14 Days of Love – Day 5 – I’ll Always Love You

“The LORD appeared to him from afar, saying, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness”   Jeremiah 31:3

The act of giving birth was the often considered to be the most painful experience a woman would ever endure, but I posit that it is actually the second most painful thing a mother would ever have to endure.  Do you know what the first was, and still is to this day?  It is not a physical pain, as in the act of labor, but much deeper and long lasting.  I have watched my wife give birth five times and I’ve observed that despite the pain experienced during the delivery.  Her love for the newborn child significantly outweighs any of the discomforts leading up to that moment.  A woman’s relationship with her new born child is stronger than any relationship she has encountered up to that point, including her relationship with her parents, her siblings and even her spouse.  The act of carrying a child for nine months and then giving birth, creates such a strong bond, there is often times nothing a mother wouldn’t do for her child.  But still, this pain of childbirth is only the second most painful thing a mother will encounter.  The most painful thing that a mother will encounter is the act of rejection from one of her children.


There is a love in a family that is community bred.  An invisible tie that binds all the members together in support of one another.  It is stressed from time to time as conflict arises, but it is always present in our awareness of each other.  This love that exists between family members is different than the love that exists between a mother and her child.  The difference can be characterized in something that is learned verse something that is inherent.  The mother and her child share a physical bond formed during the pregnancy that cannot be replicated in any other relationship.  The internal development of a fetus inside of a mother’s womb, the sharing of blood, creation of cells and movements is unlike anything else in this world.  Siblings learn to love one another, because they are supposed to.  A husband and wife fall in love over a period of months or years during courtship, as they learn about each other and accept each other for who they are.  The mother/child relationship is unique and the closest thing we can draw from to understand the love of God for His children.


God loves you uniquely.  He loves every person on the earth today, in the past and in the future equally.  There are no degrees of love that differentiate His love for you verse His love for your neighbor, because God’s love is constant and unchanging.  God does not play favorites, and love one more or less than another.  This means that His love for you is equal to His love for Adam, Eve, King David, Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Ruth, Esther, Joshua, Caleb, Jeremiah, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Peter, John the beloved, Mark and even Jesus Christ.  You must realize that He loves you completely and wholeheartedly.  Every ounce of His love He showed for the Egyptians as they came out of captivity and finally entered into the promised land is there for you as well. 


In Genesis we read of Noah and the ark.  After the flood subsided, how many people were alive?  According to Genesis 7:13, there were 8.  Eight people entered the ark and stayed there for forty days.  During which, as we read in Genesis 7:21, every living thing on earth perished, including mankind.  If you could imagine being the only person in the world today, God would love you exactly the same as He did Noah and his family upon the ark.  He loves you for all of your uniqueness, your potential and your ability to love Him in return.  He loves you despite your iniquities and transgressions, your faults and propensity to sin.  Despite your age, your weight, your hairline or your handicap – He loves you because you are His child. 


From Adam and Eve, through Noah and his three sons, we are all children of Almighty God.  He created you for a purpose and forgetting all of those around you, gives His love uniquely to you.  The responsibility is upon you to accept that love and the grace of salvation that accompanies it.  He cannot love you more than He does, nor less than He does.  God’s love for you is not like that of a family though, it is not formed through experiences and learning.  It is formed through creation.  He created you and in doing so loves you so immensely that it cannot be measured by human standards.  A mother’s love for her child does not change when a child rejects her.  Oh, on the surface she might be angry and portrait otherwise, but deep inside of her heart and mind her love for that child is as deep as the day the child was born.  The thing is, God loves you so much and knows that you cannot love Him equally in return.  The beauty of His grace is that His love for you is not dependent upon your love for Him.  He will not force you to love Him, you have to choose too. 


Prayer:
Loving Father,
You have given us life, created us from the seed of Adam and through generations continued to pour out Your love upon us.  Through Your love we find completeness and stability in life.  There is nothing more constant than knowing that You are in love with us, despite our inability to love You in return.  Thank You for Your grace and mercy, that we might one day be with You for eternity where we bow in humility and adoration before Your throne. 

In Your name we pray – Amen



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