The enemies of Christ are triumphant, Christianity is a failure, they say, and the church of God herself looks on in pain at the shortcomings in her midst. But lo, at length from the very heart of the shadows appears the majestic figure of Jesus, his countenance is as the sun shineth in his strength, around those wounds in brow and side and hands and feet—those wounds which shelter countless thousands of broken hearts—are healing rays.
~Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
“At that time, declares the Lord, I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they shall be my people.” Thus says the Lord: “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness; when Israel sought for rest, the Lord appeared to him from far away. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin Israel!
~ Jeremiah 31:3-4
Oh beloved! It’s true!
Read it again…. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
This Love note is written to Israel, the people into which the apostle Paul says we (ALL the rest of us gentiles) have been grafted. We are part of a family that has not just received a heaping portion of love from a loving god. NO, this One, this Glorious Maker and Consuming Fire, this Love that Made the worlds – Has ALWAYS Loved us. And He always will.
Not ever has He not Loved you.
And the verses later in the same chapter foretold what Has already happened through the birth, life, death and resurrection to Life of our Life, Jesus.
~ Jeremiah 31:31,33-34
Feelings are irrelevant here beloved. Well, actually they are not. We gotta grab a hold of this truth down in our gut. We gotta feel it like our lives just won’t be any good unless we get this truth down.
We gotta believe what G_d says about us.
We gotta believe who G_d says we are.
We gotta bet the entire farm of our life on the truth that this truth is true. And when we do, an amazing thing happens. We actually begin to look like who He says we are. We begin to rest in His Love. The creeping fear of our former life ebbs away in some glorious drainage of the old – replaced ever by a filling of the new.
And as the Love of Him fills us, as the fear fades – a joy unspeakable overtakes our lives. Then, this joy in Him yields a potent (dare we say infinite) strength to walk confidently in this new loving relationship with the One who has ever Loved us.
This Love is the superstructure of His grace in our lives. His is a Love that drives out fear; that brings joy; that yields incredible strength.
No wonder the evil one would have us believe that G_d’s Love is something that must be bought with good works. We somehow know, deep inside that it is impossible to ever buy anything this valuable. We somehow know, that no matter how hard we try – there is just no way. And the temptation is to just give up and fall into despair. Well, friends. If you have despaired of any way you can get this Love on your own, this is the exact right place to be. Because it is here that the Love that has always been there can go to work.
When we are done, He is our beginning.
Beloved, this is very good news!
