A Life that Is Loved Unconditionally

You are far more loved than you will ever fully realize but if you do not know this unconditional love for you then you will live as if you were not loved at all, for you will realize that most of the love that people have for us is conditional. It is based on how smart we are, how well we do in school, how pretty we are, if we do not shame our family or friends and basically how proud we make others feel or what we have to offer to them. It is based on our performance or physical or mental assets. However, all of us know in our heart that we can not perform forever, that we will not always be smart or pretty and also, that what we have to offer to others will one day fail.

I Corinthians 13:8a Love never fails

Love is the one thing that all of us long for deep within our hearts. We wonder if there is anyone who will love us just the way we are, with all of our faults, including our past failures, present failures and future failures. There is only One who can and does love us with the love we long for. His love will never fail for He is love.

I Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

You can read this as, “Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind and is not jealous, Jesus does not brag and is not arrogant nor does He act unbecomingly. Jesus is not selfish or gets angry easily. Jesus does not remember your sins. Jesus is not glad when you do wrong because He knows that you will suffer. Jesus is happy when you live in the truth so that you will prosper. However, even when you fail, Jesus bears all things (including your failures), Jesus believes all things (that are good about you), Jesus hopes all things (when you have no hope for yourself) and Jesus endures all things (when you want to give up) because Jesus does not give up on you.” He is the only One who will never fail you because He is love.

Isaiah 43:4a “Since you are precious in My sight,
Since you are honored and I love you,

Jesus sees you as precious to Him, He honors you and He loves you. He is love.

I John 4:7-11 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

God is love and His love was made known to the world through Jesus Christ. You will never be able to love others with God’s love until you know His love. You will never know His love until you know the love of Jesus Christ for you. You will never know the love of Jesus until you receive and believe what He did for you on the cross and that was that He died for you and was the propitiation for your sins. What propitiation means, is that Jesus Christ took the punishment for your sins so that you might experience God’s love for you forever.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

For God so loved you that He gave His only begotten Son to die for you so that if you will believe in Jesus you will live in His love forever and you will not receive the punishment for your sins that you deserve, because Jesus took it on the cross when He died for you.

Have you experienced this love? Have you received and believed the love that God had for you by taking your punishment on the cross?

 

 

 

A Life with An Understanding of Men

Women often will think that men are clueless when it comes to women but the truth of the matter is that often women are clueless when it comes to men. We need each other and yet unless we know the One who created men and women, we will never understand each other. Since this is a constant source of frustration among women it is good to know a few things that the Lord says a man needs and wants in a woman

Genesis 2:18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”

A man needs a companion so that he will not be alone. He needs a companion with whom he can share his life with and who will help him and support him. He needs a woman who will respond to his heart, one who understands what he would want done and one whom he can trust.

Proverbs 31:10-12 An excellent wife, who can find?
For her worth is far above jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her,
And he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good and not evil
All the days of her life.

A man needs a wife who will love him all the days of her life and will do him good and not evil. He needs a wife who will not bring him grief or will shame him, a wife that he can confide his deepest needs to and she will still love and respect him, knowing that it is his weaknesses and needs that cause him to need her and love her so very much. A great marriage is one where both the husband and wife want and need each other but are not dependent on each other in an insecure way, but rather realizing that it is their mutual needs that cause each to complement the other so that each one can reach their full potential.

Titus 2:4,5 so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands,

The word “love” in this verse really means in the original Greek, to “want or be a lover of” her husband.  A man needs and wants a wife who wants him. He married her because he believed that she wanted him. The words “I want you” to a man are similar to the words “I love you” to a woman. A husband knows that his wife needs him but he wants her to want him. When she refuses him physically after their marriage then it can communicate a message of rejection. Just as a wife longs for her husband to love her so her husband longs for her to want him.

Ephesians 5:33 Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband.

A husband needs respect from his wife. This is especially important when there are children in the home. The glory of children and especially sons is their father so when a wife does not respect her husband then she is destroying her children’s glory. We receive our self worth from our glory so the very thing that a mother longs to do in her children, see their confidence grow, she is destroying if she is in any way not respecting her husband. Respect is communicated through attitude, actions and words. An example of a lack of respect would be if she were to say, “Don’t tell your father….” or communicating in anyway her approval of anything that he would not like.

Ephesians 5:28-31 So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.

You will find that it will be a much greater delight for your husband to love you when you are a delight and joy to him. The husband and the wife relationship is the closest thing to heaven on earth if it is done God’s way. He ways are perfect and there is nothing to add to it or to take away from his ways.

Ecclesiastes 3:14 I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him.

It is the wise woman who seeks to do exactly as the Lord says. She will be blessed and she will be a blessing to her husband, her children and to the world. The world is longing to see marriage done right. It is only possible in Christ. To Him belongs all the glory and honor.

II Corinthians 6:14-16 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, “I will dwell in them and walk among them; And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

Finally, a Christian woman must only marry a Christian man. Marriage is binding of two people and a partnership in Christ. There will be no fellowship and no harmony in the relationship if a believer marries an unbeliever. The marriage is a union of the spirit, soul and body. If one person is alive spiritually and the other person is dead spiritually in the marriage then there will be no oneness of spirit. You will be spiritually alone if you are a Christian.

 

A Life with a Savior

There is no sweeter knowledge than to know without a doubt that you have a Savior who cares for you and will save you from downfalls, danger, destruction, distresses and depression. He came to save you and to be your Savior forever.

Matthew 1:21  She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

Some of the first words that were spoken of Jesus Christ is that He would be a Savior and that He would save His people from their sins. Your failings or downfalls are your sins. They are how you have failed yourself, others and God. We have all sinned and failed in one way or another. We all need a Savior.

I Timothy 4:10 For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers.

However, before He can become our Savior He must become our Lord so that we can become one of His people. The Bible says that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Our original sin of wanting to be our own God must first be repented and forgiven and then He will save us from our many sins that destroy us. We need to come to the place in our life that we surrender control to Him. The original sin deceived us and we thought that we could control our life. We can not and will only make a mess. We need a Lord.

Romans 10:9-13 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

Whoever will call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved and receive not only a Lord but a Savior. When you receive Him as your Lord and Savior then He also becomes your Shepherd.

Matthew 9:36 Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

Distressed is another word for being stressed out and dispirited means that they were depressed. When you have the Good Shepherd then He will have compassion on you and save you from what distresses you and will life you out of your depression.

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

The thief, which is the devil, comes only to steal, kill and destroy you. He will bring destruction to your life, your marriage, your family and your children but the Lord Jesus Christ, if He is your Savior then you will be an overcomer of these destructions through Jesus Christ.

I John 5:18 We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who was born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him.

Nothing and no one can touch you that does not first come through your Savior if you have been born again. The Lord will keep you and the evil one does not touch you, if Jesus Christ is your Savior.

I John 5:4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

Have you believed yet in the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you surrendered your life to Him so that He might be in control? If you have already done this then are you living as if you don’t have a Shepherd and allowing life to stress you out and depress you? Trust Him today. He is the Lord of lords, the God of gods and Savior of the world. He is the Good Shepherd and He wants to love you and lead you in His way which is good. He will never leave you or forsake you.

 

 

 

A Life that Has Love

People can only love unconditionally to the degree that they have known unconditional love. People may love but apart from the Lord it is a selfish love. It is a “because” love. I love you because I want you to love me back. I love you because you are beautiful. I love you because of how you make me feel. It is all about me. It was not until Jesus Christ came into the world did we even see what an unconditional love looks like. God loves you because He is love and not because of anything that you have done or will ever do.

I John 3:16a We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us;

God’s love was manifested by sending His only begotten Son to die on a cross for sinners who did not even care about Him.

I John 4:9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

The justice of God was satisfied through the death of Jesus Christ. We sinned and we deserve hell but Jesus Christ took our place on the cross and rose again so that we might have life and know His love. This is what propitiation means. God is satisfied. God is holy and our sin is offensive to Him and causes His wrath to be stored up. Now, God is not mad at us anymore because His wrath was poured out on Jesus Christ, who never sinned.

I John 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

God demonstrated His love towards us in that while we were His enemies Jesus Christ died for us.

Romans 5:6-10 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

We turned our back to the Lord and because of that we are responsible for the Father turning His back on Jesus. For this reason Jesus Christ cried out on the cross, “My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” He was rejected so that we might be accepted. He was rejected and knows what it feels like when someone we love might turn their back on us.

Matthew 27:46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” that is, My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Not only have we turned our back on God when we have sinned but we have also at times turned our backs on others. We would not and could not love them with the same kind of love that Jesus Christ has loved us, that is, until we came to know Him as our Savior and Lord. We were helpless to love with an unselfish love until we came to know His love. It is only when God is in us that we can love with His love because He actually loves through us through the power of His Spirit.

I John 4:19 We love, because He first loved us.

This is the mark of a true Christian. A true Christian will be known by their love.

I John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.

He showed us what true, unconditional love looks like so that others might see Christ in us. When you see this unconditional love in someone else then you will know that you have seen the Lord in the life of someone who has love, God’s love.