It’s February and that means it is time for a new FREE PRINTABLE to go along with your February HEART NOTES Scriptures. It is so easy to have this beautiful free visual for yourself. Simply click on THIS LINK February. When the printable opens, right-click and you may have to choose SAVE AS. This will allow you to save the printable to your computer where you can then print it. If SAVE AS is not an option, simply click PRINT and off you go! Yay!!
I hope you were able to memorize the January Scriptures. They were some of my favs. You will discover that I have a lot of favorite Scriptures! Since February is the month of LOVE, each of the Scriptures we will be focusing on is associated with love. A Jesus-kind of love is what each of us needs to have coursing through our hearts, so let’s dive into our first Scripture for February.
We are a clean-it-up, shape-up-or-ship-out kind of society.
When Greg and I come in from our workouts at the gym, he immediately heads for the shower to get cleaned up. He likes to be showered and shaved before he eats breakfast or goes out the door. Me? I don’t mind sitting around for a spell in my grunge to chill out and eat a protein bar.
All too often in church, we expect people to leave their grungy, sinful lifestyles, whatever that may look like, the moment they come to church and accept Jesus. In fact, sometimes when someone doesn’t shape up the way we expect them to, we wash our hands of them. Really? Would Jesus have done that?
I’m so glad Jesus isn’t a shape-up-or-ship-out kinda guy. I’d be doomed if he were.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 NKJV
Did you get that? It slays me every time I read it.
While we were still sinners, Jesus died for us.
While Leah was still a sinner, Jesus died for me. It is astounding. Surely Jesus expected humanity to shape up before He died on the cross for them. It makes no sense. We have no file drawer for that kind of love. Unconditional love. A love that accepts a person right where they are. God’s love says, “I loved you and died for you in spite of _________________________. I loved you and died for yo even if you were ____________________________________. “
Fill in the blanks, friends.
For me the sentences might read:
“I loved you and died for you in spite of the fact that you would walk away from me years after you accepted me as your Lord.”
“I loved you and died for you even if you were full of pride and idolatry.”
“I loved you and died for you, Leah, long before you recognized you needed someone to clean you up and make you right with God.”
God didn’t wait for me to clean myself up before He sent Jesus to earth to die for me. Jesus came to earth millennia before I was born. Yet, He went to the cross with me on His mind, knowing that it would be decades into my life before I would fully understand the magnitude of what He did for me.
He did all this for you, too. What better verse to begin our February Heart Notes with than one that splashes us with a reminder of God’s amazing love and grace?
MEDITATION MOMENT: How would you fill in the blanks above?
