The Resting Place of God’s Love

I recently read about a man who prayed for ten years for God to show him that He loved him. He had prayed often and asked to be shown that he was indeed loved by God. This man, who had been an intent follower for many years, became ill with chronic pain, and as he cried out to God for relief, he realized that he knew in his mind that he was loved by God. But deep in his soul, he couldn’t feel it. So he asked often and persistently until one morning he felt the Spirit gently say, “Just accept it.”

Then scriptures flooded his mind, verses he had been reading for years, that indeed proclaimed God’s love for him.

• John 15:9 As the Father loved me, I too have loved you.

• Matthew 28:20 And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

• Romans 5:5 God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

• Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you…He will take great delight in you; in his love, he will no longer rebuke you but will rejoice over you with singing.

• 1 John 4:16 God is love.

He was amazed and from that day his relationship with God changed.

As believers, you and I are wrapped in and filled with God’s love.

But I know a lot of people who say they know that God loves all people. They are quick to recite John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in his name shall not perish but have eternal life. And they are right.

But in the back of their minds, there’s a niggle of unbelief that He actually loves them. They’ve read all the scripture verses. They’ve heard all the sermons and have gone through many Bible studies. But somehow it just doesn’t feel true for them.

Just today I read the story from John 12: 1-3 where Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus lived. He was reclining at the table with Lazarus and Martha was serving them. The disciples were there and at some point, Mary picked up a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume, and poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped His feet with her hair. The whole house was filled with a strong-smelling fragrance. (Would you stop for a second and just visualize this scene? Look around the room. Breathe in deeply to find that powerful scent. What’s on the table? Where are the disciples? Find the expression on Mary’s face and on Jesus’ face. Try to feel what each of them felt.)

Do you think Mary felt loved by Jesus?

Do you think Jesus felt loved by Mary?

I think so. How do we know?

Mary showed her love to Jesus. She didn’t only feel it, she bowed down. She poured this expensive perfume on His feet and wiped them with her hair. Mary knew Jesus. Jesus said the perfume was for His burial. Did Mary love and know Jesus enough to know that He was in his last days?

I learned that this rare and very expensive perfume was taken from the root of the nard plant. Mary was allowing the roots of her love for Jesus to go deep into the soil of His love for her by demonstrating it in this open and public way.

And when I come to these verses in Ephesians, I must believe that Mary experienced this kind of love for and from Jesus.

I pray that God would unveil within you the unlimited riches of his glory and favor

until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with his divine might and explosive power.

Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you,

and the resting place of his love will become the very source and root of your life.

Ephesians 3:16-17 TPT

By demonstrating her love for Jesus, Mary found a way to bless Him. Her heart became the resting place of Jesus’ love and the source of her action. He sensed it and He defended her when some criticized her extravagance.

The resting place of His love. This sentence makes me cup my hand and place it right here in front of my heart. This is the resting place. This is where Christ dwells. This is where the Spirit leads me to feel His love… to love Him back and to step forward to show love to others. His love is the root of my faith. This is where I believe. I believe from the fullness of His love for me. I act out of this full place of His love.

How do our hearts become this resting place? Knowing the scriptures gives us a start. From there, our hearts become a place where love is given and received. It doesn’t take any kind of performance, getting it right, or figuring it out. It takes being. A ready and willing cup that is filled with His love with no strings attached. That cup is constantly being poured out while never running dry. Living water bubbling up to eternal life. (John 4: 13-14)

Based on the truth of scripture and the gentle voice of the Spirit we can know that His love for us is deep and rests within us, a continual source of Jesus himself.

Here are a few things to consider:

• Place your hand on your heart, the resting place of God’s love. Imagine your hand as a cup, full to the brim, overflowing with Jesus’ fierce love for you and for the world. Imagine what that kind of love feels like. Does it burn inside your chest? Does it bring tears to your eyes? Is there any resistance, like you don’t deserve it? Feel it. No words. No figuring it out. Just rest and let the Spirit guide you.

• Do you sense a pull? An invitation to more?

• Feel its fullness. Say yes to what is already there. Leave the “unlovable” label behind. Nod to Jesus. Yes, to the love that requires nothing of you except your yes. But, believe me, it will change and challenge you toward action.

• Go to the Bible and find reassurances of God’s unconditional love for you and fill yourself with his precious words: It’s OK to feel it. God wants to be loved back. He wants your eyes to lift to his, seek his heart, and act. Mary did.

• Right there in the first chapter, Isaiah records God’s words telling us and the sinners of Sodom & Gomorrah how we are to show our love for him. Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. We can include our brothers and sisters, our neighbors, our church family, and all we interact with. His charge is to show our love for Him by loving others.

Beloved one of God, let’s bathe in the resting place of His love, already full, and live in the joy of being fully known and fully loved…no strings to the past. Then let’s step out. We can freely and openly love others in the way we have been loved. He will show us how.

What a fascinating and appealing way to live.