A Gift of Love: Reflections for the Tender Heart

A Gift of Love

REFLECTIONS FOR THE TENDER HEART

CHARLES STANLEY

Copyright © 2001 by Charles Stanley

All rights reserved. Written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book, except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the NEW KING JAMES VERSION of the Bible. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Stanley, Charles F.

A gift of love : reflections for the tender heart / Charles Stanley.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-7852-6618-6 (hc)

ISBN 0-7852-7655-6 (sc)

1. God—Love—Meditations. 2. Love—Religious aspects—

Christianity—Biblical teaching. I. Title.

BT140 .S7195 2001

231'.6—dc21

2001034511

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 RRD 09 08 07 06 05

CONTENTS

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

—JOHN 3:16

Introduction: A Gift of Love

Part I: God— The Giver of Love

The Supreme Giver

The Initiator of Love

Amazing Grace

Three Pillars of Truth

The Heart of God

Your Loving Father

Love Revealed

Testing His Goodness

Our Greatest Lover

Putting God First

Developing a Passion for God

Rejecting the World

Caring for His People

Taking the Initiative

Revealing Himself

Rescuing the Lost

Expressing Your Love

Renewing Relationships

Divine Encounters

Obstructing the Flow

Worthy of Your Devotion

Fostering Intimacy

Unconditional Love

How God Sees You

God’s Gift of Grace

Part II: Jesus Christ— The Gift of Love

The Sum of God’s Purpose

Eternal Friendship

Accepting God’s Gift

Embracing Christ’s Friendship

Seeking the Lost

Focusing on Christ

Moving Beyond Legalities

An Example of God’s Love

Understanding the Father

Blessed Because He Came

Setting the Example

Lessons of Love

Faithfulness in Hard Times

Hope in Desperate Times

Answering the Call

Looking for Love?

Sharing the Good News

An Eternal Symbol

Your Security

The Greatest Sacrifice

A Radical Display

What a Friend!

God with Us

A Divine Scapegoat

He Is Our Peace

Christ, Our Life

Lord of All

He Is Lord

You Have It All

Bearing Fruit

Part III: The World— The Recipient of Love

Seeking the Lord

Spending Time with God

A Wholehearted Seeker

Checking Your Vital Signs

Keeping God’s Commandments

Longing to Know Him

Expressing Appreciation

Submitting to God

Good Works

Loving God

God’s Stabilizing Perspective

Loving Freely

Doctrine Without Love

Glorifying God

A Divine Definition

Unconditional Love

Obeying the Father

The Walk of Love

A Channel of Love

A Supernatural Love

A Proper Motive

Your Spiritual Inheritance

What You Believe

Forgiving Others

An Agent of Love

The Gift of Love

The Test of Love

Boasting in God

Objects of God’s Love

Relating to Others

Friendship with God

Loving Freely

He Comes to Us

Proclaiming the Message of Salvation

Reflecting His Love

Giving Yourself Away

Loving Others

Eliminating Love’s Enemies

Connecting to His Love

Restoring Broken Intimacy

Fostering Christian Relationships

Eliminating Barriers

Your Single Greatest Need

Soldiers of the Lord

The Right Decision

About the Author

Scripture References Cited

INTRODUCTION

A Gift of Love

The world is hurting for love. Ask any Christian counselor, pastor, or layperson who works with those who have suffered hurt, and they will tell you that love is a key issue. Lack of love—appropriate love—is the reason we have so much brokenness in our society.

You were created with a basic need for love. Amazing as it may sound, there is a love that can and will meet all of your needs. This love—God’s love—is the only way to experience the love you so desperately desire and seek.

Many think they have to get their lives straightened out before they come to God, but that is not the way He operates. His love for you is unconditional. When He looks at your life, He sees only potential. No matter how dark your past has been or how bleak the present may seem, God’s love can cleanse away the deepest sin: For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:6-8).

Jesus died so that you might have eternal life and love. What a tremendous gift He gives! And nothing this world has to offer can even come close.

Part I

God—The Giver of Love

THE SUPREME GIVER

The attributes of God are many—love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, kindness, and goodness. Yet none of these marvelous qualities would be known to mankind without the following character trait—giving.

God, by His own choice, holds nothing to Himself. He generously bestows His love, mercy, and grace upon man because He has sovereignly willed to share Himself and His bounty with us. We have life only because God has created us by an exercise of His will. We can receive salvation only because He wills to grant it.

The ultimate testimony to the Giver of all good things is, amazingly, the saints, the redeemed ones, That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:7).

The Supreme Giver’s gift to men of salvation through Christ will resound throughout eternity. Believers will be the showcase, the tangible evidence, of His ever-giving heart. Thus, while we enjoy the eternal benefits of salvation, its fundamental root lies in the reality that our God is the preeminent Giver. All of the heavenly hosts will marvel at that truth without end.

Prayer: Father, thank You for being the Supreme Giver and giving the gift of love. That in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Eph. 2:7)

Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,

My lips shall praise You. (Ps. 63:3)

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom. 5:8)

THE INITIATOR OF LOVE

From the beginning of time, God has been the Initiator of love (1 John 4:10). In his book Lectures in Systematic Theology, Henry Thiessen writes, He is unlike the gods of the heathen, who hate and are angry, and the god of the philosopher, who is cold and indifferent.

God loves us with a personal and intimate love. Those who have yet to discover the intimacy of God often view Him as being cool and demanding toward His creation. But nothing is farther from the truth. Even in the Old Testament, we find God constantly moving toward mankind in an effort to reveal more of Himself on an intimate basis.

Love motivates Him to do this. In fact, love is the motivating factor of every true relationship. It motivated the heart of God not to destroy man in the Garden of Eden, and it motivated Him to deliver Israel from the Egyptians.

Love brought down the walls of Jericho, and it was the motivation behind the coming of Christ. Love took our place on Calvary’s cross and later rose from the grave. And love reaches out to us each day with freshness and hope.

You were created by love to live within its embrace. Many wonder how God could love them so deeply. But He does. He is Love, and He loves you and me.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for creating me by love to live within its embrace. I praise You for Your love that reaches out to me each day with hope.

Indeed it was for my own peace

That I had great bitterness;

But You have lovingly delivered

my soul from the pit of corruption,

For You have cast all my sins behind Your back. (Isa. 38:17)

The LORD has appeared of old to me, saying:

"Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;

Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you." (Jer. 31:3)

I have loved you, says the LORD. (Mal. 1:2)

AMAZING GRACE

It is little wonder that the hymn Amazing Grace is sung so resoundingly in churches across the world. Its vivid imagery reminds us of the preeminence of grace and its indispensable role in our salvation and sanctification—but what makes grace so amazing?

Grace is amazing because it is free. No currency exists that can ever purchase grace. We are usually suspicious of anything free, but God’s offer comes without any hidden strings. He bore the cost for our sins (therefore, it is not cheap grace) so that He could extend it freely to any man on the basis of faith—not intellect, status, or prestige.

Grace is amazing because it is limitless. God’s grace can never be exhausted. Regardless of the vileness or number of our sins, His grace is always sufficient. It can never be depleted; it can never be measured. He always gives His grace in fullness.

God’s grace is amazing because it is always applicable. Do you need wisdom? God’s grace provides it through His Word. Do you need strength or guidance? God’s grace sustains you by His Spirit. Do you need security? God’s grace supplies it through His sovereignty.

The amazing grace of God! Full and free! Without measure! Pertinent for your every need!

Prayer: O God, Your