“You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed;
you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.”
– Exodus 15:13

Today as our culture celebrates various aspects, images, concepts, and distortions of love, we should focus on the model and pattern of all true love: the steadfast, faithful love of God. God’s love is unfailing, rock-solid, and grounded in who He is. Love is an integral part of His nature and isn’t contingent on who we are or what we do.

God’s love is sacrificial. It is costly for Him to love us because of our ongoing sins, shortcomings, and ingratitude. He sacrificed His own Son on a cross, sending Him to die to pay the penalty for our sins, so that by faith we could be restored to a love relationship with God. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

God’s love is redemptive. He bought our freedom from slavery to sin and death through the death of His Son. The love of God always seeks to raise us up, transform us for the better, and draw us nearer to Him.

God’s love is steadfast. It doesn’t rise and fall with His mood. It doesn’t change with the weather or shift with our behavior. Even when we run away from it for years and fight against it, when we turn back, His love is always waiting in Christ.

As we go about our Valentine’s Day business, understand that we’re called to love others in this same way. It is hard, frustrating, discouraging and also the most wonderful calling in the world! God’s love for us – sacrificial, redemptive, and steadfast – is the model and standard for our love for others. Whether you’re celebrating love for spouse, children, parents, or friends today, are you striving to love them like God loves you?

“They said to Moses, ‘Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt?’” – Exodus 14:11

Sometimes it can be hard to embrace our God-given future! The past, even when it was degrading, miserable, and full of failure, still tugs at our hearts because we love the familiar, the comfortable, and the known. We re-imagine the drudgery of the past as a mythical golden age, forgetting the bad parts, and we long to return. Too bad!

God seldom calls us to just stay where we are as we are. In calling us to follow Jesus, He calls us to change every day. He calls us to move forward into a future that isn’t clearly understood and is deeply uncomfortable because every step is unfamiliar.

Like the Israelites, when danger looms along our unfamiliar journey of faith into the future, we often fear the worst and long to turn back the clock, retreating into the comfortable past. That isn’t how the world works and that certainly isn’t how God works! There is no going back. In fact, God is most glorified when we move boldly forward into the future, following Jesus into the unknown. Why?

Because it’s as we step into the future, facing new and unfamiliar dangers, that we’re forced to truly walk with God, following Jesus rather than running ahead, lagging behind, or wandering off to the sides. As we follow Jesus into the future, afraid and uncomfortable, we’re forced to truly depend on God rather than ourselves. Our eyes are opened to His active engagement in the world and in our lives. Ultimately we learn that His plans and vision are far greater than ours.

We grow. God is revealed and glorified. It’s a win all around, but it still makes us uncomfortable, afraid, melodramatic, and longing to retreat. That’s why, as we face the future each day, we must remind ourselves of the words of Jesus, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

“The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.” – Exodus 12:13

When God brought judgment on the land of Egypt in order to reveal Himself and free His people from slavery, all that protected the people of Israel from death was the blood of the Passover lamb. For each family, a lamb was sacrificed and the blood of that innocent lamb was placed on the door frame. Because of the blood, death passed over the people of Israel. Where there was no blood, death entered the home and struck. God’s judgment didn’t pass over because the people were better or fundamentally different from the Egyptians. Death passed over because of the power and protection of the blood of the lamb.

This central event of the Old Testament points us to the central truth of the entire Bible. All humans are born into slavery to sin and death. These twist and plague our lives from the moment we first draw breath. We all fall short of God’s holy standard of perfect righteousness and we all deserve God’s condemnation and the penalty of eternal spiritual death and suffering apart from God. But that isn’t God’s desire for us and so He provided a second Passover for His people.

God sent His eternal Son Jesus into the world to live a perfect, sinless life and to give Himself up as a final Passover sacrifice to pay the penalty for our sins. Through the power of His death and resurrection, when we put our faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, we are protected by the blood of Jesus, our Passover lamb. God’s judgment of death and condemnation passes over all who stand by faith behind the blood of Jesus Christ. We are not better people – we are sinners who have been saved and transformed by God’s free gift of grace. We inherit eternal life by faith in Christ alone. Death passes over because of the power and protection of the blood of the Lamb.

“Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed.” – Matthew 26:74

In the moment of crisis, Peter failed horribly. He was so afraid of being found out as a follower of Jesus that he called down God’s curse upon himself, lying to escape danger. Yet mere weeks later he would stare down the leaders of his nation, embrace beatings and imprisonments, and embark on a life of constant danger that would ultimately lead to his own death. What happened?

First, Jesus forgave his betrayal and restored him. When we fail Christ, there is always hope. In Christ we aren’t defined by failure, but by Christ in us. Christ stands ready to forgive and restore us to service even after the worst betrayal.

Second, Peter received the Holy Spirit. The presence of God’s Spirit living in him utterly changed Peter from a boastful coward to a humble giant who would lead the Jesus movement in its formative years. In his own strength, Peter was literally afraid of a servant girl. In the strength of the Holy Spirit, Peter was no longer held back by his fear.

If you’re a follower of Jesus Christ, that same Spirit of boldness and power lives within you! The Holy Spirit comes upon us the moment we commit our lives to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We live in a fearful age in which we often define ourselves by what we can’t do. But since you have the same Spirit of God Peter had, you need to understand you’re actually defined by the presence of God within you, not by any limitations imposed by yourself or the world. You’re empowered to go far beyond your own capabilities. While fear may always gnaw at your heart, God’s Spirit enables you to break through that fear.

“Jesus said to him, ‘You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.’” – Matthew 26:64

In identifying Himself here with the prophecy of Daniel 7:13-14, Jesus makes clear that He is the eternal and ultimate king who will be given authority over all the earth. For this confession He will be killed, but that will simply serve to inaugurate and prove His authority. After His execution and resurrection, Jesus will declare that all authority on earth and in heaven has been given to Him forever and ever.

What are we to do about this declaration? Make disciples! Because Jesus is the Son of Man, ruling and reigning over all the earth from heaven above, we are to make new followers of Him as we go, where we go, when we go. We are to introduce people to Jesus, baptize them into His divine name (Father-Son-Holy Spirit), and teach them to obey everything He commanded.

We know what we must do. Now it’s time to do it!