“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:8-10 (NIV)
God is love. He doesn’t just give love, have love, or know all about love.
He is love. Jesus is the physical image and the human incarnation of the invisible God. All of God’s love was incarnated into Jesus, sending Him into the world as a living valentine.
God loved us long before we knew anything about Him, and all through our lives, He continually draws us nearer to Him, through His son. There are no limits to the methods God will use to reveal His love to us.
I once experienced a revelation of His love when I was in my late twenties, through a brief, powerful and unforgettable dream. There were no words or actions in this dream, just an overwhelming aura of love emanating from one smiling face.
I dreamed I saw the face of someone looking at me, from across a vast expanse, which separated me from him. His face was blurry and the facial features were indistinct, because of the distance of that expanse, but as my gaze locked onto his, I somehow knew it was Jesus.
His smile permeated me with His loving Presence. It was all expressed explicitly, but without using any words. I had an overwhelming desire to be nearer to Him who was smiling at me, and to remain with Him forever. I was never so sad to wake up from a dream.
The power of God’s presence is really summed up in one word, LOVE, and Jesus is the face and the embodiment of God’s love.
We can learn of God’s love through the words in scripture, like, “God so loved the world, that He gave His son”… (John 3:16), or read how God described Himself to Moses, “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness “ (Exodus 34:6)
Scripture can give glimpses of God’s abounding love but once we realize that Jesus is smiling at us, it all becomes very personal.
We tend to think of God as the Supreme being who is holy, almighty and watching us from a distance, but Jesus constantly referred to God as both His Father, and ours. When Jesus talked about God, He never calls Him God. He refers to Him as “Father.”
God is holy, but He is also a good father, and good fathers smile at their sons and daughters. Jesus is the face of God sent to reveal everything we need to know about our Heavenly Father.
There’s a beautiful song called “Truth”, sung by Megan Woods, which I attached below. One line of the lyrics, is “The truth is I am my Father’s child, I make Him proud and I make Him smile.” When I first heard this song, it reminded me of my dream. If only everyone took a moment to pause from the worries or distractions that fill our minds, and visualize Jesus smiling at us.
I know a lot of people who are hurting right now, going through some really tough trials, and at times they probably wonder if God is still with them. Life situations change, people change, our trust fluctuates and the entire earth is currently suffering birth pangs, but one thing is constant and never changes-the truth that we are truly loved by our Father in heaven, and Jesus is smiling at us.
God has already sent us a living, breathing, valentine, who embodied all of His love. He left a throne in heaven, to live among His sons and daughters, and to be one of them. He knows everything we feel, since He also felt it. For three years our living valentine dwelt among His sons and daughters. He touched them, healed them, hugged them, laughed with them, cried with them, and just like a valentine, as we open it and look inside, His words are,
“Will you be all mine?”
“Will you trust Me?”
“I love you always”
We need to pause and stop judging our self worth based on what we have done or not done, instead of what Jesus has already done for us. He considered us worthy of His love, long before we did anything good or bad, because He loved us first. We made Jesus smile before we knew who He was, and He loves each of us as if there were only one of us.
Lord, thank you for being our living Valentine and we respond to you saying, “I’m all yours, I trust you, and I love you. Amen”
❤️ Happy Valentine’s Day!
Megan Woods – The Truth (Official Lyric Video) – YouTube
