The Greatest Love

“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 NKJV

If there’s one thing I enjoy nearly as much as running, it’s walking; specifically taking walks with my husband. When we first started dating, these were the precious moments spent getting to know one another and there was rarely a day that went by without us getting in a stroll. Throughout many months and many miles, we fell in love as we shared our most intimate thoughts and discussed the goodness of God. Thankfully this is a practice we continued after exchanging vows nearly six months ago. So you can be sure my sweet Larry wasn’t surprised Saturday when I said, “How about we walk in the park today instead of at home?” “Okay honey,” he responded. “That sounds good to me.” I was so glad we did too! Because as we were finishing up, we saw chalk drawings all over the ground compliments of a thoughtfully placed container of sidewalk chalk that read “Use our chalk to write KIND messages and to spread cheer.”  “Oh my,” I thought to myself as I stared at the drawing with John 3:16 in the middle of a heart, “If that verse doesn’t spread cheer, then nothing does.”

And you know, as we celebrate love on this Valentine’s Day, let us remember the One who first loved us and spread the message of John 3:16 to everyone we meet. Let us remind those people who might be feeling unloved, forgotten or less than cheerful today that God so loved the world (that’s all of us!) that He sent His one and only Son to die for them so that if they would only believe in Him they would experience forgiveness of their sins and a right relationship with the Father. Do you just love that or what? 

So let us never forget that the greatest gift anyone could ever receive, the gift of eternal life, was given out of God’s great love… a love poured out on us while we were still sinners. Won’t you share that with someone today? That Message is bound to spread cheer like no other message can. 

Heavenly Father, thank You for loving us so much that You would send Jesus to die on a cross to reconcile us to You and to grant us eternal life. Lord help us to truly grasp the enormity of this gift so we wouldn’t take it for granted and can’t help but share it with others. It’s in your precious name we pray Jesus. Amen. 

Happy Running!