Second Best?

From the 2/14/2013 ODB

Leah must have laid awake all night thinking of the moment when her new husband would awaken. She knew that it was not her face he expected to see, but Rachel’s. Jacob had been a victim of deception, and when he realized that a “bait and switch” had occurred, he quickly made a new deal with Laban to claim the woman he had been promised (Gen. 29:25-27).

Have you ever felt insignificant or second-best? Leah felt that way. It’s seen in the names she chose for her first three sons (vv.31-35).Reuben means “See, a Son”; Simeon means “Heard”; and Levi means “Attached.” Their names were all plays on words that indicated the lack of love she felt from Jacob. With each son’s birth, she desperately hoped she would move up in Jacob’s affections and earn his love. But slowly Leah’s attitude changed, and she named her fourth son Judah,which means “Praise” (v.35). Though she felt unloved by her husband, perhaps she now realized she was greatly loved by God.

We can never “earn” God’s love, because it’s not dependent on what we do. In truth, the Bible tells us that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). In God’s eyes, we are worth the best that heaven could offer—the gift of His precious Son.

Love sent the Savior to die in my stead.
Why should He love me so?
Meekly to Calvary’s cross He was led.
Why should He love me so? —Harkness

Nothing speaks more clearly of God’s love than the cross

"The Love of God"

What a beautiful, vivid hymn this is...

Could we with ink the ocean fill
And were the skies
of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill
And every man 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.

"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." -Ephesians 3:17-19

One true love this Valentine's Day

Today's Daily Bread article really stood out for me, so I thought I'd post here. Some powerful, inspirational verses which attests God's love for His children.

WRITTEN IN RED

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READ: 1 John 4:7-19

God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. —1 John 4:9

My first Bible was printed mostly in black type, but some of its words were in red. It didn’t take me long to discover that the ones in red had been spoken by Jesus.

More than 100 years ago, a man named Louis Klopsch published the first “red-letter” Bible. As he thought about Jesus’ words in Luke 22:20, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you,” he purposely used blood-red ink to call specific attention to His words.

The words of the Bible are priceless to us because they tell of the “love letter” God sent 2,000 years ago in the Person of His Son (1 John 4:10).

Jesus’ purpose in coming to earth as a Man was to die, to be sacrificed, to give His life for ours. God’s plan was written in red—written with “the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 1:19).

Those of us who have accepted God’s gift of love are called to be “letters” to those who don’t know Him. We are epistles of Christ “written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God” (2 Cor. 3:3).

Long before a day in February was set aside to celebrate love, the world received a love letter—and that changed everything (John 3:16). — Cindy Hess Kasper

If you’d like to know the love of God the Father,
Come to Him through Jesus Christ, His loving Son;
He’ll forgive your sins and save your soul forever,
And you’ll love forevermore this faithful One. —Felten

Nothing speaks more clearly of God’s love than the cross of Jesus Christ.