The Joy of Love (03/31/2024)

“For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life” (John 3:16)

Jennie was a new bride with brain tumor. She’d gone to Mayo for surgery. Surgery went well, but then suddenly, she suffered a stroke. The family gathered in prayer and waited. And then the doctors told her new husband and parents that she’d waken and they could see her. Their joy was so real it was palpable.

She lost a son when he was an infant. She knew well the pain of loss. As she prayed for her other son, the Marine, daily, she prayed that he would return well and whole. When he stepped into the terminal, her joy escaped and filled the air in a loud cry.

Love produces joy; joy is the fruit of love. If we have loved, we know this. And since the middle of February, as believers, we have focused on the love of our LORD: the love of the Father who sent His own Son so that we might have life; the love of the Son for the Father and for all of us that ran so deep and so pure that He was able to give himself selflessly for our sins though He was without sin; the love of the Spirit in whom Jesus rose on the third day.

Today is Easter. Today we greet one another with great joy. We cannot fully comprehend the love of the LORD for us for we are far from perfect, but we believe with every fiber of our being that the LORD’s love for us played itself out in the passion, death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. Today we proclaim, “He is risen,” along with every other disciple.

Have a blessed and joy filled Easter.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.