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Jeremiah 31:3 - God's Love is Everlasting.Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV) The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.INTRODUCTION God reaches toward his people with kindness motivated by deep and everlasting love. He is eager to do the best for them if they will only let him. Even God's discipline is an effort to help them avoid sin's consequences by not sinning. After many words of warning about sin, this reminder of God's magnificent love is a breath of fresh air. It's often easy to become so focused on the harsh words God has for people who love their sins, that we begin to dread God altogether. Look carefully and see him lovingly drawing us toward himself. [One Year NLT SB] COMMENTARY PEARL God's Love Doesn't Ebb And Flow God has left you a stunningly powerful message of love. He hung the greatest "I love you" of all time on a tree at Calvary through the death of His Son. You can see His message from wherever you are today if you just turn and look toward the cross. God loves us. Perfectly. I know that sounds simplistic, as it echoes the song so many of us sang as young children, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." Even though this sounds elementary, many of us still wrestle with how to embrace this foundational, life-shaping, worry-conquering truth. Jesus loves you. His love for you does not ebb and flow based on your position or performance. He is not carefully calibrating His love for you based on your potential. He is not reserving some of His love for when you prove your dedication and commitment to His mission. You can anchor your deepest hopes in the love of Jesus. He won't let you down. Dear Lord, how radical is Your unconditional love! Your faithfulness and consistency lead me to awe and wonder. [Grace and Glory by Louie Giglio] COMMENTARY "Jesus has died that I might live. He loves me, and wills not that I should perish. I have a compassionate heavenly Father; and although I have abused His love, though the blessings He has given me have been squandered, I will arise, and go to my Father, and say, 'I have sinned against heaven, and before Thee, and am no more worthy to be called Thy son: make me as one of Thy hired servants.'" The parable tells you how the wanderer will be received: "When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." Luke 15:18-20. But even this parable, tender and touching as it is, comes short of expressing the infinite compassion of the heavenly Father. The Lord declares by His prophet, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. Jeremiah 31:3. While the sinner is yet far from the Father's house, wasting his substance in a strange country, the Father's heart is yearning over him; and every longing awakened in the soul to return to God is but the tender pleading of His Spirit, wooing, entreating, drawing the wanderer to his Father's heart of love. With the rich promises of the Bible before you, can you give place to doubt? Can you believe that when the poor sinner longs to return, longs to forsake his sins, the Lord sternly withholds him from coming to His feet in repentance? Away with such thoughts! Nothing can hurt your own soul more than to entertain such a conception of our heavenly Father. He hates sin, but He loves the sinner, and He gave Himself in the person of Christ, that all who would might be saved and have eternal blessedness in the kingdom of glory. What stronger or more tender language could have been employed than He has chosen in which to express His love toward us? He declares, "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." Isaiah 49:15. SC 53-55 "He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out... And the sheep follow Him: for they know His voice." The Eastern shepherd does not drive his sheep. He depends not upon force or fear; but going before, he calls them. They know his voice, and obey the call. So does the Saviour-Shepherd with His sheep. The Scripture says, "Thou leddest Thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron." Through the prophet, Jesus declares, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." He compels none to follow Him. "I drew them," He says, "with cords of a man, with bands of love." Ps. 77:20; Jer. 31:3; Hosea 11:4. It is not the fear of punishment, or the hope of everlasting reward, that leads the disciples of Christ to follow Him. They behold the Saviour's matchless love, revealed throughout His pilgrimage on earth, from the manger of Bethlehem to Calvary's cross, and the sight of Him attracts, it softens and subdues the soul. Love awakens in the heart of the beholders. They hear His voice, and they follow Him. DA 480-3 CLOSING THOUGHTS The True Motive for Following Christ. It is not the fear of punishment, or the hope of everlasting reward, that leads the disciples of Christ to follow Him. They behold the Saviour's matchless love, revealed throughout His pilgrimage on earth, from the manger of Bethlehem to Calvary's cross, and the sight of Him attracts, it softens and subdues the soul. Love awakens in the heart of the beholders. They hear His voice, and they follow Him. {DA 480.3} [Remnant SB] Jesus has written me a love letter too - His Word. He tells me over and over again about His everlasting love. I am His child (1 John 3:1). He is thinking about me, and His thoughts of me outnumber the grains of sand (Psalm 139:17-18). His letter is laced with encouragement and hope. Jesus's Word is precious and endures forever. I cherish it. Susanna Foth Aughtmon LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY Jeremiah 31:3 - Gods Love is Everlasting. https://www.abible.com/devotions/2025/20250215-1510.html https://www.abible.com/devotions/2023/20231125-0748.html https://www.abible.com/devotions/2023/20230116-0908.html Jeremiah 31:3 - ALREADY LOVED. http://www.abible.com/devotions/2022/20220702-0814.html Jeremiah 31:3 - Comprehending the Love of God. http://www.abible.com/devotions/2020/20200416-0940.html Deuteronomy 7:9 - God's Love and Promises are Faithful. https://www.abible.com/devotions/2010/20100328-1139.html Romans 5:8 - Unfathomable Love. https://www.abible.com/devotions/2024/20240829-1246.html John 3:16 - LOVE SUPREME! http://www.abible.com/devotions/2021/20211206-0816.html LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT https://abible.com/links/ |