In Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas James Patterson has a mother writing a diary for her infant son whom she cherished and wanted him to know her thoughts for him. I liked the following regarding love and marriage as I think about doing my niece's wedding.
"I hope when you grow up that everything you want comes your way, but especially love. When it's true, when it's right, love can give you the kind of joy that you can't get from any other experience. I have been in love; I am in love so I speak from experience. I have also lived long periods without love in my life, and there is no way to describe the difference between the two. We is always so much better than I."
So I pray this love for Rachel and Jesse, not just any love but love that is of God and like God's love. This is not an easy, sentimental love but a love that loses itself for the good and well-being of the other. It is not a love which is human generated but can only be found through the presence and work of God in one's life. In the Bible there are four main words for love; "philia" love is the love of friends; "storge" love is the love of family; "eros" love is biological/romantic love; and "agape" love is the sacrificial, self-giving, other oriented love (think of Jesus on the cross bringing us salvation and revealing God's love for humanity). The Apostle John put it this way, "This is how God showed his love among us: God sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him."
[I John 4:9]
As you can see the first three loves will be at the wedding and It is my prayer that the fourth love, agape will be there as well. This fourth love, agape, however is the love that will be developed through the years of marriage. If marriage is to be a blessing it is this agape love which must be ever present. Agape love is the hard work of marriage as we seek to overcome our inherent self-centered nature and replace it with our spouse's needs. The beauty of this is that when both spouses are seeking agape love for their marriage there is a relationship beyond compare. The major issue for us humans however is that this agape love is never completed in this life; there is always one more challenge or test. And too often for me is that I fail the challenge and need to begin again.
Here are 14 words from my biblical reading of the last two weeks. I share them so they may prompt some spiritual reflection for you:
relief bad
burden prove
escaped alone
acceptable sovereign
save purification
maimed child
grow healed
One book I read during recovery time was Song of the Silent Harp by BJ Hoff, a really old book with an interesting story line connected to Ireland's potato famine, Ireland's desire for freedom from British domination and immigration to America. What follows are some quotes from the story that I appreciated. (How did you like the irony of the title?)
"God is not put off by tarnished hearts, my friend. The only kind of heart He cannot use is one of stone that can no longer be broken. A man like you, empowered by a God like ours, would be a formidable instrument of change." Later in the story this man with the tarnished heart has an encounter with his boyhood priest. "I have stormed the doors of heaven for you! Can you not at least go knocking on your own behalf?" "I suppose I can try, but do not be surprised if the doors are permanently locked against me." Even if they are lad, you hold the one key that will open them which is Christ in your heart. "Ah, I doubt He would live in a heart like mine, not after all I've done. But then he remembered the words of his friend about a heart of stone." The priest then asked him to pray with him, "do you still believe in the Man named Jesus who was nailed to a cross on Calvary? And do you still believe it was the very Son of God whose hands and feet were nailed to that tree? And do you know that He died for you...indeed, would have died upon His cross even if there had been no sinner in the world that day apart from you?" "Aye, I do. Yes, I do. God, oh God, that's the truth, isn't it? You died for me, would have died for me alone. Lord, oh Lord Jesus, forgive this sinner." and in his heart he heard the Lord's words, "My son, I love you. You are mine, now and forever." So it was that the priest and the prodigal wept, and heaven sang!
A conversion account like that is inspiring and hopeful.
"The education of our faith is incomplete if we have yet to learn that God's providence works through loss, that there is a ministry to us through failure and the fading of things, and that He gives the gift of emptiness. It is, in fact, the material insecurities of life that cause our lives to be spiritually established... One way or the other, we must all learn the difference between trusting in the gift and trusting in the Giver. The gift may last for a season, but the Giver is the only eternal love."
F.B. Meyer Streams In The Desert
The Psalmist said, "Praise the Lord, O my soul as long as I live." Joining this song is the best occupation for a human being. [Spiritual Formation Bible]
Self-denial means letting go of self-determination and replacing it with obedience to and dependence on the Messiah/Christ.
God will keep in perfect peace one whose mind is fixed on God because they trust in God!
[Isaiah the prophet]
May you have this divine peace!
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