Devotion for the Week of Valentines, 2017 - PROOF OF LOVE

PROOF OF LOVE

Ephesians 1:4-5 (KJV), According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,”

Private First Class John Eddington held his newborn daughter, Margret, in his arms shortly before he was deployed to liberate Europe from the Nazi occupation.  The year was 1944.  Before his departure he composed a poignant three page letter expressing his intense love for baby Peggy, as he called her.

Almost immediately upon arriving in Italy, PFC Eddington was killed in action.

His wife kept the precious letter in a box in the attic for the day Peggy would be old enough to read it for herself.  But as time passed Mrs. Eddington forgot about the existence of the letter, and almost never mentioned her late husband.  Consequently, Peggy grew up never knowing how much her father loved her.

But in 2014, someone rummaging through Peggy’s late mother’s possessions discovered the box containing a letter addressed to “My Darling Daughter.”  The letter was delivered to its rightful recipient.  When Peggy, now seventy years old, read the letter she learned for the first time what had been in her father’s heart when he got news that he was leaving for the war.  He assured her that she would always be on his mind.

“I love you so much,” John had written.  “Your mother and daddy … are going to give you everything we can.  We will always give you all the love we have.”  He concluded with the words: “I love you with all my heart and soul forever and forever.  Your loving daddy.”

Do you think Peggy was unmoved by that declaration?  Inconceivable.  And yet, sometimes when we study our Heavenly Father’s words to us in the Bible we focus so much on what we are doing wrong (reproof), and what God expects of us (correction), and what God teaches us about doctrine and theology and wisdom (training in righteousness), that we lose sight of the most staggering truth in all of God’s word: God loves us.

There are a myriad ways God demonstrates his love for us, but here are three for you to ponder this week…

  1. Your Heavenly Father Predestined You.  God knew you and chose you before he made the world.  He called you out by name before you were born, and pursued you with a passion to secure your inclusion in his family.
  1. Your Heavenly Father Adopted You.  The doctrine of adoption is one of the most precious proofs of God’s love for us. Your salvation is not the result of some cold, theological equation; it is the climax of an epic love story.
  1. Your Heavenly Father Gave His Son for You.  The pinnacle of God’s proof that he loves us is what he was willing to give to secure our adoption and to bring us into his family. He chose us because he loved us and it cost him the death of his Son.

John 3:16 (KJV), For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

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