Love Remembers
By Caron Cline
Burke County
February is designated as the love month. Shortly after Christmas, retailers begin displaying stuffed animals, boxes of candy, sappy cards, and a variety of other items for Valentine’s Day. Tangibly expressing our love for others is honorable and rewarding, yet pales in comparison with God’s expression of love toward His creation.
In the New Testament, ‘agape’, the Greek word translated as ‘love’, is used approximately 115 times. Agape is a selfless, sacrificial love based on choice rather than obligation or desire. Our Heavenly Father loves with an everlasting, gracious love, and continuously remembers our weaknesses and needs. That love compels Him beyond remembrance and onward toward deliverance. The children of Israel were in bondage in Egypt for over 400 years with no end in sight. Many generations surely prayed, cried, and begged their God for deliverance.
Finally, we read this in Exodus 2:24, “So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob”. The word ‘remember’ means ‘brought to mind; the time for action’. A man named Moses had unknowingly been prepared for this moment and their prayers were answered. Love always remembers. Many years later, after entering the Promised Land and becoming the most powerful nation in the known world, idolatry ensnared the people of God. The prophet Isaiah was anointed by the Lord to warn the people of God of coming judgment for these sins. Their stubborn disobedience would result in suffering and captivity. Yet, even amid their punishment, God would never forget His people. Isaiah 49:15-16 is a beautiful reminder: “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. Behold, I have inscribed you on the palms of My Hands”.
Love always remembers. In the fullness of time, because of the complete and hopeless depravity of mankind, God sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. The sacrificial love expressed by the Father in the offering of His Son for the sins of the world is unfathomable. Paul expressed it best in Romans 5:8. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”.
Just before Jesus’ crucifixion, He instituted the Lord’s Supper, taking bread, blessing it, declaring that it was His body, and instructing His disciples to eat. Next, the Lord took the cup, gave thanks, declared the wine to be His blood of the New Covenant, and instructed the men to drink. Remembering our Lord’s sacrifice is the main purpose of the Lord’s Supper. Love always remembers.
The Father understood that His children were not equipped to bear the excruciating burden of sin. Therefore, for all who receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, that burden is completely removed. God promises in Hebrews 8:12 “…I will remember their sins no more”. Love always remembers to choose to forget.
As we remember the all-consuming love of our Father, may we offer ourselves as living sacrifices in His service. Now is the acceptable time to surrender completely to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. Our spiritual act of worship is in the offering of our body as a temple for the Spirit, Who is now allowed to live the life of Christ through us. Now is the time to express this selfless, sacrificial love to others through acts of kindness, generosity, and forgiveness. Remember, love always remembers, and love always worships.
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Caron is a follower of Jesus Christ and a member of Pleasant Hill Baptist Church in Morganton, NC. She loves to teach the word of God.
Her desire is to see every believer grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.
You can read more Christian News from Caron HERE.
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