Love that does not FAIL.

So my thoughts are turned once more to someone who is central in my life.

A friend, companion, counsellor, guide, listener.

He knows my thoughts,

He knows who I am.

He understands my feras, my rejections, my insecurities.

Mostly though, he is my biggest fan!

He loves me.

He always encourages me in my dreams.

He picks me up when I'm feeling down.

He is God.

He is spirit of Christ.

Jesus.

Over the years he has never left my side.

There have been times when I was more aware of his presence, but he has always been there.

What did I do to deserve this love?

His protection,

His care?

Nothing. 

I did nothing to earn his love, no more than my own children EARN my love and affection.

I love them because, they are my children.

Every child born into this world, was first conceived in the heart of God.

For you created my inmost being;

    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

    your works are wonderful,

    I know that full well.

 

My frame was not hidden from you

    when I was made in the secret place,

    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

 

Your eyes saw my unformed body;

    all the days ordained for me were written in your book

    before one of them came to be.

 

How precious to me are your thoughts, God!

    How vast is the sum of them!

Psalms 139.

What is the difference between a child born from above who follows a religion and a child who does not? How does this affect how much the father of heaven loves them?

Does it change? 

Does God love us more because we realise that  He loves us? 

Or does he love us all equally because we are his?

We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sisteris a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.  And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

1 john 4.19-21.

Looking at Jesus, what can we learn?

 A Samaritan woman came to draw some water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” 

 The woman answered, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan—so how can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews will not even use the same cups and bowls that Samaritans use.)

 Jesus answered,

“If you only knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you life-giving water.”

"If you only KNEW......"

So, how can one suggest that God will not love those who do not even KNOW?

Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Because of his great mercy he gave us new life by raising Jesus Christ from death. This fills us with a living hope,  and so we look forward to possessing the rich blessings that God keeps for his people. He keeps them for you in heaven, where they cannot decay or spoil or fade away.  They are for you, who through faith are kept safe by God's power for the salvation which is ready to be revealed at the end of time.

1 Peter.

lets also look at the story of the woman who was not a Jew.

"Jesus went away from there, and withdrew into the district of Tyre and Sidon. And a Canaanite woman from that region came out and began to cry out, saying,

 'Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed.'

 But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came and implored Him, saying, 'Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us.' But He answered and said,

 'I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'

But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying,

'Lord, help me!' 

And He answered and said,

'It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.'

But she said, 

'Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters' table.' 

Then Jesus said to her,

 'O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.'

 And her daughter was healed at once." (Matthew 15:21-28; cf. Mark 7:24-30).

Jesus said his message was to only come for the lost sheep of the jews.

That was his purpose.

Yet he healed and invested in this woman because she saw something in him.

He responded, 'GREAT is your faith!' 

Why? Is it because despite what had been taught, she saw Gods heart and love for all of mankind?

Peters vision explains what this lady caught a hold of:

Acts 10:9-19

 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.

 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance.
 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. ”
 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air.
13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that G-d has made clean.”
 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.
 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found out where Simon’s house was and stopped at the gate.
 They called out, asking if Simon who was known as Peter was staying there.
 While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Simon, three men are looking for you.
 So get up and go downstairs. Do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”

God was showing Peter that nothing was unclean to him!

No one was filthy of sin.

Jesus had done the job.

A new covenant now stood,

clearing the way for all of Gods children to enter into Eden once more.

Emmanuel. God with us.

The Lord says, “The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah.  It will not be like the old covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. Although I was like a husband to them, they did not keep that covenant.  The new covenant that I will make with the people of Israel will be this: I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.  None of them will have to teach a neighbor to know theLord, because all will know me, from the least to the greatest. I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs. I, the Lord, have spoken.” Jeremiah 31:31-34

In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete! And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Hebrews 8:13

Jesus was the shepherd,

His death was our door back home.

Our minds can now begin to see, 

where we were once blind.

consider the story of the lost sheep.

Jesus left the 99,

to collect the one who was still lost.

What did he end up with?

ALL

of his lost sheep.

xx