More from Mr. Moody 6/7

"You ask me why God loves. You might as well ask me why the sun shines. It can't help shining, and neither can He help loving, because He is love Himself; and any one that says He is not love does not know anything about love." ~ D.L. Moody

The love of God…what a powerful phrase! God loves me. God loves me. God LOVES me. God loves ME!!! I just can’t get over that!!! When you think about the love of God, what comes to your mind? When I hear those joyous words, these verses leap to remembrance:

Jeremiah 31:3 - “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”

Zephaniah 3:17 - “The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.”  (God is so infatuated with love for us, that He can’t help but SING about us!!!!)

John 15:9 - “As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.”

John 15:13 - “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Romans 5:8 - “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

1 John 4:19 - “We love him, because he first loved us.”

I am standing at the front desk of a hotel where I work at 5:53am with tears swelling up in my eyes as I read these verses. He loves me…He loves me!!!! The Almighty God of the universe loves ME!!! Oh, Christian, is your heart soft towards the love of God? Can you feel it now? It is there! His love is there! It’s in your heart! Do you feel it? God loves you! Why? Why does He love me? Why would he care about puny little me? As David said,

Psalms 8:3-4 - “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”

What is man? The short answer is…nothing!!! Do you know what we are? We are just a bag of bones with an attitude! Why would God give a flip about us? Mr. Moody gave us the answer…there is no reason why He loves us!!! He just…does!!! Dr. John R. Rice’s wife used to ask him, “John, do you love me?”, and he would reply with, “Yes, sweetie, I love you very much.” “Why do you love me, John?” Dr. Rice would then reply, “Because God told me to.” You might at first think, “How cruel!”, but if he loved her for her beauty, what would happen when her beauty was gone? If he loved her for her cooking (Amen fellas?) what would happen when she could no longer cook? Instead, Dr. Rice was wise enough to say, “I love you because…I LOVE YOU!!!” All of the reasons why could one day fade away, but he would still love her! Why? Because he decided to love her!

A famous preacher says, “Love is a decision.” God made the decision to love us. Does He love me because I’m saved? No, He just loves me! Does He love me because I’m separated? No, He just loves me! Does He love me because I am faithful to Him? No, He just loves me! Does He love me because I love Him? No, He just loves me!!! I have done NOTHING to earn His love!!! I am a dirty, rotten, sin-natured, disgusting, vile, accumulation of dirt, and yet the God of Heaven who made the stars, and the moon, and the sun, and the planets, and the animals, all by SPEAKING it into existence, has decided to LOVE me!!! Christian, if that does not excite you, you need a heart transplant!!! God loves you! God loves you! Why? No reason! He just does!!! Say it with me in your heart friend! He loves me! He loves me!!! HE LOVES ME!!!

If I were you, I would turn off the blog right now, get down on my hands and knees, and humble myself before an Almighty God, and thank Him for loving this rotten sinner. He loves us. Is it because we have earned it? No, God said, “he first loved us.” He loved me before I was ever born. Before I ever was a Christian. He loved me before I ever had one good work to my name. And He still loves me. Have you thanked Him for His unmerited love today? If not, do it now. If you have, I think He deserves to hear it again….Thank you God for loving me!!!

 

1 John 4:16 – “…God is love…”