At Home in His Love

                                                       

I have    LOVED  YOU    the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. John 15:9-10 The Message

How very odd that this Valentines Day, which is all about Love, directly follows the first day of Lent (Ash Wednesday), which is all about Love. I think there is nothing quite so mind-boggling about our Christian faith as trying to grasp the way the Father loves us. Rick Warren once said, "You were made by God and for God and until you understand that, life will never make sense." To know you have been made by God and for God means that you are created out of Love, for Love. More mind-boggling still is that Jesus invites us to "make ourselves at home" in that love. (see John 15:9-10 on the left) Our lives make sense and find peace only when we know his love, only when we can grasp it and embrace it and live in it. Everything that we know about the Father--his grace, his faithfulness to us, his forgiveness--all flows out of the center of His Love for us. And there we make our home. And it is safe. Happy Valentines Day from your Father who loves you with an everlasting love! Greg    What is Lent? In the traditional church calendar, Lent is the 40 days leading up to Easter. It began with Ash Wednesday yesterday. Lent is the time that we prepare our hearts for Easter. Jesus went into the wilderness for forty days that he might overcome the temptations of Satan. We take these 40 days before Christ's walk to the cross so we, too, might face our enemies. You might do this through a special daily devotional reading or podcast....or by giving up some activity you are very attached to in order to use that time with the Lord instead....or by prayer and fasting. The important thing isn't what we do or how we do it, but that we take this time in our distracted lives to turn our faces toward the Savior. Ann Voskamp calls it a season of preparing our hearts "....for a deeper appreciation of Mercy, the need of the cross, the miracle of Easter, the sacrifice on the Grace-tree that made us worthy..." Here are some resources: www.24-7prayer.com/podcast is a great 5-minute daily video clip for Lent taken from the Gospel of John (if it doesn't come up, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Podcasts) Catch up on the one you missed yesterday--it's at the bottom of the page! Reliving the Passion by Walter Wangerin Bread and Wine: Readings for Lent and Easter (devotional readings from various authors) Seeing and Savoring Christ by John Piper www.daniel-fast.com is helpful info for those of you who are considering a fast during this time. Susan Gregory also has a free Kindle download on Amazon (just for the next couple of days) called The Daniel Fast Daily Devotional for Lent