As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” John 15:9, 10.
Christ came to reveal God to the world as a God of love, full of mercy, tenderness, and compassion. The thick darkness with which Satan had endeavored to enshroud the throne of Deity was swept away by the world’s Redeemer, and the Father was again manifest to men as the light of life.
When Philip came to Jesus with the request, “Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us,” the Saviour answered him, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?” Christ declares Himself to be sent into the world as a representative of the Father. In His nobility of character, in His mercy and tender pity, in His love and goodness, He stands before us as the embodiment of divine perfection, the image of the invisible God.
Says the apostle, “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself.” Only as we contemplate the great plan of redemption can we have a just appreciation of the character of God. The work of creation was a manifestation of His love: but the gift of God to save the guilty and ruined race, alone reveals the infinite depths of divine tenderness and compassion…. What love, what matchless love, that, sinners and aliens as we are, we may be brought back to God, and adopted into His family! We may address Him by the endearing name, “Our Father,” which is a sign of our affection for Him, and a pledge of His tender regard and relationship to us. And the Son of God, beholding the heirs of grace, “is not ashamed to call them brethren.”—Testimonies for the Church 5:738-740.
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Prayer Requests
—-I had to take Jimmy, my husband, to the hospital last night and they kept him. Please pray. Vanessa
—-Please pray for rami a friend of mine,…..he has organ problems and might undergo surgery because he made poor health choices in the past, and makes it seem as if he might die. Isaac
—-Please pray for my 79 yo mother, she is in a lot of pain. She fell and her back is very swollen. It hurts her to sit and walk. The Ortho Dr. can’t see on the x-ray if anything is broken because she is so swollen. She was already very depressed and lonely and this had made her feel even more discouraged. Janelle
—-Please add me to your prayers. My brother passed away suddenly. I found out on a Facebook post. I hadn’t talked to him in awhile and don’t know if he was right with God. His lifestyle was not good. Jill
—-Please pray that I can stop smoking. Cora
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Dear Friends,
The nice thing about Kansas is the fact that winter temperatures are usually in the forties or fifties during the day and in the twenties or thirties at night. Next week, however, the temperatures are supposed to dip down into the twenties in the daytime and in the teens at night. It makes we so thankful to live in a house instead of a trailer. Most of our married life, we lived in a trailer and it seemed like we were constantly battling frozen pipes when the temperature got below twenty. During those nights, we would leave the water dripping to prevent having frozen pipes. Although it made our water bill higher, it was worth it just to have the water was still flowing freely in the morning despite the frigid temperatures outside.
One time, some years ago, when an extra cold night was forecast, we each thought the other had left a faucet dripping. We each went to bed sure that all was well, but the next morning, I discovered that the water pipes had frozen. They stayed frozen until the middle of the day when the temperatures rose above freezing. Thankfully, no pipes burst.
How much like those water pipes we are. If we allow our Great Creator’s blessings to flow though us, all is well; but if we keep them to ourselves, we become frozen and rigid and on the verge of bursting. Jesus speaks of this flowing, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” John 7:37,38 Our Dear Saviour longs to use us to bring His love, His truth, His blessings to those around us. He commands, “freely ye have received, freely give.” Matt 10:8
Yet, how often we are in danger of becoming useless like those frozen pipes, because we hoard God’s gifts for ourselves with scarcely a thought for the perishing souls all around. To help us remember this principle, Jesus illustrated it two other ways. “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Mat 5:13-16
Think of it! He has commissioned us to be His ambassadors to a perishing world! “Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. I have declared, and have saved, and I have showed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.” Isa 43:10-12 What a privilege! The Great King of the Universe desires that we shall represent His character to a dying world. He, Who left all the glories of Heaven that we might live, promises to work through us to save those suffering in darkness. He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9
May we daily allow ourselves to be a channel through which the Water of Life may flow. May we reflect His character as the moon reflects the light of the sun sharing the blessings that He has showered upon us, that those around us may accept the Good News of Salvation is my prayer.
Rose

Christ’s Love Is Like the Father’s Love