God ‘Hearts’ You Always
By Pastor Mitch
February 29, 2012
MISSING OUT ON GOD’S LOVE SHINING THROUGH TO US
I always pride myself in having an eye for details when taking a photograph. When I first took this sunset somewhere near Mount Fuji, I thought it was a straight forward scenic picture of God’s beautiful creation. Until one day when someone saw this picture on my computer desktop and commented, “Hey Pastor Mitch, I see the shape of a heart.” True enough, there was a shape of the heart being reflected on the lake by the evening sunrays. It was truly a “revelation”. And there I was a photographer for many years and I totally missed out on the “heart of light”…so much for having an eye for details. This incident with this picture reminded me of how God’s heart of love is always shining through to us but sometimes we don’t see it or appreciate it as we should. We can be so caught up with looking at the other details that we miss out on what is most important. We can be so focused on the “dark clouds” that we overlook God’s “rays of love” irradiating in our lives.
“I HAVE LOVED YOU,” SAYS THE LORD”
“’I have loved you,” says the LORD, yet you say, ‘In what way have You loved us?” Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” says the LORD. Yet Jacob I have loved…”
– Malachi 1:2
The people of Israel in the text of Malachi had totally missed out on the love of God. They had forgotten how much the Lord had loved them. The last book of the Old Testament was written at a time when the Jews had returned from exile and the initial renewal of faith and love of God was now waning. Their hearts were becoming hardened and both the priests and the people found it a weary chore to offer worship to the Lord. They had come to a stage where they had taken His love for granted and had forgotten about it. The Lord plainly and lovingly declared that He had loved Israel. But they rebutted by saying in what way had the Lord loved them. God’s reply was that it was He who had chosen Jacob from the start to love and bless and not Esau. The Lord had specially selected Jacob and thus Israel as a nation to love, cherish and bless all these many years. He had historically demonstrated this love to Israel. The Lord had continued to love them fervently. And yet they did not appreciate this love. Young people, God loves us very much, from the beginning of time till today and beyond. Let’s not be so caught with what we need to do in life that we forget the Lord and His love. No matter what we may go through, let us always remember His everlasting love. Let’s always appreciate His love and respond by seeking to love Him in return with all our heart and soul.
