Consider Jesus! He IS LOVE!

Good Morning!!  I want to share with you today one of the MAJOR themes of the book of Hebrews.  CONSIDER JESUS!  This call to action is found all throughout the book, but the verse that I believe states it the best comes from Hebrews 3:1.  It says this, “Therefore brothers and sisters who share in a Heavenly Calling, CONSIDER JESUS, the Apostle and High Priest of our Confession!”  Over and Over again the author of Hebrews is calling the readers to CONSIDER JESUS so that they may CONTINUE FOLLOWING Him!  I LOVE what this word “Consider” means.  It means “To Observe Fully, to Discover, to Understand Fully, to Carefully Consider!”  It denotes “the action of the mind in apprehending certain facts about a thing.”  In other words, we are to Observe Fully, to Discover, to Understand Fully, to Carefully Consider so that we may apprehend certain fact about JESUS CHRIST and know Him even more Intimately!  The More Intimately we Know Jesus the more we will desire to Follow Him Faithfully!  I want to encourage us over the next several weeks to CONSIDER JESUS!!  Consider who He is and What He has done for YOU!  We will be doing that by CONSIDERING different aspects of our Savior each week!  As it is almost Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be Great for us to start by CONSIDERING this fact about Jesus; He is LOVE and I want you to CONSIDER HOW Jesus has LOVED YOU!!!  I invite you, on what our family calls “Love Day,” to CONSIDER ALL the ways Jesus has LOVED YOU!  The Key Verse, as you take up this challenge, is this:  “CONSIDER the Kind of EXTRAVAGENT LOVE the Father has LAVISHED on US…”  This verse is found in 1 John 3:1.  This Week the focus of our CONDERATION of Jesus will be directed at His EXTRAVAGENT LOVE!!  As you begin to think about all the ways Jesus has shown His love for you, you may be surprised at what you discover!  We know from 1 John 4:8 that “God is Love!”  It is amazing to think that in EVERY interaction you have with Him, it will be an interaction of LOVE!  Let us Never forget that Jesus is not just a LOVING person, HE IS LOVE itself!!!  That is WHAT He is!  Consider that!  Meditate on it!  Let the Truth of Who Jesus IS silence every doubt you have!  Do you know that every encounter you have, every moment you live following Him will be lived in love!  I want to share, through the eyes of a child, how His Love can be seen even in hard times.  Very recently, my daughter and my husband went to Seattle for a dance competition.  My son and I stayed home because he had basketball playoffs.  Now, we were only separated for a weekend, but without my knowledge, something tragic took place at home in regards to my daughter.  One of the things she loved very much was her sweet bunny named Bugs.  She loved this bunny, played with him all the time, took him on walks, fed him all kinds of treats and cuddled him.  When she returned home from the trip she went out to his hutch and made the devastating discovery that he was dead.  I was not home that evening, but my husband told me that the wail he heard from outside chilled his bones.  He knew something awful had happened.  Of course we went into full comforting mode with her.  We had a funeral for the bunny and buried him in the back yard.  I held her as she cried and cried over this loss.  It took her several days before she could talk openly about it all, but when she could, one of our conversations surprised me.  As she was getting ready for Valentine’s Day, she was thinking about a Valentine she wanted to write to Jesus.  I had wanted to know if this loss had affected her relationship with Jesus so I gently asked her if losing Bugs had made her think Jesus didn’t love her or care about her.  I asked if she was upset with God at all, thinking I may need to counsel her through this.  She responded to my questions right away by saying, “Why would I be mad at God, Just Think About How Much Jesus Loves Me!”  I was startled that this was her response so I asked her what she meant and she told me that before she went to Seattle she had been able to have a Great Long goodbye with Bugs.  She was able to tell him how much she loved him.  She got to hug him and kiss him.  She said to me, “Mom, this is how Great Jesus loves me.  He let me have this awesome time with Bugs before he died.  The timing was a gift.  If it had just been any old day and he had died, I may never have had the opportunity to love on him like I did, but since I was leaving for a trip; my last memory with him is a wonderful goodbye!”  With tears in my eyes, I said, “You are So right!  He does Love you so Much!”  The way she began her answer really stuck with me.  She had said, “Just Think about how much Jesus loves me!”  Oh How I pray that each one of us would CONSIDER just how much Jesus loves us!  Even during the hard times.  Even during the losses, and heartaches, and pain.  If we will stop and THINK about it, we will see His LOVE for us Shining Through in Every Circumstance!  I want to challenge you TODAY to CONSIDER the EXTRAVAGENT LOVE JESUS HAS FOR YOU!!  I pray that we would understand just “how wide, how long, how high, and how deep is the love of Christ towards us.  There is NOTHING THAT CAN SEPARATE US FROM THAT LOVE!!  I encourage you today to CONSIDER the amazing Truth that Jesus is LOVE and to Think About all the ways He Loves you, right now, today!  Every encounter you have with Him is an encounter of Love!!

Scriptures to Meditate on:  Hebrews 3:1, 1 John 3:1, 4:8, 4:16, Romans 8:38-39Ps. 36:7