Love wins!
What is the old saying? There are only two certainties in life, taxation and death.
This week we can add a third certainty; God’s love never fails.
Do you ever wonder if love really is the most powerful factor in the universe? Doesn’t it seem sometimes that hatred prevails in some parts of the world, and even in some relationships we have seen?
This Sunday may be Valentine’s Day, and lovers everywhere proclaim their undying love for their spouses or sweethearts.
So in our readings this week we are going to allow the shout of God’s infinite love to penetrate our thinking and grip our hearts. May it also shape our lives as we live the love-life that benefits others around us.
v 1 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children.
I never met my father; he was sadly killed in an accident before I was born. He did however have 2 brothers, who were therefore my uncles – and really good ones too. Then when I was nearly 7 years old, my mother married again, and she married one of my father’s brothers – my uncle. So what should I call him, Uncle (as I always had before) or Dad? Well, for years I called him Uncle. In fact, it was only after I was married and learned to call my Father-in-Law, Dad, that I finally got around to dropping the Uncle word, and calling my Stepfather/Uncle, Dad. Little did I realise then how much pleasure that gave him. It spoke of a good and loving relationship and enabled him to refer to me as his son.
Now I know too that God is pleased to refer to me as His child and I have the privilege of calling Him, my Father. This relationship is cemented by God’s love – His love for me. My love for God only came about because He demonstrated that love through Jesus. His love for me existed long before I realised it. Then the time came when I recognised that love and learned to call God, Father. In that most known of all prayers we learn to refer to God as ‘Our Father in Heaven’. Sometimes in our prayers we may refer to God as ‘Lord’ or we use the name ‘Lord Jesus Christ’, but the name that honours Him most is ‘Father’. The father/child relationship speaks of God’s purposes in giving us life, and then of our dependence on Him, and of a lasting bond. Sometimes human fathers fail their families, or the relationship is spoilt for some reason, but God’s tender and gracious love endures. He remains faithful and is pleased to call us His children, and we can depend on that love in all circumstances.
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