The Ultimate Love Letter; The Ultimate Gift
Have you ever sat down and written a love letter to someone? It could be your husband or wife, your child, your grandparent or your best friend. Love letters come in all shapes and sizes and can express a variety of types of love, from romantic love to friendship to familial love. Or have you looked for the perfect poem on a greeting card to help you convey your feelings? Whether you’ve written it yourself, or searched for it in a large sea of red greeting cards, chances are at some point you’ve desired to express your feelings of love for another person through the written word.
Then maybe you decide to go one step further and get this special someone a gift to illustrate your affections. You want the perfect gift, so you think long and hard about just what would make your Valentine the happiest. You want it to be personal and meaningful so that it is representative of your love and is not just “another gift” to be put on the shelf and forgotten about.
You know, God has written us the Ultimate Love Letter. It is perfectly personal. It is marvelously meaningful. It is timeless yet relevant. It is the Bible.
The Bible is an unfolding of His love for mankind – and not just for mankind as a whole, but for YOU individually. He gave us His Word so that at any given moment, we could open the Book and be reassured of His love for us.
God’s written Word is a revelation of Jesus. All throughout the Old Testament, Jesus is hidden in the stories and the details of the offerings and prophetic passages. Jesus is revealed in the Sin Offering. He is revealed in the fiery furnace with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Daniel 3:25). He is revealed in the Messianic Psalms of David. He is revealed in Isaiah 53. And then in the New Testament, He is revealed in the flesh.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:1,14 KJV
God’s Ultimate Gift to us was the sending of His Son, Jesus. As we see from John 1, Jesus and the Word are one in the same. He always existed as the Word of God, but at the appointed time, He became God incarnate, in order to dwell among us and redeem us back to God by His death on the Cross. Now, we experience Him through His Word. It’s hard to comprehend sometimes that as we hold the Word of God in our hands, we hold Jesus in our hands. Jesus is God’s greatest expression of love for us. Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection is the only way by which God is able to have unbroken fellowship with us, His people.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 NKJV
He also gave us the Holy Spirit to abide with us forever. Our salvation is sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13 & 4:30). We also experience Jesus through the words that the Holy Spirit speaks to us. He is still revealing Jesus to each of us today in a very personal way. It is also by the Holy Spirit that the love of God is available to us to in turn express to other people.
“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:5 NKJV
Some other translations of Romans 5:5 help us to appreciate and comprehend it’s message even better.
“…God’s love has been poured forth into and continues inundating our hearts…” Blackwelder, Boyce. Letter from Paul, An Exegetical Translation.“
…For God has given us a love transfusion by the Holy Spirit He provided for us.” Jordan, Clarence. The Cotton Patch Version of Paul’s Epistles.
“…we are able to hold our heads high no matter what happens and know that all is well… because God has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love.” TLB
It is through God’s love for us that we have the capacity and ability to love others unconditionally. This Valentine’s Day, seek a greater revelation of God’s love for you by spending time in His Word. Ask Him to help you to see Jesus in the Word. Ask Him to help you to love others in a deeper way. Ask Him to increase your compassion for others.
My Valentine’s prayer for you is that the Lord will cause you to be full and to overflow with a growing and glowing love for each other (1 Thessalonians 3:12 Tomanek, Weymouth).
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Tags: Bible, Holidays, Love, men, Valentine's Day, women
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