[This reflection was published in the weekly news bulletin of Horley Baptist Church, 20/February/2022]
A few weeks ago I asked God “What message do you have for the Connect in Faith group?” and immediately I felt him say “Tell my people I love them”. This month we have been looking at different aspects of God’s love for us.
1. Like a mother, he feels our pains and pleasures as if they are his own. Jesus said in Matthew 25 v 40: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine you did for me”. We tend to think of this verse in terms of us doing good to others, but it also means that when someone is kind to us, they are being kind to Jesus, as he is so intimately involved with us that our pains and pleasures are his.
The bond Jesus has with us is even stronger than the bond between mother and child. It says in Isaiah 49 v 15, 16: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will never forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands”.
2. Jesus rejoices over us as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride Isaiah 62 v 5 says “As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you”. Ephesians 5 v 25 says “Husbands love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her”.
3. Jesus loves us like a father who would go to any lengths, even risking or sacrificing his life, to save his child. Romans 5 v 8 says: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.
4. Like a mother who forgets her labour pains when she sees her child and says “You are worth it”, Jesus says that we are worth all the pain He went through to give us our second birth. Jesus said in John 16 v 21: “A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world”.
Hebrews 12 v 2 says: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus … who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God”.
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Contributed by Helen Ruffhead; © the Author
