There are three things that remain—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13 TLB.
Think of times in your life when love healed a hurt, restored a relationship, brought you great joy. Think of when you first got saved and the love you felt for everyone and everything. Love is a very strong emotion.
Movies, television shows, news reports, novels, and digital posts are inspiring when they are centered around love. Love really does win! In studying how many times love is mentioned in Scripture, most references show the word love is mentioned over 300 times in the Old Testament and over 175 times in the New Testament, depending on the version of Bible used. As a matter of fact, we read in 1 John 4:8b that “God is love” (TLB) If we live in Christ and He lives in us, according to Galatians 2:20, then we are His love to a lost and hurting world, to our family, community, and church.
When people visit our homes or churches, do they feel the love of God from its members and regular attenders? When I was around 13 years old, I attended a revival. There was so much love in the church that I knew I had to go back. I grew up in a non-Christian home. Church was different. I had never experienced love like I felt in Osborne Avenue Church of God. I gave my heart to the Lord and determined then to show people the love of God through my life so that they might be saved. Love is a gift from our Heavenly Father. That’s why when we experience love, it reaches deep into our soul. It changes us from the inside out.
December 8, 2023, I was on an eight-hour drive from Myrtle Beach, SC, back to Tennessee the day after my sister Donna had passed away. This was my fourth sibling to pass away in a little over a year’s time. We attended my mentor’s funeral on my husband and my 35th anniversary. We buried my sister Linda on my husband’s birthday; had a funeral service for a dear friend on my birthday; and planned my sister Donna’s funeral on our 36th wedding anniversary. Donna was my lifelong best friend. My heart was broken. I was alone and wept hard most of the eight hours home. I cried out to God in my brokenness. I told Him I wasn’t going to love so deeply anymore—that I couldn’t take the pain. I had never felt such deep grief. I had been told by my doctor that it was compound grief, where grief on top of grief had piled up on me. I had to go on blood pressure medication and medication to keep my heart from racing. Depression kept trying to envelop me.
Maybe you have felt (or maybe are even experiencing now) that kind of grief. God heard my cry, and He hears your cry as well. He heard the cries of our Lord in the garden the night before He was arrested. He has a plan, even in our darkest times. He is working in our lives for our good and His glory.
God began gently speaking to my heart. He asked if I had loved like He loves. He reminded me that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16, KJV). I repented of my vow not to love so deeply. How could I not love after all the Lord had done for me? Months later, sitting in a Sunday School class, the Holy Spirit came upon me suddenly, lifting my grief and filling me with His peace. A friend walked over to me after class and told me my countenance had changed, that I looked so peaceful. No one else in the room knew what was going on with the Lord and me, yet God let a dear friend see the change. I’m not even sure what the lesson was on that Sunday, all I knew was that our teacher had asked the question I had voiced to her months earlier, “Why can’t God just answer one of my prayers?” (prayers to heal my siblings and loved ones). Usually, this would have triggered an onslaught of tears, which came so easily to me during the grief. But I noticed I was not crying, and that was when I felt the Holy Spirit wash over my spirit. Grief left and peace took its place. Why then? Why not sooner? Why not in a different setting? I may never know the answer to those questions, but I praise the Lord for His sweet peace. Today, I do not take any kind of heart medication or blood pressure medication. Praise the Lord!
The love of God really does change things. During these times, I did not drop out of church; I kept walking in obedience. Sometimes it just felt like I was going through the motions, but love is crucifying our flesh and walking by His Spirit. Read Galatians 5. Love is the source of that obedience. It is a relationship with our Father so deeply saturated with His love because He lives in us and we in Him. Let God’s love change you today. Your situation may not change, but you will change and so will others around you. They will experience God’s peace as you share how He changed you. His love is an all-powerful, life-giving love. Won’t you please share His love today? “There are three things that remain [no matter what is going on around you]—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”
Pamela R. Brewer, is an ordained minister, she serves as the International Director of Women’s Discipleship, and Co-Director of Adult Discipleship. A victorious cancer survivor, Pam coauthored with her husband Wayne, Praying: The Breath of Life, a practical, discipling tool for equipping believers in effective praying. She has been a writer for numerous publications. A sought-after conference speaker with an inspiring testimony, Reverend Brewer enjoys teaching and building up believers… especially women, to be mature disciples of Christ.
Comments