A Pillow on Which to Rest Our Weary Heads
I sometimes struggle to believe that God really loves me. I can be tempted to feel a sense of failure and self-condemnation. It is relatively easy to believe that God loves everybody else, but it is much harder to believe that God loves me.
The love of God, Paul explains in Romans 8, starts with ‘no condemnation’ (v.1) and ends with no separation: nothing ‘will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord’ (v.39). John Stott describes the truth of this passage as ‘a pillow on which to rest our weary heads’.
‘God loves each one of us as if there was only one of us to love,’ wrote St Augustine. If you were the only person who had ever lived, Jesus would have died for you. And if it is true of you, it is also true of me. God loves me and you.
Tell of the great love of the Lord - Psalm 89:1-8
The focus of both our worship and our witness is the love of God.
Worship. This psalm begins with worship, a hymn of praise (vv.1–18), focusing on God’s love: ‘I will sing of the Lord’s great love forever’ (v.1). Think about God’s greatness and glory – how amazing it is to be loved by the ‘Lord God Almighty’ (v.8). This is something that can never be taken away from you. The psalmist writes, ‘Your love stands firm forever’ (v.2).
Witness. The message you pass onto others should always center on God’s love: ‘I’ll never quit telling the story of your love’ (v.2, MSG).
