Tuesday February 14, 2017
“Happy Valentine’s – True love is born of
God”
8 Love never fails. But whether there are
prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether
there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy
in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part
will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I
understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put
away childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to
face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.
13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these
three; but the greatest of these is love.
1
Corinthians 13:8-13
Because
today is Valentine’s day, we will depart from regular devotional to talk about “love.”
The greatest love, of course, comes from God and rooted in God. All others are
mere reflections of His supernatural love. Anything else that doesn’t find its
source in God is a counterfeit and a lie. Most of what the world “calls” love
is anything “but”… We will never make progress in our Christian walk if we
continue to look to the world and the culture for clues and ideas. We are to be
“in the world” BUT NOT “OF” the world!
Dear young
lady and young man, God designed you and everything that makes “you” you…so
follow His guidelines for happiness and not the counterfeit. Of course, the
world entices us with the things that gives “instant” gratification…But only
God’s way gives LASTING satisfaction! If you want a “friend,” ask God to give you
someone who loves God first, and will be a positive influence on you. So much
more need to be said in this topic…I will come back to it later. But for now,
let’s take a look at what a Godly young man who loves God writes about someone
who he is taken with…
19-year-old
Jonathan Edwards wrote this to the girl he was falling in love with in the
summer of 1723. On the front page of his Greek grammar he wrote the only kind
of love song his heart was capable of. Take a deep breath.
They say there is a young lady in [New Haven]
who is beloved of that great Being who made and rules the world, and that there
are certain seasons in which this great Being, in some way or other invisible,
comes to her and fills her mind with exceeding sweet delight, and that she
hardly cares for anything, except to meditate on him—that she expects after a
while to be received up where he is, to be raised up out of the world and
caught up into heaven; being assured that he loves her too well to let her
remain at a distance from him always. There she is to dwell with him, and to be
ravished with his love and delight forever…. She has a strange sweetness in her
mind, and singular purity in her affections; is most just and conscientious in
all her conduct; and you could not persuade her to do anything wrong or sinful,
if you would give her all the world, lest she should offend this great Being.
She is of a wonderful sweetness, calmness and universal benevolence of mind;
especially after this great God has manifested himself to her mind…. She loves
to be alone, walking in the fields and groves, and seems to have someone invisible
always conversing with her.
Sarah was
thirteen years old at the time! Four years later they were married. In the next
23 years they had eleven children, eight daughters and three sons.
Memory Verse:
But of Him
you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption— 1
Corinthians 1:30
He ‘oku mei
He‘ene ‘Afio ho‘omou tu‘u ni pea ‘ia Kalaisi Sīsū: ‘a ia kuo fokotu‘u mei he
‘Otua, ko hotau poto‘anga, ko hotau fakatonuhia mo fakamā‘oni‘oni‘anga, pea mo
hotau huhu‘i – 1 Kolinito 1:30
Bible Reading Plan: (52 weeks; 5 days a week)
Week
7 – Exodus 38-40; Hebrews 1
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