"You see I have told you".

(Matthew 28:7) …See, I have told you."

The word “love” is often thrown around rather easily; statements like “I love you” which in many cases, evidently only ever lasts for a season, here today and then gone tomorrow appears to be the order of the day, proving that “love “ hasn’t truly been understood by the masses. Once again I observe the norm and not the exception and it’s this phenomenon that I wish to explore.

The quote, “blood is thicker than water” obviously carries a lot of weight behind it. A solid infrastructure is often easily witnessed amongst tight knit families and yet we all have our limits, which if reached, can often jam up the flow of that bond. We all seem to have a natural tendency to go so far but no further. Our levels of tolerance are pushed and then reset and pushed again and somewhere amongst the miss-mash of it all, relationships can be fragmented and destroyed; Pride is often the final straw which breaks the camels back. Our understanding of love has been so distorted that we often reason with a misconception of what we believe love should look like.

The greatest act of love was this; "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) – God sent the darling of heaven to die for His enemies, you and me! We were hostile towards God, until the day arrived where we fell in love with the Lord Jesus. Unpack that action; God sending His Son to die for His enemies and it will soon become obvious how great a love God has shown mankind.

Most have the capacity to love when they are treated with respect and cherished the way they would like to be prized. This is one of the reasons the world so easily falls in and out of love, when their partner no longer does it for them, the way they expect it to be done, they move on to their next proposition and the hunt is on for “new love”. Words like “I have found my soul mate”, until they are no longer what you thought they were and therefore you must have been mistaken; so the circle of life, within the realm of the pursuit of love continues.

We have books written on the subject and varying voice giving their opinions on the theme and even now I am amongst that number. However what I have learnt is my opinion does not count for much in the bigger scheme of things, but what does count is the WORD OF GOD! Whenever we need to have our bearings realigned or trim our sails to stay the course, we needn’t look further than the Word of God! Amazingly there are recorded accounts of people, angels and even the Lord Himself making these types of statements; “See, I have told you.” – The implications behind the final authority of the Bible carries with it tremendous strength and backing. God has ordained what has been penned and He has given us all we need to know for this life and the life to come. It’s as if HE is saying, look no further; see I have told you! 

Without arriving at that place, a habitation of faith and trust in what has been penned you will always second guess most things in life. It like a man who builds his house on the sand, and the storms comes and washes his house away. Whilst his neighbour builds his house upon a solid foundation, THE WORD OF GOD and when the different trails throughout his lifetime present themselves, his house stands and he is kept safe from the doubt and the clanging voices of society. Lots of noise without any eternal substance attached, causing panic and doubt, a playground of lies from the devil and his workers. He has always and will continue to challenge the Word of God as the final authority. We will find ourselves in one of two camps, believing and trusting in the Word or in the other doubting and second guessing it at every conflicting opportunity.       

God has not only given His children a guarantee, in and through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, but He infused the Word into our world. The Word of God became flesh, Jesus Christ is the Living Word of God; “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:12-14) - The same Power used to create the universe, THE WORD OF GOD, became a man and then lived and died to give mankind a way out, a way of escape to avoid the WRATH of God, which is an eternal judgement, which is yet to play out. Do you understand? “You see I have told you.”

God Spoke creation into being, mankind’s sin separated themselves from God and their sinful behaviour began to dominate their lifestyles. It soon became very obvious that the relationship between God and man had become disconnected. Mankind’s sinful behaviour became so rife that God destroyed the earth with a flood. Through the chapters of time, some four thousand years into the history of mankind God took pity on the world having mercy on them and giving them a way out of the condemnation that faced the world, we are taught that “we were condemned already”; the verdict had already been passed. We are guilty of our own sin and our breach against the laws of God. We all deserved eternal death because of it! Some may find that truth hard to swallow, but be that as it may, it’s not what happened; the LOVE OF GOD was unleashed; God gave us His only begotten Son to break the shackles of sin and to repair the damaged done by Eve which Adam embraced; an action that drove a wedge between God and them. This needed repair if we would escape God’s wrath. Hence the main scene of “the Love of God” introduced into the world just over two thousand years ago and the offer of that love is still available to whoever will cry out unto Jesus. Seeking His forgiveness and embracing His love. This is what the WORD declares; “For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."” (Romans 10:13)

      

The obvious cry would have been “an eye for an eye” but God’s love supersedes that type of behaviour in this particular instance; God’s love does have its limitations when it come to the sinful behaviours of mankind; reject His offer in and through the finished work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and you will not be covered by that love, but rather face the judgement of God. Examine the rest of the text if you do not believe what I say. “You see I have told you.”

Signing off

Tyrone