constantly keep His love for us, foremost in our minds.
Do you see, though, the verb here?
KEEP.
Love, like anything else that is worth having, requires EFFORT. It will not do to just "feel" love, at the beginning of a marriage, and then hope it lingers without any work. We need to KEEP God, and His love for us, central in our lives. We need to make the effort to soak up God's Word daily. To commune with Him. To experience His love for us, by having a relationship with Him. To remember His words and His teaching when things are not going well. To keep His love as the binding force when things are shaky. To keep His love in our hearts and minds on days when everything is making us feel like we are drowning in life.
When things are a struggle in our marriage, KEEP in God's love.
When days are draining, KEEP in God's love.
When emotions are overwhelming, KEEP in God's love.
When circumstances are demanding, KEEP in God's love.
Don't let your love for your husband be an empty word. Meaningless. Just a "motion".
Show it. Demonstrate it. Express it.
Do you go the extra mile in letting your husband know you love him more every day? Do you make sure that, regardless of whether you feel it back, he knows YOU love HIM? Doing things he will love, in little ways as well as big ways?
Do you tell each other that you love each other? And mean it? Seal it with a kiss? Are your children used to seeing you express your love? How will they learn to love, if they don't have you demonstrating it to them??
How about your family and friends? Do you show the love of God to them? Work at relationships so that love is central? Care for them, and have an attitude and act of generosity and kindness to them?
KEEP yourselves in the love of God.
Every day.
Every hour.
Every moment.
Every word.
Every action.
Every thought.
How I fall short. How much I need to do to KEEP myself in God's love.
May God give us grace as we daily seek to KEEP.
What a perfect thought this is for Valentine's Day and all year.
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