Christian Writers Circle

God’s Holy Love
by Brenda D. Flowers

…In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another….

And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. (1 John 4: 10-11 & 16, NKJV) 

Have you ever cleaned out a storage box and discovered a love note or letter from someone special in your life, possibly a person whom you have not seen in a long time? I recently discovered a note written by mother on a book of poems she had given me for my 31st birthday, over forty years ago. My heart was touched as I read her sweet note of love to me. 

I often think about how God reveals His love in the Bible. When I read His Word, I feel as though I am reading a love letter from Him.

Many people though are searching for love. Some search for God’s holy love in religions other than Christianity. In these religions, they have to work for God’s love or they have to be good enough to earn His love. 

Some may pray to “Loving God” but they do not seem to know God’s words of love as expressed in the Bible. Maybe it is because they have never taken the time to read the Bible or to search for Truth. 

I believe when people do not read His love words to them, God is grieved in His Spirit. 

   My husband, Eric, and I will celebrate our 47th wedding anniversary in June of this year (2025). I am thankful for the way God brought Eric and me together and for how He has intervened in our lives to keep us together. 

In August of 1976, I had been dating Eric for only a few weeks, when I had to move from Tennessee, where I was attending graduate school, to Georgia, where I was going to begin my first teaching position. 

Eric and I promised we would write each other. Young readers, this was a time before cell phones and even talking long distance by phone was considered a luxury. 

  I had been teaching several weeks and had not received a letter from Eric. I was waiting to hear from him before I would communicate with him.  I guess I wanted to see if he truly cared enough about me to pursue me. 

Finally one evening, I heard the phone ring. When I answered the long distance call, I heard Eric’s tender somewhat sad voice greeting me and asking me, “Why haven’t you written me?” I answered that I had not received a letter from him. Then he shared, with love and care in his voice, about how long he had spent writing his first letter to me. He had wanted me to know how much he missed me.

I never received Eric’s first love letter,  but I am thankful I was willing to answer his long distance call. 

I often wonder what would have happened if I had refused to answer Eric’s call. 

On January 21, 1976, I answered God’s call to me when I trusted Jesus as my Savior and Lord. I realized that day how much God loved me. Jesus was willing to die for me. 

I believe the Bible is God’s love letter to all of humanity. In my heart, I can feel God’s sadness when people reject His love or when they search for His holy love in the wrong places. 

I pray people, who have never read the Bible, and others, who only read scriptures out of context, will come to understand that God longs to have a close relationship with them as was His original intent for creating people in His image. 

God’s written word has been kept from being destroyed because He wants us, who live today, to know His great love for us.

 As I share this message, God is calling many. Are we willing to answer His call? 

I pray that during this year as we study God’s holiness, we may experience His holy love with a greater depth of understanding. God not only loves us, His essence is love. We can love because He first loved us.