Daily Word of Grace # 150 (October 12, 2020)
In his 1986 book Lion and Lamb: The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus the late Brennan Manning wrote, “God loves you as you are and not as you should be! Do you believe this? That God loves you beyond worthiness and unworthiness, beyond fidelity and infidelity, that He loves you in the morning sun and the evening rain, that He loves you without caution, regret, boundary, limit, or breaking point? I am not asking: Do you believe in love? That is abstract ideology…What I am asking is: can you say with conviction what the apostle John writes in his first letter: ‘I have come to know and believe in the love God has for me.’ The last four words—God has for me—turn an abstract proposition into a personal relationship” (20). John indeed writes, “So we have known and believe the love that God has for us” (1 John 4:16)—and what is true corporately is true individually, that God loves you personally more than you can ever imagine, loves you “as you are and not as you should be.” While the love of people for you may ebb and flow—or cease altogether—the love of God for you remains constant, for “the steadfast of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22-23). Every new day begins with new love and new mercy from God toward you.
Love and Prayers,
Dave