friend, nothing is more important than love…

This morning, here is a word for you from God Himself, creator of the heavens and the Earth… “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.’” (see the Bible, Jeremiah 31:3, NIV) Since the creation of the world, God has never stopped communicating His love to mankind, with His culminating point of doing so on the cross. Love is the very essence of His person, the foundation of all His thoughts and His Word. The Bible overflows with passages where the Lord declares His love to His people, Israel, and to you today. “If I...do not have love, I am nothing.” (see 1 Corinthians 13:2, NIV) Loving God with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength, and loving our neighbors as ourselves...this is what develops us. In fact, the way we love defines even who we are. When we draw continually from His love, we become better able to love Him and especially better love others, even those who are difficult to love.  If God commands us to love, it’s because it’s not natural or automatic. And yet, love can truly change the world...not only the world we live in but also your world in particular. Your world that has been affected by the pandemic in so many ways.  Have you heard of Corrie ten Boom? This woman, who survived the Ravensbrück concentration camp during World War II, demonstrated extraordinary love by publically forgiving one of her former persecutors. Do you think this woman was better than you because she was able to take this step of forgiveness? No! Listen to what she said: “And having thus learned to forgive in this hardest of situations, I never again had difficulty in forgiving: I wish I could say it! I wish I could say that merciful and charitable thoughts just naturally flowed from me from then on. But they didn’t. If there’s one thing I’ve learned at 80 years of age, it’s that I can’t store up good feelings and behavior–but only draw them fresh from God each day.” If you think you’re incapable of loving like God asks you to, but you want to with all your heart, there’s only one thing to do: draw love from its source, God’s heart. That’s what it is to be an ambassador of heaven! One who receives and then gives.  Receive His grace and blessings for you today, friend!