Bro. Eddie C. Villanueva
Heartfelt greetings to everyone!
We are again in the month of the year where flowers, chocolates, and stuffed toys fill shops and stalls. While the law of supply and demand dictates that their prices are significantly higher at this time of the year than in any other season, they are still purchased, even if it means skipping a meal or two, all in the name of love.
Because love, in its purest form, always gives. It does not count the cost, only the happiness it will bring the receiver of the gift.
Our heavenly Father loves like that—and even more. Because the gift He gives and the price He paid is far, far greater. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Even though we are a mere speck in His grand creation and even though, practically, we are the ugliest in all His creation because of our sinfulness and disobedience to His will, He still wholeheartedly paid the greatest sacrifice just so we might be saved from imminent death and eternal punishment in hell. He gave His Son, His only Son, Jesus Christ.
“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
What a price He paid, for such creatures of little value like us! And yet He never counted it His loss, only counted it our gain. Because of His love, we can now have full life here on earth and eternal life in the thereafter—all for free. Could there be a love greater than this? Indeed, it is a love so incomprehensibly undeserved and so overwhelmingly authentic… a love that far surpasses anything this world has ever and will ever experience.
Therefore, this February, do not only remember God’s great love. Receive it if you haven’t because, I tell you, it will be the best choice you will ever make in your life… and proclaim it if you have, because it will be the best news your family, friends, and neighbors will ever hear.
Have a love-filled month AND life, everyone! Shalom! Shalom!