GOD’S HEART OF LOVE
LIFTED ME!
Today is Valentine’s Day. “Be My Valentine.” This is a phrase that conjures up a lot of different images associated with the celebration of St. Valentine’s Day. And there are cards with poems of love, candy, flowers and many expressions of love.
St. Valentine was a priest near Rome in 270 AD. He continued to minister in those days despite great persecution of Christians. But he continued witnessing because He loved the Lord and his fellow man. He was willing to risk his life to free the prisoners and spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to those who needed to hear it. And he was martyred for his faith in prison.
“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” John 15:13.
God showed us this love by sending His Son, Jesus, to die for our sins. And St. Valentine demonstrated this love when he died for his friends. This is the kind of love that Valentine’s Day is really all about.
Love lifted me! Love lifted me! When nothing else could help, love lifted me. Love lifted me, love lifted me, when nothing else could help, love lifted me!
All my heart to Him I give, ever to Him I’ll cling, in His blessed presence live, ever His praises sing. Love so mighty and so true merits my soul’s best songs; faithful, loving service, too to Him belongs.
Souls in danger look above, Jesus completely saves. He will lift you by His love out of the angry waves. He’s the Master of the sea, billows His will obey; He your Saviour wants to be, be saved today.” (Howard E. Smith)
So let’s look past all the hearts, flowers and candy, and look to the One whose great heart beats with the deepest love for us. The red displayed reminds me of the sacrifice of Calvary, the blood my Saviour shed for my sins and for yours. The sweetest of Valentine candy could never be as sweet as the love my Lord has for me, and He is indeed the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley.
This great heart of love beats with love that is beyond all human comprehension. From the beginning of time, God’s love had a plan, a plan to redeem man by sending the Lamb of God, His very own Son, to walk among us, to redeem us by going to the cross, sacrificing His very life, but Praise the Lord, He came out of that tomb on the third day, and is now at the right hand of His Father and still reaching out with His love to all who will call on His name.
Yes, once I was also sinking in sin, far away from the peaceful shore, and He heard my cry, and like Peter when He was sinking, He reached down His hand and pulled me up out of the waters, and I am now safe in His loving arms. And I cannot serve Him enough and cannot praise Him enough for this great salvation, this great peace, and the hope of eternity with Him. Praise the Lord!
So my friends, are you sinking down in your sin? Do you feel like you are too far from the shore to be rescued? Are the waves crashing around you, threatening to drown you? Have you drifted away from the peaceful shore, having once walked with the Lord?
“The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee” Jeremiah 31:3.
He has loved you, my friends, with an everlasting love, a love that will never die, and He waits to draw you out of the raging seas of doubt and despair. He waits to draw you out of the deepest sin. He loved you so much that nothing could keep Him from going to the cross for you. How can I begin to describe the matchless love that the Lord has for you?
So when you walk through the stores, or see advertisement on television, wherever you may go, be reminded as you look on the Valentine hearts of red of the supreme sacrifice that Jesus made for you. And His great heart of love is beating for you, waiting to draw you up out of the raging waters of sin, to bring you to the peaceful shore of His love.
Oh yes, there will still be trials and storms ahead. But you will be safe in the midst of the storms, because our Lord Jesus walks on the waters, stills the storms and lifts the one who cries out to Him in desperation. Call out to Him today, my friend and be lifted up, and someday live in eternity with Him forever. Now that is love!
In His Love,
Pastor Sharon
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