February
1
For God loved the world so much.... (John
3:16 NLT).
There is a great weight made to rest upon that
little word "for" – "For God so loved the
world." We say that John 3:16 is the heart of the gospel: but it is much
more than that, it is the heart of the universe. There is back of all things in
this created universe a heart; not just a mind or a will, a design, a reason, a
power, a fiat, but a heart. We are familiar with the attempts to prove there is
a design in creation, that there is a mind behind the universe, and that a will
brought it into being. That is all quite good and right; but we are not so
often asked to consider that behind it all there is a heart – and more heart
than anything else. The reason, the will, the design, come from the heart.
Everything takes its rise in the heart of God.
We have said much about the thoughts of God, the
counsels of God. The nearer we get to the very center of things, the more we
shall become affected by this fact, that right there in the center is a heart.
It is a heart that we shall come to eventually; not an explanation to satisfy
our reason, not a demonstration of power, but just a heart – but a mighty
heart: and when we use that word rightly, we simply mean love. We speak of
people being heartless. That means that they are without all that love means.
Love is not the governing thing in their thoughts, actions, and motives; they
are strangers to love. Heart then, for us, means love, and when we say that
back of all things and at the center of all things there is a heart, we mean
there is love.
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