He was the adult son of a dear friend. My friend had just been diagnosed with a terminal illness. The young man loved his Christian father and was devastated by the news that his dad was soon leaving him. I visited my friend’s son and sought to comfort him. During the visit the young man asked me a shocking question. “Gordon,” he said, “Is it all right if I tell my dad that I love him?”
While it amazed me that the young man would ask such a question, I assured him that telling his dad he loved him was exactly what his father needed. He followed my advice and the father was much blessed by the confession of love.
Some of us grew up in an age when men did not disclose emotions in so many words nor hug family members in public especially. Hence the idea of confessing feelings was foreign to the son.
When we look into the Bible for guidance, we read of our Creator telling His people frequently of His love for them. We might say that the Lord is uninhibited in telling His people of His abiding, powerful, active love for them.
Such expressions of love are greatly needed among us—and also between us and our Father in heaven. Perhaps today you need to connect with someone you love who needs your love for them expressed in so many words. Certainly, you need to hear love expressed by your Father in heaven.
As you study the many verses full of statements of God’s love it is wonderful to consider that such passages usually tell us what God did because of His great love. So we read sentences such as “God loved us and…(did something about it.)“ Thus we receive divine proactive love. Read the following and rejoice in the knowledge of a lovingly active God Who works on your behalf for your eternal good.
I hear the words of love,
I gaze upon the blood,
I see the mighty sacrifice,
And I have peace with God.
’Tis everlasting peace!
Sure as Jehovah’s Name,
’Tis stable as His steadfast throne,
For evermore the same.
The clouds may go and come,
And storms may sweep my sky;
This blood-sealed friendship changes not,
The Cross is ever nigh.
My love is ofttimes low,
My joy still ebbs and flows,
But peace with Him remains the same,
No change my Savior knows.
I change, He changes not;
The Christ can never die;
His love, not mine, the resting-place,
His truth, not mine, the tie
The Cross still stands unchanged,
Though heaven is now His home;
The mighty stone is rolled away,
But yonder is His tomb
And yonder is my peace,
The grave of all my woes!
I know the Son of God has come,
I know He died and rose.
I know He liveth now
At God’s right hand above;
I know the throne on which He sits,
I know His truth and love!
- H. Bonar
