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How Much Do You Love Me?

Valentine's Day is not over yet. People need to be assured that they are loved beyond the day and beyond the month of February.

Such is the case of my life. Where to start? We had our meeting last Sunday for the short-term missions that we will be doing soon . As an exhortation, we were asked to do the work out of God's love.

My friend and co-worker Liv Funtanar from Victory Christian Fellowship U-Belt asked the group to close their eyes and ask God to reveal how much He loves us. Liv asked the question to God two weeks ago and said that God showed His nail marks on His hands and had Liv feel it. "I love you this much."

I was surprised to receive a vision from God too. In my vision, God showed me the whole world covered in gold. And He said to me, "You are worth more than all that."

"YOU ARE WORTH MORE THAN ALL THAT"
http://endtimesrevelations.wordpress.com

Then God showed me a staircase that I climbed leading to His throne. He showed me how I with the heart of a child, gaily climbed the steps and the Lord carried me to His lap. I sat with Him while looking again at the whole world covered in gold.

Stairs to Heaven-UHQ Stock Photo, http://www.lightpic.net

The vision is somehow related to two verses in the Bible.

One is "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:26; Mark 8:36

You are more valuable to God than all the gold in the world. We may not see ourselves as such or we may not demonstrate that always to other people but that's the truth of God loving a person that much.

Heaven had all the gold unimaginable. God in His riches chose to leave the riches of heaven for the poverty of being born a man just so He can save the souls of many.

Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor (2 Corinthians 8:9). God longs for all creation to be reconciled back to Him. He was willing to leave the throne and comforts of heaven to be a man and die for their sin and face their punishment. 

Jesus died a big price for us because He loves us so much. He loves us so much. He would give up the best of heaven to restore our relationship with Him. And He is willing to do it again and again. Just for us.



How about us? How do we value a life? How do we value what God did? 

Working hard is not a problem. It's when we seek to gain the whole world but yet lose the time to feed our soul. To God, all the money in the world cannot compare to the soul. 

In God's truth, all the money in all bank accounts combined does not equal to the worth of a man. When we pay for salaries of people, we pay for their services, according to their returns or ability. But it does not mean the worth of the individual is tied to the salary. The salary is measly compared to the true worth of the person. 

That is why we cannot treat the poor less important or the low-wage earners as if what they receive is what they are worth. We acknowledge their skill and they are paid for their skill, but they are not paid for what they are worth.

No matter how much you earn, your worth is not tied to your bank account. No matter how small or large it is, it is incomparable to the worth of your life.

MY CHILD YOU ARE PRECIOUS. 

"National Treasure: Book of Secrets," Wikipedia

I was watching this movie, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, last weekend. The characters played by Nicholas Cage and Diane Kruger were on the pursuit to find the City of Gold, cracking puzzles, codes and going around the world along the way. Amazing.

The Lord equates His Kingdom like finding that treasure. You would give up everything, all you had, to find it.


YOU ARE WORTH MORE THAN YOU REALIZE. 
GOD IS MORE WORTHY THAN YOU REALIZE.


The second verse is "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Hebrews 4:16

Just like the child in me that I saw in the vision, God is showing that even if He is worth more than all that, He is gracious. You can approach His throne like a child. 

In the movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets, they showed this picture of the son of John Kennedy in the presidential office, comfortable under the presidential desk. 

It's somehow similar. God Your Father is very important, yes. But He is also approachable. You can be like a child that He would like to talk with, love and cherish. 

That is our God. 



One more thing. Can I trust this God for all eternity? Will He be like a life insurance with a maturity period?

The Lord says in His Word, Psalm 136, HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER.

I love that idea. It did not say in the word, His love remains forever, or His love is forever (which it still is). But I believe He is showing us a different side of His Love. It will ENDURE.

Test the love of God with all of the trials that you go through. It will ENDURE. Go through the farthest places in the world. It will ENDURE. Travel to the uncharted places of Africa or the North Pole. It will ENDURE. 

Make a mistake, fall. IT WILL ENDURE. God's love for me endures all things. The word "endure" has something to do with deliberate intentions. No matter what I go through, the love of God for me will ENDURE in His faithfulness to me. 

It's this enduring love that is His idea for our relationships. For marriage. For lovers. For family. For friends. For the people that have yet to know Christ. God paints a picture of love that will endure in spite of the reality of differences, weaknesses, cultural backgrounds, etc.

He does not describe perfect love as our case. Only HIS LOVE is perfect. We may not always love the people we're around with perfectly. But God is saying "Love people that will endure."

Pastor Gilbert Foliente of Victory Christian Fellowship-UBelt exhorted all of us yesterday on the idea of marriage where God sustains it to continue remaining in love. God's love for us endures forever. That is the good news. It will never fail. If we know this kind of love for us, it is a more natural thing to give love that also endures. 

As I said again, the word "endure" is deliberate and intentional. It is a choice we make to continue to love people. It ENDURES. LOVE ENDURES. We are not perfect but LOVE ENDURES.

I love it. Great, now time to give it. Amen.


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