I Love You, Too

Prayer  Merciful Father, thank you for love that endures forever. Thank you for guarding your love-   inspite of me, your love never diminishes . Great and wonderful  creator, my lips praise you! Please enlighten the eyes of my hearts so I will know the  hope to which you have called me and the riches of your glorious inheritance to all the saints. Oh the depths and the heights of your love so lavished upon us!  Please pour your love into our hearts that we may love others, In Jesus name I pray, Amen.     I Love You, Too by Veronica Garrett   Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:7-9 At times I find myself saying, "I love you, Lord" over and over again. Quite often during prayer, praise, or worship, my heart bubbles with oh, how I love you Lord. And yet close to my heart and mind is that God loved me first. In fact, before my mother knew she was pregnant, He knew me.  "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart...(Jeremiah 1:5). He knitted me me together in her womb and even then He had set me apart.    We live in a merit based society and there is a tendency to focus on my love for God instead of His love for me. The humbling fact remains that Christ gave His life to save me while I was doing my own thing.  God loved me when I had no thoughts toward Him nor His purpose.  Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2 Can we say "I love you too" without obeying God's word?  We can't. Some may say I love God or "I'm a fan" of Jesus but without obedience to what He commands we whisper sweet nothings. In John 14:22,  Judas (not Judas Iscariot) wanted to know why did Christ show himself to the disciples and not to the world? I find Judas question interesting, it's as if he wants to know why did you choose us and not them.  In John 14:23-24, Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching." Christ died for the sins of the whole world but many refuse His love.  Being the gentleman that He is, He doesn't overpower our will.  He allows us to respond to His love.  A maturing saint must always keep this critical point close to mind. There is no room for piety or superiority towards others. The only thing that makes a believer different from those who are sinners is God's presence. The Father and the Son are involved in sending the Holy Spirit.  At some point God was demonstrating His love to me and finally, I declared, I love you, too. I never esteem my love for God by any act of faith, suffering or sacrifice. What I cherish dear to my heart is what it means to be loved with an unfailing love. I highly regard what it means to be redeemed with the precious blood of God's only son, Jesus Christ. I greatly celebrate the reversal of destiny, from my due penalty of eternal damnation to the grace of eternal life. I love Him because He first loved me. In essence, I am always saying I love you, too.