Love Forgets One’s Wrongs

There are times when because of one sin, a person is condemned forever as though he could never do anything good anymore. Instead of seeing a person in the image of God, fully capable of repenting his wrongs and correcting his ways, we see his sins always before us, focusing on them as though they would always define who he is.

The Worth of Our Tears

Love… bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. – 1 Corinthians 13:4,7 (WEB)

This life is full of beautiful things, though it is also full of suffering and pain. Many times, no matter how strong we are, we hurt. We cry from the depths of our soul and our spirit groans as we lift our prayers to heaven.

In such times, the last thing we need is for someone to come by and say that we have no reason at all to be sorrowful. The last thing we need is for someone to neglect our pain as though it didn’t matter, as though none of the things we went through were real.

Pain is real. We bleed sometimes. Though we all want relief from the pain, we also want deeper consolation.

There at the cross, we see all pain and darkness conquered in such a way that it is defeated forever. Not by disregarding it. Not by denying it. But by giving value even to our tears. By loving everything about us, including our very worst hurts.

How do you wipe away pain? You don’t. You put in tenderness, compassion and joy. You cling to hope and then you offer everything to God. And you wait, with faith you see all things anew – light shines out from darkness, happiness grows through every pain, and all things become indeed so very beautiful in His time.

God Knows Your Name

God does not love the crowd, but the person within the crowd. He may attract a multitude, but what truly matters to Him is if you could let Him in your heart.
-Wisdom Nwani

God loves you as you. He loves you with all that He could possibly give from Himself. It is a love that is more intimate than the love between spouses, a love more personal than the love of a mother for the child in her womb.

God’s love is personal. It is not a mere universal force that cannot think or speak on its own. It is not a mere power that we can manipulate at will.

Believing in God’s love requires more than knowledge. True belief needs to be expressed in an authentic relationship that changes us because we have known just how much we are valued and loved.

God knows your name.
And had you been
the only person who needed
to be saved,
He would still have
died on the cross
for you.

Look up at the sky!
Who created the stars you see?
The one who leads them out like an army,
he knows how many there are
and calls each one by name!
-Isaiah 40:26, GNT

Anger Has Its Place

He who who cannot be angry with evil cannot truly be capable of loving what is good. – Jocelyn Soriano

Anger has its place. We don’t have to be filled with thoughts of revenge or of uncontrollable wrath. But we don’t have to forego anger either.

Anger can move us to recognize what is evil, to see how injustice is being done to our neighbors and to do something about it. Anger can urge us to take action to defend the oppressed, and to find justice for those who are exploited.