KEEPING FALLING IN LOVE WITH JESUS (Lenten 42)
In just a few weeks time, Margaret and I will celebrate 55 years of marriage. What an exciting journey it has been. Like every marriage I am sure, there has been the highs and the lows, It has produced 2 fine sons who love the Lord, and they have given us 5 beautiful grandchildren, who are in church every Sunday with their parents, worshipping and serving the Lord. (at least until Novid-19 changed everything).
Ministry wise, our marriage has taken us around the world, and I truly have lived the dream for which I will be eternally grateful.
When I said “I do” all those years ago I meant it with all my heart, we decided on our 5oth anniversary to renew our wedding vows, just simply re-affirming the decision we made then is as strong and valid today as it was then.
I can honestly say, I seek to tell Margaret every day I LOVE YOU, not to convince myself or her, just simply affirming my love, which has grown so deeply in the last 55 years.
I want to echo Solomon’s word’s today in relation to the LOVER OF MY SOUL, none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. In Song of Solomon 6:3 NKJV I am my beloved’s,
And my beloved is mine. He feeds His flock among the lilies. I love to sit in His fragrant presence and tell Him over and over again JESUS I LOVE YOU, these are not the words of a love struck teenager, but one who has come to see what it really means to love the Lord. Jesus says in John 14:15 NKJV If you love Me, keep My commandments. the MESSAGE says “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you.
Love involves OBEDIENCE, and as I have come to know what the Word of God says, there is that challenge every day, to obey and surrender afresh to the Lord. I am so glad Paul tells us in Rom. 5:5 NKJV the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. MESSAGE we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!.
GOD ACTUALLY POURS HIS LOVE INTO OUR HEARTS SO WE CAN LOVE HIM, AND THE MORE WE LEARN TO WALK IN OBEDIENCE, THE MORE GOD’S LOVE FLOWS THROUGH US TO LOVE HIM AND TO LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR.
I have written many things about many aspects of truth during our Lenten Journey, but perhaps the most important result of our Journey should be that our love for the Lord should have deepened. Do you remember the old chorus we used to sing :
I just keep falling in love with Him
Over and over, and over, and over, again
I keep falling in love with Him,
Over and over, and over and over again
He gets sweeter and sweeter as the days go by,
Oh, what a love between my Lord and I
I keep falling in love with Him
Over and over, and over, and over, again
When I first fell in love with Jeus
I gave Him all my heart…
And I thought I could not love Him
More than I did right at the start
But now I look back over the mountains,
And the valleys where I’ve been…
And it makes me know I love Him
So much more than I did them…
May we at the end of Holy Week in a few days time, be able to look back and be able to declare, “MY LOVE FOR THE LORD HAS DEEPENED, and my commitment to serve and live for the Lord has also deepened and taken me to a new level of relationship. with Him. Amen
