Romans 5:8, "But God demonstrated his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners Christ died for us."
A friend of mine would say of certain people, "They talk a good game," implying that their words were idle chatter, with no action behind them. James 1:22 admonishes us, "Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says," and James 2:14, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?" and James 2:18b, "Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do." In other words, what we say should be backed up by our actions to prove that our words are true. Today we have the saying, "Talk is cheap." Actions exact a price--sometimes in time, sometimes in energy, and sometimes we are required to make a sacrifice of money or something else material.
God tells us over and over in the Scripture how much He loves us, but His words are not just cheap conversation. He has backed them up by action after action.
First of all, God created a world with air, water, food, heat--all the things He knew we would need physically--and He included beauty to minister to our hearts and souls as well. Then He created us, breathing into our bodies the breath of life. He sustains us and our world day after day. Colossians 2:17b, speaking of Christ, says, "In him all things hold together."
Second, Jesus is our Emmanuel, God with us, and he has promised never to leave us nor forsake us.
Third, God takes us to be His children just as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us like He finds us. He is always working to make us more and more like His Son Jesus, and He never gives up.
Fourth, our heavenly Father's ears are always attentive to our prayers. He hears us and answers us. He works all things that happen to us for our good if we love Him and are obeying Him.
Most of all, God proved His love for us by the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."
Over and over God has proven to us, and continues to show us, how very much He loves us. Celebrate His love. Bask in it. And pass it along all year.
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