Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
1/23 Reading Portions: Genesis 24; Matthew 23; Nehemiah 13; Acts 23
Listen to the audio devotional above, and/or read the written devotional below.
Then Isaac brought her into the tent of Sarah his mother and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. Genesis 24:67
BRIDE
Since “God is love” (1 Jn 4:8), the origin of true love is God Himself. God’s love is a holy love. It is perfect and everlasting because there is no flaw in His nature or character. When we consider love from New Testament passages such as John 3:16, Romans 5:8, or 1 Corinthians 13:1-13, or even Old Testament passages such as Jeremiah 31:3, we need to view love with a foundation of who God is and what He does.
Isaac’s love for his wife, Rebekah, is a love which foreshadows Christ’s love for His beloved bride, His church, whom He gave His life to redeem and sanctify (Eph 5:25-27). Because God is love, true love can only be manifested after salvation; that is, after we’ve been saved and betrothed to Christ as His beloved bride.
When I was courting my wife, Lisa, there were certainly things I had a fondness toward— she was attractive; she was humble; she was saved. The only things we really had in common were that we were both sinners and we were both saved. It was not until after we were married that I began understanding true love for her. I remember being asked by a young person a few years ago what I loved best about my wife. My answer: “That she’s my wife.” I give the same answer when asked why I love my wife so much: “Because she’s my wife.”
Fallen mankind cannot generate love from within themselves. The best sinners can muster is a flawed counterpart: lust or fleshly desires. We, however, have encountered God’s love at salvation, when Christ had taken us to become His beloved bride. Love, on our part, is always a response to the love of God:
We love because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19
I love my wife because God loved me and gave me a true helpmate. I love Christ’s church because God loved me and gave me a true family. I love our children and grandchildren because God loved Lisa and me, and gave us progeny so we could tell them about Jesus. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
God’s love is sweet and heavenly
For it’s in Him we find
That He is love in verity;
There is no other kind.
I don't typically "heart" the devotionals I write, I especially love Genesis 24, and this last verse of the chapter in particular. Meditations upon God's love in, by, and through Christ Jesus are exceedingly abundantly beyond what we can think or express. Hallelujah! What a Savior!