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First comes love.
If you’ve been around lately you know I just watched my son’s love story unfold. Truly, the Lord was ordering his step in my young man’s life. A quick background; just about 2 1/2 years ago the Lord directed us, out of nowhere, really, to move from the area we’d spent the largest majority of our 30 years of marriage. Leave. We’d done this once before, and we could clearly see God’s hand in what we didn’t understand then, and we had faith this would be no different. Yet, learning our young adult son almost 1000 miles away knowing he was at the time of life where he’d likely find a wife and settle down resulted in a heartache and many tears as I packed boxes up one by one and the memories of his growing up in that home overtook me. It was very hard for me.
God’s timing
Everything worked perfectly though painstakingly (sometimes following God’s clear direction comes with great effort and hard work on our end). In a very short time our house was revamped top to bottom and nearly 20 years of life was purged and packed. We were under contract in 9 days and heading south in less than a month.
First one out
We waited for the moving truck, oh so late in arriving, and we watched our oldest drive off with his brother and their dog, leaving the only place each of the had ever called home, and again my heart broke for them knowing the loss each of them had to process. Did you see what happened, though? God changed my son’s heart and at the last minute he decided to move with us! This was a blessing and it was God’s timing.
First comes love
We weren’t here in our new home for long before son #1 was spending a lot of his time “fishing” after work. Not really surprising being surrounded by the beautiful Gulf of Mexico and lakes at every corner. Yet, my heart knew something more was happening.
Waiting
I told my husband that I believed our big guy wasn’t always fishing but that we’d be hearing of a young lady who’d stolen his affections soon. I was waiting. Soon enough, Mr. never able to keep something from Mom came clean.
Mom
Mom, I have met this girl and… the rest of the story culminated just a month ago as my husband stood together with our son and his bride and united them in the Lord through marriage. First comes love.
First Comes Love
Have you ever considered the Lord in this way? We are the bride of Christ, those of us who He calls His own, who have been saved through faith in Jesus. Way back in the beginning, before the first two people decided to serve self and turn away from God’s ways, the Lord loved us. So much so, His plan was the only one that could be; the sacrifice of His only begotten Son, perfect and pure, holy and without blemish, to bring us back to the relationship with Him he so desires. He loves you. He loves me. He first loved.
He loved us first
I John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.
Grace
I think especially women in Christendom have been well versed in grace. Where there is an issue or even a perceived issue we read, we hear, we see the advice, “Give her grace.” “Offer them grace.” “Give yourself grace.” Is there anything wrong with giving grace?
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 15John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. 16And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. 17For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Without Grace
If there was no grace, we would have no hope. Jesus embodied grace and truth. Our hope is in Christ; we are hopeless without His grace.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Ephesians 5: 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast.
With Grace
With grace we have hope. We have the hope of salvation and the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ. With grace we have…more grace, and mercy, and love, and patience. With grace we have forgiveness.
John 1: 15 John testified concerning Him. He cried out, saying, “This is He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’ ” 16 From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace.
Much more but first comes Love
There are 66 books in the Bible. There is so much the Lord gives us, teaches us, shows us, commands us and there’s no way for me to even scratch the surface in one blog post or podcast, but hear this, Friends, before it all comes love. In the beginning of time, when God began creation, when His the best of His best of man and beast chose sin, He first loved. From that love we have ever attribute of our Heavenly Father. Whatever we have from the Lord, we have because of His great love for us. Can you take a second to try and comprehend a love so great that you’re willing to give your own flesh and blood? A love so great that another person was worth the greatest part of your own life? That to the nth degree wouldn’t even begin to come close to what God’s love for us must really be.
The NTH degree
The nth degree: the highest power. Let’s remember when we see God’s beautiful creation, when we receive forgiveness, mercy and grace from His hand. When we choose to be kind, to forgive, to show God’s grace to another person in our lives, let us remember it’s all because of God’s love. I couldn’t live without God’s grace in my life, but I need never to forget it comes from His love for me; I want to love Him because He first loved me. I want to serve Him, because of His love for me. I want to follow His ways, because He loves me. I want to be forgiving to others in my life, no matter, because that’s the love He shows to me every time I sin. What then, can I not do…what then can you not do? Could He ever ask too much of us, because I don’t see how. When we pause to ponder the Lord will never leave us alone and what great love He has for us, what is too hard, what is too scary to face in our lives? I can’t think of one thing, and when my head tries to crowd in something along these lines, I remind myself again of God’s truth, His promise and His love:
Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” 6So we say with confidence: “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
