JEREMIAH 31:33-34 – For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

THEME OF THE DAY:  HOW CAN WE NOT LOVE HIM?  We have so many reasons why we should love God.  The list is long and one we should take time to make.  Then, after we complete our long lists, turn them into items of praise and worship. So, as we ponder our list, allow me to start it from today’s scripture with three truths.

First, God has made a covenant with us.  The prophet Jeremiah writes of the covenant the Lord made with His people of old, but our Lord Jesus would remind us of the New Covenant – the one sealed by His precious blood; And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood”(Luke 22:20). A covenant is an unbreakable promise God makes to us in and through the Lord Jesus that He will forgive us all our sins, and forever claim us as adopted children!  What truth!  How can we not love Him?

Next, God allows us to call Him “our God” and He is not ashamed to call us “His people” – And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  The Apostle Peter would expound and extend this blessing of blessings – But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy (1 Peter 2:9-10). Think about this for a moment.  We still sin. We don’t always act like children of God, yet, God never disowns us, will never say, “You have sinned too much, I am done with you.”  How can we not love such a God?

Finally, God grants us the privilege of all privileges – to know Him, not to know facts about Him, but to be in a close and intimate relationship with Him; And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD.  This is what Jesus promises in His High Priestly prayer and what He provides through His life, death and resurrection – When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:1-3).  It doesn’t need to be said, does it? But here goes . . . How can we not love Him?  May all that God is to us, and what He has done for us constantly cause us to praise Him as an expression of our love for Him!

PRAYER: “Father, I can never love You enough for all You have done for me, but I want to.”

QUOTE: “Be humbled, be in awe, and be aggressively obedient to God for all He has done for us.”

In the affection of Christ Jesus,

Pastor Jim