Fresh Bread
      # 9

IT’S NOT “THIS” OR “THAT”
(Pure Love)

      Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit…I love You. It’s more than the things You do and have done for me. Even more that what you will do for me. It’s just You. It’s just LOVE.

      “If you loved me…you’d do ‘ this’ or ‘ that’ for me. ”, the young boy’s family told him.
      So he did “this” and “that” to the full. He did all the things they asked him to do, but they still didn’t seem to love him.
      The little boy grew up physically into a man, but refused to use the word “Love”. He must have been hurt so deeply by this disappointment that when he heard the words: “God is Love”, he connected God with the people who had not kept their word to him. How could he trust God? How could he trust Love?
      Even the little boy had picked up a part of his family’s belief without realizing it. He too, began expecting others to “do this” and “do that” to prove their love to him. But no one was able to do enough to prove they loved him. And he could never do enough to prove that he was worthy of love. But, subconsciously, he was always trying.
      As I visited with our Lord this morning, and always feel that I can be honest with Him, I said: “Lord, everyone is celebrating Easter, the Feasts, and all kinds of programs which have required much work on the part of Your children. They do this to honor You.
      Yet, surely I am a different kind of little bird because I sit here in wonderment as people celebrate your Resurrection as though it is just now happening. And for me…it happened so long ago. You have been ALIVE in my life for so long. Long enough to send Your Holy Spirit to teach me about You, Your ways, Your fellowship, and Your Love.
      You are LOVE.
      “And Father, it’s really not all the things you did for me and continue to do for me, or all the things I’ve done for You, trying to prove my love for You.

LOVE IS JUST LOVE
NO STRINGS ATTACHED

      I love You because You are You. I cannot explain Your Love, Lord. It’s too big to explain. And as you abide in me and I abide in You… we are one in love. There’s nothing to earn, nothing to prove. It’s just there because You are LOVE.
      And could someone have known Your Love and been able to love this little boy with Your love, he would not have been disappointed. If he had been made aware of the FULLNESS of Your love already in him (surrounding him and caring for him), it would have easily poured forth from him to others. He would have had “more than enough” to satisfy himself and more running over to all those in his path.
      And he could have easily said with sincerity, “I love you because God loves me.” (I John 4:19). “And His Love abides in me to the FULL.”
      Please read 1 John 4:7-21, asking God to reveal to you the FULLNESS of His revelation as you read. It will give substance to the understanding of His Love for you and in you.
      Yet, can anyone really explain the Love of God? You can only EXPERIENCE it…by accepting the FULLNESS of His LOVE in you.

Another song returns to me now:

♫ Oh, Love of God
How rich, how pure;
How measureless and strong.
It shall forever more endure,
The saints and angels’
Song. ♫

Your Love, Oh Lord, is measureless and without limits.
It cannot be explained.
It must be
EXPERIENCED.