HE LOVES ME

I've been reading a book by Wayne Jacobsen entitled He Loves Me: Learning to Live in the Father's Affection...(actually, some of you may have noticed that I've twittered several quotes). A friend of mine (Jody Hagen) recommended the book to me...and I'm recommending it to you.

The book aims to help us know how much God loves us, with the end result being living life based on that knowledge. At one point, Jacobsen points out that we will respond to people with more compassion and selflessness when we are fully convinced of and validated by the Father's love for us. Since I tend to be pretty selfish, the chapter was pretty meaningful to me.

I pray that the Father convinces us of His great love for us...and that our identity is fully wrapped up in Him so that we can more effectively represent Him to people that need Him so badly.

Here's an excerpt of a story that was particularly powerful...

"I am amazed at what love will call people to do, and they won't even think it a sacrifice. Recently, I met a woman from the Midwest who had been divorced when her ex-husband told her he was gay, that he had AIDS, and that he wanted to live with his partner. A few years later as the disease progressed, she felt compassion for her former husband and felt God wanted her to help care for him as the disease worsened.

"She did just that. With her husband's permission she moved back in, not as wife but as nurse. And cared for him as the disease progressed. I can't imagine what it took for her to give of herself in this way. I don't think her obedience should become a standard for others, but she talked about it as one of the greatest experiences of her life. Before he died, her husband and his partner came to repentance and faith. What's more, after her former husband's death, she stayed on to take care of his former partner as he died. While she was doing that, other AIDS patients came to the door and asked for help. During the next decade she cared for more than sixty other patients and watched them all come to faith. Today she's converting an abandoned hospital to extend that care and travels the world helping people with AIDS and those who seek to care for them.

"Love will take you further than law ever will, and what's more, you'll do it reflecting the very love you've received from Jesus."

He Loves Me: Learning to Live in the Father's Affection
Wayne Jacobsen
Pages 171-172