To Know That She Is Loved
As Ray was about to pray during our team meeting yesterday morning, one of our team members asked for prayers for her sister-in-law who was to receive a feeding tube later that day. In his prayer, Ray asked God to help this lady know that she is loved.
His words touched me deeply. I could picture the inside of the hospital, sense the presence of this sister-in-law, and understand deeply that yes, she needs to know she is loved. How terrible the scene would be without her having that essential knowledge. When life is hard, when death feels near, when loneliness engulfs, we want to know that we are loved.
To know she is loved, to know he is loved—this meets the needs of every person. Jesus said that the first commandment is to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. He said that the second is like it: to love our neighbors as ourselves. Every person needs to know: I am loved.
Good manners is a way to make others know they are loved. Bad manners is a way to tell others that they don’t matter.
Sharing the gospel is a way to make others know they are loved—by God and by the teller of good news.
Meeting the needs others is a way to tell them that they are loved.
Love is not extra fluff. It is the essential nourishment of the hearts, souls, minds, and bodies of every human.
Our children need to know that they are loved. Our children need us to teach them how to help others know that they are loved.
We serve a God Who is love.
The one who does not love
does not know God,
for God is love.
1 John 4:8
Even He wants to know that we love Him. He made it the first and foremost commandment.
Loving one another is the identifying mark of who we are.
A new commandment I give to you,
that you love one another,
even as I have loved you,
that you also love one another.
By this all men will know
that you are My disciples,
if you have love for one another.
John 13:34-35
God showed us how to love by loving us first.
For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3:16
Let that profound, astounding, incomprehensible verse sink deep into your soul and remember:
We love, because He first loved us.
1 John 4:19
I wanted you to know that your posts have been a blessing to me. I just finished reading through the epistles of John, and this is such an encouraging reminder! I also wanted to say that the story you shared the other day about your father brought tears to my eyes; thank you for sharing your heart with us!