"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called
children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know him." - 1 John 3:1
Norman Vincent Peale began his pastorate at Marble Collegiate Church in
Brooklyn, New York in 1932. In the early days of his ministry there, he began
visiting some families and he walked by one particular door. In was Christmas
Eve and he noticed that on the door were the red ribbon of Christmas and a black
wreath of mourning. While the people who lived there were not parishioners of
his, he decided he would call on the family. So he knocked on the door, and the
father of the family came to the door. Dr. Peale introduced himself and was
invited in. He sought to give condolences to the family, and he saw in the
sitting room a small casket where a 6-year-old girl was lying in state. Dr.
Peale expressed his sympathy to the father, and this father said, "Dr. Peale,
it's going to be all right, for she is with God, you know." While they were
talking, Dr. Peale could hear the mother of the family reading the Bible to two
little boys of the family, and he heard her reading these words: "Because I
live, you shall live also."
Christ's love is for keeps. Whatever comes our way, we are loved by our Heavenly
Father. Today in prayer, give thanks to Jesus for His love for you.
"The great spiritual task facing me is to so fully trust that I belong to God
that I can be free in the world--free to speak even when my words are not
received; free to act even when my actions are criticized, ridiculed, or
considered useless; free also to receive love from people and to be grateful for
all the signs of God's presence in the world. I am convinced that I will truly
be able to love the world when I fully believe that I am loved far beyond its
boundaries." - Henri J. M. Nouwen
God's Word: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that
whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." - John 3:16
By Peter Kennedy, Copyright 2002, Devotional E-Mail DEVOTIONS IN THE LETTERS OF
JOHN pkennedy@devotional.com
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