Real Love

Prayer – Lord God, thank you for revealing Yourself to me as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I believe in You—and am grateful for Your love and that we have a relationship. Please allow my love to grow more perfect—but most importantly right now, please be merciful to those in Israel—especially the Christians. You’ve loved the world—but the Jews are Your chosen people. My heart breaks for them as so many are wounded in this war…or have lost loved one. Lord, have mercy. 

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 (various translations)

 

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. ... And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. 1 John 4:9-10, 17

 

Meditate. Consider God’s love.

 

How do you tell others about Jesus?

 

A lover of seafood...and the Lord.
Our heavenly friend - Florence

Saturday, we went to a memorial service for a dear Christian lady—my daughter-in-law’s grandmother, Florence. She was an amazing lady and a great evangelist who never knew a stranger. When she met someone, she’d introduce herself, and ask, “Do you know Jesus?” “Let me tell you what He did for you and for me.” Then she would acquaint that person with her Lord and Savior. We should all be so bold—so friendly—so forthcoming with the truth. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. God doesn’t want anyone to perish—and neither did Florence! She had a marvelous sense of humor—and that would draw these new “stranger” friends into her realm of life. She was loved and deeply respected by all of her family, her friends, which included so many people in her church, and her Bible Study Fellowship group. Her greatest joy was helping others make a new friend in Jesus. That was a blessed assurance.

 

Her pastor gave a sermon using these verses above, which were some of Florence’s favorites. It is amazing how those verses tied together. God is love (1 John 4:7-8) and His love is evident in His willingness to allow His one and only Son, Jesus, who was sinless, to be sacrificed on a cross—for the sins of all mankind around the world and through all time. That is a lot of love, but God wants to have a relationship with each of us. There is a catch though…only ones who are pure and holy may be in the presence of the Almighty God. That’s what the sacrifice that Jesus made is all about. Blood must be shed to purify us from sin. As we repent of our sin, Jesus’ blood purifies us. That is what Jesus did for us so long ago on that Roman cross outside Jerusalem.

 

Florence…and I…would ask you, “what is Jesus doing in your life right now?” That is an important question. Not what Jesus did for you ten or twenty years ago…but in the last month, week…and today. I’ve had to be honest with God and myself about this lately. Like so many people during CIVOD, I’ve struggled with bouts of anxiety. Jesus told us not to be anxious—but to cast all our cares on Him. Lately I’ve been breathing more deeply and with each breath, I can relax in the Lord. That is my “casting my cares” on Him. That is what Jesus is doing for me now…that and giving me the words to write in this blog! The writing adventure with Him—actually with the Holy Spirit—has been a thought-provoking journey for more than eleven years. I’m always amazed to see what God helps me to say.

 

So, what is God doing in your life? Can you tell someone about it? That might actually be an evangelistic message to someone. With conditions in the world today—it might just be the encouragement that someone needs to help them make the decision to choose Jesus as their Savior.

 

Verse of Salvation ~ (In Samaria, when Jesus spoke to the woman at the well.) Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world." John 4:42

 

© 2023 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved. 

All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted. 

New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. 

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm. 

 

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