HEAVENSREEF

The more free we are of self-love, the more freedom we have to love others and to love GOD.  Self-love is so consuming isn’t it?  If we consider others more worthy than ourselves, then self-love just isn’t in the equation.

The Bible says this about self-love…….

2 TIMOTHY 3: 1-2 “BUT KNOW THIS, THAT IN THE LAST DAYS PERILOUS TIMES WILL COME.  FOR MEN WILL BE LOVERS OF THEMSELVES.”

All we have to do is look around at all the “selfies” being taken…….it tells you much about how people are thinking.  

Self-love comes from fear – a fear that no one can love us like we do.  And it is born out of hurt and a feeling that we deserve something.

But there is SOMEONE who loves us beyond any fear, beyond any hurt…….HIS name is JESUS.  HE died for us on a Cross because of HIS love for us, because of our sin, our self-love, our needs, our wants………all of it!

2 CORINTHIANS 5:15 “……AND HE DIED FOR US ALL, SO THAT THEY WHO LIVE MIGHT NO LONGER LIVE FOR THEMSELVES, BUT FOR HIM WHO DIED AND ROSE AGAIN ON THEIR BEHALF.”

When you look at JESUS and what HE did for you, you see truly how lovely HIS love is!

The Gospel tells us that JESUS loves us in a way that is infinite and superior to any love of self.

1 JOHN 4: 16 “SO WE HAVE COME TO KNOW AND TO BELIEVE THE LOVE THAT GOD HAS FOR US.  GOD IS LOVE, AND WHOEVER ABIDES IN LOVE ABIDES IN HIM.”

Isn’t that kind of love the best?  Isn’t it truly lovely?  All this…….because HE first loved us!

I don’t know about you, but whenever I get self-absorbed for whatever reason, I find myself miserable.  At some point I take my eyes off myself and place them on JESUS, and what I see in HIM are HIS lovely kind and compassionate eyes looking back at me…….

JOHN 17: 9 “I AM PRAYING FOR THEM, I AM NOT PRAYING FOR THE WORLD BUT FOR THOSE WHOM YOU HAVE GIVEN ME, FOR THEY ARE YOURS.”

Do you know JESUS’ priestly prayer for you in JOHN 17?  I challenge you to read it through over and over if you really want to know how much JESUS loves us!

You cannot spend time in the word and not have it touch your heart deeply, to see how much the perfect SON loves.  It is beyond all our understanding…….but all of it is so lovely in and of itself.

You see……. because HIS love for us is a gift…….a lovely wrapped gift with a beautiful bow and a beautiful box.  What is inside is amazing and only our JESUS wants to give us this lovely gift!

PSALM 54:8 “…….BUT WITH EVERLASTING LOVE I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON YOU, SAYS THE LORD, YOUR REDEEMER.”

Isn’t that the most wonderful thing you have ever heard?  Since all gifts are lovely in how they are wrapped, HIS is the loveliest of all Creation!

HE loves us with an everlasting love, and HE desires to draw us near and hold us with HIS compassionate arms.  In HIS arms is a truly lovely place to be……..there is nowhere like it.

In our still moments with JESUS we see His undying love for us, HIS gift of forgiveness for us, by HIS dying on the Cross for us, for all of our sins.  What an indescribable gift!  What a lovely gift…… what a gift of redemption!

Think of Mary…….didn’t she hold an armful of loveliness beyond all her imagination on that starry cold night?  Did she think: how do I hold this gift of GOD in my arms?

So draw near………draw near in awe to all of JESUS’ loveliness…….receive HIS free gift for you and one day you will gaze upon HIM and HE will look back at you, with eyes of incredible love!

JOHN 17: 24 “FATHER, I DESIRE THAT THEY ALSO WHOM YOU HAVE GIVEN ME, MAY BE WITH ME WHERE I AM.”

JOHN 17: 26 “I MADE KNOWN TO THEM YOUR NAME, AND I WILL CONTINUE TO MAKE IT KNOWN, THAT THE LOVE WITH WHICH YOU HAVE LOVED ME MAY BE IN THEM, AND I IN THEM.”