Love

 And now these three remain - faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)

Well known words from a very well known chapter in the Bible.

Ponder them for a moment. It is crucial that we never lose faith and hope. There are many circumstances in life that can cause these things to be shaken. I am sure that as you look back over your own life you will find situations, experiences which have caused your faith to waver and your hope in Christ to falter. But for many of us, we have found that time after time there has been that undergirding of the presence of God which has caused us to find that we stand on a solid rock - and we are upheld! 

The scripture says - the greatest of these is love. And in this there is the secret. It is not our faith or our hope which is the anchor - it is His love.

I have found this year that Easter and all it means is still very alive in the spiritual atmosphere around us. There are many aspects of Easter which bring God and the Lord Jesus very close to us - and the greatest of these is love. I was speaking to someone a few days ago, someone who is finding life very hard at the moment and was feeling that she wasn’t measuring up to what a Christian should be. As we spoke, I felt the love of God reaching out to her - He is the God of all compassion who knows our frailty and is there to help and strengthen us in our weakness. I don’t know how much our conversation helped her, but it certainly left a profound impact on me. He loves us, Calvary shows the depths of that love, and His love remains and always will remain. I have gone through the rest of this week with a tremendous sense of the constancy of the love of God for my soul - and for every soul. I must hold on to faith and hope, but it is the undergirding of His love that is the secret.

And as we rest in that love, surely our love for Him begins to grow. And that is what brings more strength to our souls than our faith and our hope. Remember that when Peter was restored by the Lord Jesus the question Christ asked him was not about faith or hope. It was:

 "Simon, do you love me?" (John 21:17)

​His faith had been shaken and so had his hope - but his love was still strong. And in his restoration faith, hope and his own love were strengthened by the love of Christ and he went into a new day.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end.  (Lamentations 3:22)

Rest in His love as you face a new tomorrow.

Jennifer