His First Love – Sis. Evangeline Paul Dhinakaran
Dear friend, today’s promise is taken from I John 4:19 where the Bible says, “We love because He first loved us.” What a beautiful verse depicting the love of God!
The cross of Christ is indeed one of the greatest demonstrations that God loved us so dearly and Christ’s love is the most sacrificial love. The Lord Jesus willingly took the initiative and loved us first. He died for us even while we were yet sinners. Yes, the unconditional love of Jesus is written all over the cross 2000 years ago. Once, when our youngest daughter, Stella Ramola was all alone in the US, she missed us a lot. As she was alone in her room thinking about us, the Lord Jesus appeared before her. Yes! She saw Jesus hanging on the cross with blood flowing out of His body. As soon as she looked at this scene of Jesus, the love of God filled her heart. This divine love of God strengthened her and gave her an unshakeable assurance that Jesus is always there with her and for her. From that day onwards, she did not cry thinking about us. She said, “It is enough that Jesus is with me!” After that, she wrote a beautiful song in Tamil, “Yesu Nam Vaazhkaiyil Irundhaalae Podhum” (meaning ‘It is enough that Jesus is in our life’). Today, this song has been a blessing to millions. What a loving God we have!
My friend, God is the ultimate personification of love. His love made the first move! Our love for God is simply a response to His love for us. We therefore cannot compare God’s love to any other. The beautiful part is that God also helps us to love Him by pouring out His Spirit upon us as it is mentioned in Romans 5:5, “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” My friend, let this beautiful love of Jesus comfort you today and lift your spirit to glorify Him.
PRAYER: Loving Heavenly Father, let Your perfect love surround me, right now. Remove every depressing and lonely thought from my mind and fill me with Your peace. Lord, even as I pray, pour out Your love into my heart so that I will be comforted and strengthened from within. Lord, I thank You for Your precious Holy Spirit. Anoint me with Your Holy Spirit and help me to have a constant fellowship with You. Lord, renew my mind with hope. Let my body, my soul and my spirit be nourished by Your loving kindness so that I may prosper in every area of my life.
In Jesus’ name, I pray Amen.