He's Steadfast

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 

The STEADFAST love of the Lord never ceases; 

his mercies never come to an end; 

they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, 

“therefore I will hope in him.” 

Lamentations 3:21-24

I've been thinking a lot about God's love recently. I simply cannot fathom how much He loves me. Even though I, like so many others, learned John 3:16 as my first memory verse and could recite it to this day in my sleep..."For God so love the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but shall have everlasting life..." I know I haven't fully gotten it. We say the words, but still don't feel the love. Today, when you woke up and the situation you left behind last night was still waiting for you in the morning, did you feel loved? When your car wouldn't start or you realized that you're coming down with a cold, did you simply know that you are enveloped in the warmth of God's love? When you got passed over for the promotion, lost your job, your house, your parent, your child...did you recall in those very moments that "Jesus loves me, this I know?" 

Some would say yes to that question. Some don't have a hard time plugging into God's love and can feel bathed in it every second of every day. But so many more of us struggle at times to truly feel connected to God's love and believe that it's there even when we've disappointed Him and ourselves with sin, disobedience, and simple lethargy. Do our actions reflect a true knowledge of the fact that God loves us beyond our imaginations? Or are we holding back on God just as we would a man or woman who we haven't fully decided to trust?

Today, I wanted to take a minute to simply encourage you as I was encouraged. You see, I've been doing a personal study with some friends on the subject of LOVE. It has thoroughly challenged me in ways that would never fit on a page. And, as I read Lamentations 3 today, I had one of those moments that I simply couldn't let pass by without sharing.

STEADFAST. God's love is steadfast. As I read that word, the image of a heart monitoring machine popped into my head. I could see God's rhythm as consistent and unwavering. The pattern of his heart repeats the same and will never change. While I can be fickle and not always show love, God is nothing like that. If you were to see my heart monitor, it would be all over the place with blips and beeps going from small to large with no rhyme or reason and certainly no consistency. God on the other hand loves us so strongly and so resolutely that we can trust in Him without any reservation. 

I'm not sure what your life looks like--you may feel like you're at the end of your rope or simply trying to stay afloat. But God wanted me to remind you today that He is STEADFAST in His love of you--so much so that He's prepared new mercies for you each and every morning. So make the choice today to hope in that. Don't hold on to what happened yesterday. Hope in the love that holds you up today. Be encouraged and share that same love with another. 

Blessings,
PastorA