We Love Him
By Bruce Cannon
Mitchell County
“We love Him because he first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)
February is termed the month for love. We focus more on those we love on February 14th more so than at other times of the year. Flowers are sent, candy is given, and we take those special folks in our life to special places to eat. Florists are busier on February 14th than at any other time of the year. Restaurants have waiting lines and reservations need to be made to make certain one can get a table.
Two observations need to be made: 1) Every month, even every day, needs to be known for love. We should never let time go by without telling others we love them; most especially those closest to us. Children need to hear parents say daily, “I love you.” Spouses need to hear daily, “I love you.” Family and friends need to hear daily, “I love you.” It is so much easier to live a life of “love” than a life of anger, bitterness and so forth.
The second observation is: why do we love? There is an inherent desire in the heart of everyone to love and be loved. There is a huge place in the heart that needs to be filled with the emotion of loving and being loved. But why? Because we were made in the image of the greatest Lover of all time! “We love Him because He first loved us.”
Before the foundation of the world was laid and long, long before we came into the world God showed His love to us. Paul said in Romans 5:8, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Because of the omniscience of God, there has never been a time when He has not loved us with a John 3:16 type of love. There has never been a time when He did not want us to know Him. There has never been a time when He did not want to redeem us.
Because of His great gesture, we love…. especially if we are believers. And, most especially if we are walking in fellowship with Him. His Holy Spirit is reproducing the character of Christ within us every day as we pray, study the Word and so forth. One of those character traits is love. As we walk in fellowship with Him, we grow in love, we grow in the capacity to love, and we know more how to love others. He began it all by extending love to us.
I am so thankful the Lord does not have a special month for love. Can you imagine going 11 months without feeling the Lord’s deep love? Every day is Valentine’s Day with Him. Every day He shows love. He grants peace, encouragement, strength, answered prayer, understanding and wisdom, grace and so many more blessings because of His great love toward us.
May I suggest to us today: feel His love, know His love, experience His love, express His love. Let the knowledge of knowing that the King of the Universe loves us cause us to be filled with joy and amazement.
The chorus of the song, Who Am I? says, “Who am I that a King would bleed and die for? Who am I that He would pray, not My Will, Thine Lord? The answer I may never know, why He’d ever love me so, that to an old rugged cross He’d go for Who am I?”
Have a blessed, love-filled February!
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Reverend Bruce Cannon currently serves as the Senior Pastor of Bear Creek Baptist Church in Bakersville. Formerly he served as Director of Missions for the Bladen Baptist Association and he has served on the General Board of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
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