God’s Love and Care
I conclude this series with a reminder of how much God loves and cares for us.
About two weeks into this present pandemonium, our son Seth found a young baby owl on the ground that had fallen about 30 feet from its nest above. We called our friend Jim who is a retired Fish and Game warden, and who takes in orphaned or injured animals. He agreed to take the precious little owlet.
After examining it, Jim found that it’s leg was injured. He wasn’t sure how bad it was, and said we’d have to wait and see if would make it.
Wondering how he could help, my husband Jim asked how much it cost to help feed “Owlet.” The other Jim just told him to catch some gophers.
Right. My Jim is in a constant state of war with gophers around here. And if he is consistent, on a good week, he might catch one, maybe two. So we prayed for little owlet, reminding the Lord that His Word says that He cares for and feeds the birds of the air.
With renewed motivation, Jim set out three traps. By the end of the day he had caught six gophers! He was quick to give glory to God and said in fact, that God seemed to be sending them straight to the traps. He laughed as he told me how one gopher got there a little early and came out of the hole in front of him before he even had time to set the trap!
Little Owlet’s leg is healing and he is growing. It won’t be long and he’ll be set free, released back into his world as a healthy adult, great horned owl.
In showing God’s love and faithfulness to a tiny owlet, He is reminding us that He loves and cares for us. I pray that you will be encouraged with this great truth as much as we are, and that you will watch for the Lord’s love and faithfulness in your own life. I pray that you will be inspired to be faithful to our Great God in return.
God wants us to be confident in His Word that says, “Therefore, if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is here and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore, take no thought, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ …For your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be given to you” (Matthew 6:30-33).
Most of all, I pray that love for God and love for others will be our mindset and habit, for love is the greatest commandment. And “Love never fails…So now abide faith, hope, and love, these three. But the greatest of these is love.” (Luke 10:27, 1 Corinthians 13:8a, 13)
Love is the only way to true, lasting peace, and it is only obtained through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul compares love to a garment. After we put our earthly nature to death and remove the things that accompany that old rag, then he tells us to put Christ’s nature on like a garment that we would sink into, which are of the deepest passions including mercy (compassion) kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, patience and forgiveness. But above all, we are to put on love (Colossians 3).
If we are lacking in any of these traits, our love will be incomplete. I am going to highlight forgiveness, for as we practice it, we are engaging the others because forgiveness encompasses mercy, compassion, humility and patience.
Love for God and obedience to Him is the motivating factor in choosing to forgive. We need to learn and practice forgiving those people that have caused us pain. Those people that make us angry. Those people that we…”hate.” It’s hard to admit that we may harbor hatred when we know it is a violation of God’s commands.
The only way to overcome is through forgiveness. Through choosing to release them from our hook that wants justice. Or is it that we want retribution and revenge? Whatever the motivation of our heart, and whatever we may want to see happen, we must first deal with the sin in our heart. Even if we did nothing to cause the problem initially, we must repent for the sinful thoughts we have engaged… And then we must choose to forgive them even if we never see results. Even if they never change or repent. Even if the relationship is never restored.
Forgiveness releases that person and whatever they did from our responsibility, and it turns them over to God who is mighty to save because of His great love.
And then our Savior, our Salvation fills, penetrates and heals that cavernous wound inside of us that was previously occupied by corrosive poison, with His love.
In the Old Testament, the word “salvation” is translated, “Yeshua!” Salvation is not a thing, it is the person of Jesus Christ! In the New Testament, “save” is translated “sozo,” meaning to heal, deliver, make whole (body, soul, spirit) and to protect. This is exactly what Yeshua came to do, and it is what He accomplished when He died on the cross, and then in His own power, was resurrected to life.
We cannot fully love if we are harboring unforgiveness. We cannot be faithful to God if we do not love. Forgiveness is a process that requires the practice of choosing to forgive over and over and over…. until it is a completed work and love finally reigns.
It is time to clothe our spirit, soul and body with God’s love. To be sunk so deeply into His garment that nothing can separate us from His love. Our faith must be so grounded in Christ’s love that that no amount of shaking can move us away from Him. We must be on guard against the evil one, overcoming fear in the power of Yahweh’s perfect love.
The Lord is preparing an end time harvest of people who are ready to receive the Lord but who need someone to help them come to know Him.
Jesus addressed this when He was on earth. “But when He [Jesus] saw the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they fainted and were scattered, like sheep without a shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest, that He will send out laborers into His harvest’” (Matthew 9:39-38, Revelation 14:15).
As Kingdom citizens, we have been chosen and commissioned to be Christ’s witnesses who share the hope of salvation with the world.
We must be seasoned with God’s love in order to be the laborers who bring in the harvest, who lead people to Yeshua so that He can save them, make them whole, healed and set free to love, worship and serve Him. (Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:16-20).
Hallelujah, Amen!
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