Christianity 101: Building a Firm FoundationSample

Continuing in His Love...

The LORD your God in your midst…
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17 NKJV

God actually rejoices over you! The variety of Hebrew words used in this text declare that God is exultant, glad, has mirth, leaps, dances, and even spins in rapturous joy—over you!

We will spend the rest of our lives discovering the never-ending depth of God’s love! The more we know and experience His love in our hearts, not just our minds, the more our fears, insecurities, and anxieties disappear. This is another reason to be daily in God’s Word—it speaks over and over again of His love for us personally. A steady feast of this truth can change everything regarding how well we journey in life.

The Apostle Paul tells us that the depth, breadth, width, and height of Lord Jesus’ love for you is inexhaustible. It is His choice to bestow it upon you, regardless of whether you respond to Him. It is not dependent upon what you do or don’t do. Nothing can ever separate you from it.

Although it is imperative to experience His felt love in your heart (Romans 5:5), when you don’t sense God’s love in your emotions, you can still trust what your mind now knows is the truth: God loves you no matter what! The fact of God’s Word will always be greater than how we feel.

Within 1 Corinthians 13—often called the Love Chapter—we find laid before us the various attributes of God’s irresistible agape:

It is patient, kind, and not jealous, boastful, proud, or rude. It doesn’t demand its own way, nor is it irritable or keeps a record of wrongs. It doesn’t rejoice at injustice but rejoices when truth prevails. Agape bears and believes all things, hopes and endures through all things. Bottom line—God’s love never fails.

And the preeminent demonstration of His love towards us?

God Himself entered humanity as a babe to save us who were separated from His holiness due to our sinfulness. The Lord Jesus, divesting Himself of all godly prerogatives, fully God, yet becoming fully man, to pay the penalty of our rebellion and brokenness with His shed blood.

Tomorrow, we will continue our journey and learn more about His ultimate sacrifice and gift of love.

• 1 John 4:17-18 makes powerful statements. How do they encourage or challenge you?
• What does it mean for you to not only know about His love but also feel it, Romans 5:5?
• Ponder what it means to rest in His love as you read Ephesians 3:17-20.
• What portion of Romans 8:37-39 speaks most to you today?
• How does 1 John 4:7-11 touch your heart?