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Jeremiah 31:3 - God's Love is Everlasting.Jeremiah 31:3 (NIV) The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.INTRODUCTION God reaches toward his people with kindness motivated by deep and everlasting love. He is eager to do the best for them if they will only let him. Even God's discipline is an effort to help them avoid sin's consequences by not sinning. After many words of warning about sin, this reminder of God's magnificent love is a breath of fresh air. It's often easy to become so focused on the harsh words God has for people who love their sins, that we begin to dread God altogether. Look carefully and see him lovingly drawing us toward himself. [One Year NLT SB] COMMENTARY PEARLS The True Motive for Following Christ. It is not the fear of punishment, or the hope of everlasting reward, that leads the disciples of Christ to follow Him. They behold the Saviour's matchless love, revealed throughout His pilgrimage on earth, from the manger of Bethlehem to Calvary's cross, and the sight of Him attracts, it softens and subdues the soul. Love awakens in the heart of the beholders. They hear His voice, and they follow Him. {DA 480.3} [Remnant SB] "Jesus has died that I might live. He loves me, and wills not that I should perish. I have a compassionate heavenly Father; and although I have abused His love, though the blessings He has given me have been squandered, I will arise, and go to my Father, and say, 'I have sinned against heaven, and before Thee, and am no more worthy to be called Thy son: make me as one of Thy hired servants.'" The parable tells you how the wanderer will be received: "When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." Luke 15:18-20. But even this parable, tender and touching as it is, comes short of expressing the infinite compassion of the heavenly Father. The Lord declares by His prophet, "I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee. Jeremiah 31:3. While the sinner is yet far from the Father's house, wasting his substance in a strange country, the Father's heart is yearning over him; and every longing awakened in the soul to return to God is but the tender pleading of His Spirit, wooing, entreating, drawing the wanderer to his Father's heart of love. With the rich promises of the Bible before you, can you give place to doubt? Can you believe that when the poor sinner longs to return, longs to forsake his sins, the Lord sternly withholds him from coming to His feet in repentance? Away with such thoughts! Nothing can hurt your own soul more than to entertain such a conception of our heavenly Father. He hates sin, but He loves the sinner, and He gave Himself in the person of Christ, that all who would might be saved and have eternal blessedness in the kingdom of glory. What stronger or more tender language could have been employed than He has chosen in which to express His love toward us? He declares, "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." Isaiah 49:15. SC 53-55 COMMENTARY Drawn by Love Imagine a man courting a woman, expressing his love like this: Every time I see you, darling, surges of dopamine, oxytocin, and vasopressin flow through my limbic system, causing massive neuronal responses in my hypothalamus. Although people don't typically express their love in these terms, that's basically what happens in their brains when they fall in love. Beneath the psychology of romantic infatuation is a neurochemical process. Such passion can be overwhelmingly powerful, which is why "it's so easy to fall in love," according to a hit song from the 70's. But it's not so easy to stay in love, as the divorce rates continue to show. By contrast, God's love is not fleeting but abiding. It's not something that awakens by impulse and then suddenly dies when severely tested. It is, according to today's promise, "everlasting." The context of today's verse is God speaking to His people, "the remnant of Israel" (v. 7) who were "scattered" (v. 10) because of their unfaithfulness to Him. And yet, despite spiritual adultery, God calls His bride a virgin: "Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel!" (v. 4). What kind of love would prompt someone to call their cheating spouse a virgin? Only a love displayed at the cross. Because God's love is infinitely powerful, He paid the ultimate bride-price with His own life (1 John 3:16). Having taken our shameful deeds upon Himself, He looks upon us as virgins - as if we had never cheated on Him. How can you not be drawn to such lovingkindness? Even if you "fall seven times," God can help you "rise again" (Proverbs 24:16) as His virgin bride. Lord Jesus, thank You for loving me despite my waywardness. Help me to be faithful to You. [The Most Amazing Bible Promises by Amazing Facts] ILLUSTRATION This morning, I caught myself entertaining a ridiculous thought. For weeks, I'd been caregiving for my husband after a mishap that landed him writhing on the ground instead of where he'd been on the roof of our house, repairing rain gutters. The caregiving included my taking on all his chores as well as mine as he healed from what turned out to be minor repercussions that still necessitated long hours in his recliner. Two days earlier, I'd "encouragingly" said, "Your goal today, should you choose to accept it, is to become self-sufficient." This morning, my mind prepared to say, "Honey, you can't have all five love languages every single day. That's just not possible." Good thing Jesus stopped my mouth from saying what my mind was thinking. When I consider the divine love I'm shown on good or bad days, when I'm self-sufficient and when I'm excessively needy, when my pain is my own doing and when it's due to someone else's actions or words, I'm speechless. Jesus's unfailing love can be counted on daily. Everlasting. Faultless. Never keeping score. And whose example should motivate me in my love relationships on this earth? Love isn't expressed with candy hearts that say "Be mine" or with an even exchange of "I showed you this much love today, so tomorrow you're making breakfast for me, right?" No. It's loving like Jesus. My ridiculous thought became a plan to show my husband all five love languages every single day. Cynthia Ruchti Faith Step: Look up the five love languages online. Think of a way you can express Jesus's amazing, unfailing love using one or all of them to someone today. [Mornings With Jesus 2025 Devotional by Guideposts and Zondervan] The five love languages are words of affirmation, quality time, physical touch, acts of service, and receiving gifts. AI LINKS FOR FURTHER STUDY Jeremiah 31:3 - Gods Love is Everlasting. https://www.abible.com/devotions/2023/20231125-0748.html https://www.abible.com/devotions/2023/20230116-0908.html Jeremiah 31:3 - ALREADY LOVED. http://www.abible.com/devotions/2022/20220702-0814.html Jeremiah 31:3 - Comprehending the Love of God. http://www.abible.com/devotions/2020/20200416-0940.html Deuteronomy 7:9 - God's Love and Promises are Faithful. https://www.abible.com/devotions/2010/20100328-1139.html Romans 5:8 - Unfathomable Love. https://www.abible.com/devotions/2024/20240829-1246.html John 3:16 - LOVE SUPREME! http://www.abible.com/devotions/2021/20211206-0816.html LINKS WORTH CHECKING OUT https://abible.com/links/ |