Love fails, but God’s Love never fails.

Today is my 44th birthday. My phone has blown up with lots of warm messages from people that care about me. That is a true blessing that I cherish deeply.

I hope that everyone is surrounded and cared for on their birthday but this world can be brutal for some. Perhaps a birthday is forgotten and the sting of being overlooked opens old wounds. Perhaps the innocence of youth was stolen at the hands of an abuser.

In the face of all my loved notes, I found myself quickly triggered. In this case I was wrong to be triggered. I felt rage boiling up in me and my mind started to race to figure out a right response.

I prayed and gave myself some space to think about it. I decided to talk to the person I had an issue with and it turned out to be a small misunderstanding. Patterns match past hurts and that’s all it took to dive into the deep end of dark feelings.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and know God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that me might live through him

In this love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4: 7 - 12)

I think I just found my a section of scripture that I need to add to my memory verses.

In a cold world, the love of God can be a much needed shelter for a weary soul. People who have been let down may turn to isolation, bitterness and self sufficiency. They may have a difficult time grasping the love of God.

We may not be able to heal wounds that only God can, but we can try and extend the love of Christ.

I was impacted by a Gary Haugen speech years ago when he simply argued that God’s answer to a suffering world is the Church. I’ve linked to the video of him preaching below.

p.s. - I was having a conversation with a person that I am close with and does not profess Christ yet.  As I talked with this person, I asked them about God’s love and they really could not see the love of God.  They struggled to begin to comprehend it and I tried my darndest to explain it. 

Please pray for this person, that they would come to understand the love of God and that they would turn their trust in the finished work of the Cross and experience new life in Christ.