October 6
God loves, for "...God is love..." I John 4:16. Because He cannot deny Himself, His love for errant mankind will never fail (I Corinthians 13:8). Man’s frail imitation of love may be disappointing to those who depend upon it, who trust in it; for apart from God who is the Author of love and the ultimate Giver of love, love is merely, “sounding brass and tinkling cymbals,” I Corinthians 13:1.
Love, separated from the One who gives it sweetness and beauty and purity and hope and joy is merely a disappointment, an utterly clanging annoyance. Protestations of love from insincere lips are distractions at best and intimidations at worst, for the one who hasn’t got Christ as the source of his emotion rests his feelings upon uncertain incentives.
But anyone who has embraced Jesus to his heart; anyone who has allowed the love of the Holy One to pervade his being through the salvation process has awakened in himself the love of the ages, has opened himself to the great mother lode of the most refreshing and glorious emotion that exists! Such a one may then claim as his own the God who says, “I love those who love Me and those who seek Me shall find Me,” Proverbs 8:18.
The man who receives the love of God as expressed through Christ Jesus and His incomparable sacrifice of love can then understand the words of Jeremiah 31:3 which say, “From far away the Lord appeared to His people and said, “I love you with a love that will last forever so I continue to show you kindness.” Trials may come, disappointments may overtake the believer, but through all the challenges of life, he will know the power of God’s kindness and love that cannot fail.
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