God's Steadfast Love

By Jan Bernick, Parish Nurse

Its February! I love Valentine’s Day! It’s a special day designated to express love and appreciation to those we love and appreciate. Of course, we should do this everyday and whenever we have the chance. Often, we don’t. We’re busy. We’re thinking of the next thing or the urgent or the problem. Worse, we take for granted that those people most important to us already know we love them.

God’s word has so much to say about love. God’s steadfast love. In the book of Psalms alone God’s “steadfast love” is declared at least 125 times!

Steadfast. Let’s think about the meaning of the word, and as we dwell on it for a few minutes, remember the phrase is describing God’s love toward us: Devoted. Faithful. Unfailing. Loving kindness. Goodness. Loyalty.

In Jeremiah’s great lamentations to a people who despised him, and were miserable and evil toward him, and eventually stoned him to death, he still proclaimed the steadfast love of the Lord toward them. Will God punish sin? You better believe it. God’s just punishment does not diminish his love. God loves you. Case settled.

It is because of this steadfast love of the Lord we can be assured, convinced, and confident that even as the Lord disciplines us (Hebrews 12:6) his love for us is unchanged and he’s ready at all times to show mercy and compassion to those who turn to him.

Jeremiah proclaims this in Lamentations 3:22-23:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
His mercies never come to an end.
They are new every morning:
Great is your faithfulness.
 
As we consider how we care for our physical hearts, let’s also remember our spiritual heart. In the Book of Wisdom, Proverbs 4:23 warns us to guard our heart, the center of our being, our thought-life if you will. Why? Because how we think results in choices we make and the choices we make results in the patchwork of our life. We guard our heart by filtering our thought-life through the unchanging word of God. God’s word trumps everything else.

May you be blessed and a blessing as you share your love and the steadfast love of God with those you encounter! Happy February! Spring is not far away!