I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
The Great Love of Jesus
Love is the beginning of everything. You and I have life and breath at this very moment because God loves us. God created us because He wanted a people to love, and we are the recipients of His great love.
In 1 John 4:9, John tells his readers that the primary way God showed His love toward us is through Jesus. Even while we were considered enemies of God, He sent Jesus to earth on our behalf. While Jesus was on earth, he lived a sinless life as a representative of humanity to God. His death and resurrection made a way for us to be forgiven of our sins and begin a relationship with God.
God now gives us His love freely. There is nothing that we can do to earn His love, and there’s nothing about us that deserves His love. This is why John says love comes from God (1 John 4:7).
Love is our greatest responsibility in life. Jesus made it very clear to His disciples that loving God and loving others are the two greatest commandments. But the basis for all of this is the love of God through Jesus.
John tells us in 1 John 4:7-8 that those who truly know God will also love others. Our relationship with God is the model for how we should love other people. We should never deny someone something we’ve been freely given. And since we have freely received love from God, we should also freely give love to others.
Consider some ways you can love the people around you. Sometimes simply spending time with people is the best way to love them. There might also be someone you know who needs encouragement, or help meeting their needs. Think of one or two things you can do this week to show love to someone in your life.
God Is With You
The prophet Isaiah wrote the words of Isaiah 7:14 nearly 600 years before Jesus was born. At the time of this writing, the Israelites were doing all the right religious things, but weren’t practicing justice as God commands. Like many prophets during Isaiah’s time, this was a warning against that injustice. But among that warning was a glimmer of hope that God would set things right.
Here, the prophet Isaiah is giving the people of Israel a reason to hope because of God’s good promise—the promise that He will provide a sign and He will show up for us. Because that’s what Immanuel means: God with us.
But what does “God with us” mean for us today?
It means we can share in that hope by fixing our eyes on Jesus and trusting in Him. We can trust that from Christ’s birth to His current reign in Heaven—Jesus is God with us.
He’s with us in our pain when we lose a loved one.
He’s with us in our anger when we see injustice and don’t know where to turn.
He’s with us ...
