Tonight, I found myself getting excited about Jesus. Now don't get me wrong, we should always be excited about Jesus if we have Him in our hearts, but tonight I was randomly overjoyed. I heard my grandparents listening to "Amazing Grace" and I thought, "Oh, dang -- I almost forgot to read my devotional tonight," which happens way more than it should. So I quickly grabbed my phone and went to my app. The topic was about how Jesus views us as beautiful and the woman in the story was reminded of this when the song, "You Are So Beautiful," randomly came to her mind. So, while that might seem like a normal topic, for some reason it triggered something in me and my emotions went crazy and I knew this is what I needed to write this week!
Jesus loves us. I could write an article about how He died on the cross for all of our sins and continually forgives us even though He knows we'll sin again, but I want to take a different approach. This week, I asked some of my amazing friends how they're reminded that Jesus loves them. Here are some of the responses I got.
"The people I'm surrounded by, my amazing family, great friends."
"Well he's done amazing things in my life. Like every time I start to doubt Him or question my faith, something just amazing happens and helps me refocus on Him."
"That you always feel like someone is there."
"Even at my darkest points, I always felt like He was there for me and I could always count on Him to put me right back on track and focus on strengthening my faith and my relationship with Him."
"The people you meet."
"The acknowledgement that everything is in His plan and that everything that comes in my life is a blessing in disguise."
"The opportunities you're given."
"While you don't know His plan for you, you trust him to never lead you astray and he loves you for it."
"I see it in his children, the kids I work with and in his creation (mountains and sunsets). Also he constantly points me to scripture that I need in any circumstance of life, whether I'm sad or happy or need encouragement -- all stages of life."
To me, it's the little things that remind me of Jesus and His unfailing love for me. While I recognize that He died on the cross for my sins (which should still get us excited), it's the personal things that He does just for me that set my soul on fire. I know that Jesus still would've died on the cross for only me, but I think for a lot of people it's hard to personalize that. For a lot of us, we grow up with the acknowledgement that He died for us, and while we know that's amazing, it's the small, personal blessings that keep us in check. Whether it's Him answering a prayer or Him leading us to scripture that we needed so much at the exact moment, Jesus knows exactly how we need to be reached and He does it!
Isn't that amazing? He's one God, but He treats us all differently. All seven billion of us! So that's how much God loves us. He loves us enough to not only die on the cross for us, but to treat us all individually. He loves us so much that He sent Jesus to this Earth so that we could each have a personal relationship with Him, and I don't know about you, but that's enough love to keep me going for eternity.
