“God so loved the world that He gave …”
Is there any love greater? Nothing can compare. There is no story as good as this one, no love as pure.
And here’s the wonderful truth, we can all claim it as our own. He loves me. Absolutely. Completely. You can even be selfish about it. I can talk about how He loves you, and you can talk about how He loves me, but we can both claim His love for our own as well. He loves us. “Jesus loves me this I know …”
There is no way to fathom this love. You cannot get to the bottom of it, or the breadth and width of it, nor can you can you reach to its heights. There is simply no way to contain it.
But it is more than an emotion — so much more. He came. He gave. He emptied Himself; He embraced our humanity. He endured mockery, humiliation, and beatings. Somewhere among those 39 lashes was a stripe that healed you and He took one for me, too. He suffered, bled and died. And it was love that made Him do it.
On the day we celebrate love, we celebrate the greatest love of all — the one that made all the other ones possible.
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And everyone a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
would drain the ocean dry;
nor could the scroll contain the whole,
though stretched from sky to sky.
The love of God how rich and pure
How measureless and strong;
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.
Frederick M. Lehman 1868-1953
Kind of puts that box of chocolates and Hallmark card in perspective, doesn’t it? However, that box of chocolates and Hallmark card are important, as is anything we can do which gets us out of ourselves. That is the way we continue what Jesus started. Anything we do which mirrors what Christ has done for us is putting us where God wants us to be. He is showing us how to love.
John Fischer The Catch 
Enjoying these very much, and glad to be reconnected. Good times together at Northwest Nazarene University.
Gene! How good to hear from you. What are you doing now? Do you think they would ever have an old guy like me back?
I retired in ’14. and have done a little interim pastoring and whatever I told to do beyond that. The chaplain now is Grant Miller, who was likely a student when you were there before. Not sure what they are doing re. outside speakers these days.
This is totally unrelated to the Valentine’s Day blog but I just now heard about the new movie, The Jesus Revolution with Kelsey Grammer portraying pastor Chuck Smith. Has anybody else at The Catch heard about this? I can’t believe you all haven’t! And could this be the public beginning of the movement John keeps talking about?!!
Hi J.D.. Waiting until I see it before saying anything about it, but it surely does indicate the level of interest that’s out there right now.
John, thank you bro, that makes sense. I’m sure gonna see it! Lord bless you guys as we move toward this new song, this new frontier!
This message said it all. Jesus the greatest love of all. Doesn’t get any better than that. I can not imagine our lives without this great love. I hope to get these messages direct again soon.
I will try again.
Third time.
A little late for Valentine’s Day but always timely…
Rest in Shalom, Peace Burt Bacharach (94)…