Icing On the Cake!

My high school girlfriend of three years, fiancée for two years and wife for the next 43 years, and I did not necessarily correspond with each other through long love letters.  Mainly because we were never apart from each other long enough to where a detailed letter would have been needed in order to catch up on each other’s current events and/or feelings toward one another.  I think that the longest time we were apart was for a two-week period when I took six high school students from our Youth Group across country by train, to attend a national Youth conference in Green Lake, Wisconsin in 1979.

But we, especially Piper, enjoyed leaving each other little LOVE notes.  She would regularly send me off to work with a LOVE note, written on my napkin… many times with her signature red lipstick, hidden in my lunch bag.  While we were dating, she often times gave me little, mini books (mostly scripture based) that talked about the LOVE that she felt for me. 

I enjoyed writing a few LOVING words on the mirror in our master bath when I left for work, using a bar of soap as my writing utensil!  I’d also been known to leave her a post-it notes, hidden away somewhere where she would eventually find it during her daily homeschooling activities.  I think that we just liked to surprise each other with a reminder of our affection toward the other. 

I even found an intimate article of her clothing on the passenger seat of my car one early morning when I got to work… although I don’t think that it was done on purpose as she was very private about such matters.  Since I parked the Camaro next to the washer and dryer in the garage, she had most likely taken the clothes out of the dryer and put them through the open window onto the seat while she moved a load from the washer into the dryer... and the item probably slipped off the pile without her knowledge.  But on purpose or not… it sure did make me think about her ALL DAY!

And speaking about thinking of her all day, whenever I read one of her napkin notes, or her note in a little book that she’d given me, or even today, when I read her notes written in the margins of her many Bibles, my first thoughts always go to the memories of the individual who wrote the notes and the countless LOVING memories that we had made with each other… BEFORE, I ever read the actual words written down on the current piece of paper.  Then the current notes, added to the thoughts in my mind, were like icing on the cake!

Jesus told us in John’s gospel that “If you keep My commands, you will live in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands, for I continually live nourished and empowered by His love.”  (TPT)

For us living in the New Testament age of the church, we can understand Jesus’ use of the phrase “to keep My commands” as the “keeping of His Word.”  When I read this verse and others like it, I can’t help but to directly associate God’s Word with His LOVE for you and me.

The Apostle John, who is also known as the Apostle of Love, wrote in John 1:1 that, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  (KJV)  

Then later on in his first epistle John explained that, “We have known and believed that God LOVES us. God is LOVE. Those who live in God's LOVE live in God, and God lives in them.”  (God’s Word ©) 

Following that, John again wrote in his revelation at the end of the Bible, of when he saw Jesus before the throne of God, and described Him saying, “He wears clothes dipped in blood, and His name is the Word of God.”  (God’s Word ©)

So, my reason in presenting all of these scriptures to you, is to prove my point, that I firmly believe that God wants us to see, think of, believe and act as if His Word is the written version of His LOVE for both you and me!  That when you pick up your Bible and open it up to whatever you are going to read, your very first thoughts, like mine when I saw and still see today, a note written by Piper, is fully focused on all the wonderful memories of His goodness in your life that you and He have experienced together…

So that your heart palpitates with the thoughts of being in His presence again.  With the thoughts of Him telling you of how special you are to Him, and of how much He wants to bless your LOVE, your commitment and your obedience to Him. 

When I turned out the light last night and laid on my bed in the darkened room, I suddenly called out to the Lord and told Him how much I miss hearing Piper’s voice and experiencing her audible words and physical touch of her LOVE for me…

But you know… I will never have to express and/or experience that void in my life when it comes to the LOVE of God toward me… for His visible expression of His LOVE is always available to me whenever I open up my Bible and begin to immerse myself in His written Word… in His written LOVE for me.

And neither do you!  For when you look at your Bible, I encourage you to first see and remember all of the memories that you hold near and dear of His loving interactions with you in the past… and then enjoy the icing on the cake as you partake of a fresh experience with His LOVE whenever you read His Word of His LOVE written specifically for you!

I hope that you are having a great weekend… and as you do, enjoy some loving fellowship with your heavenly Father… and keep EXPECTING His best and His LOVING touch upon your life!