St. Alban's Episcopal Church

Meditation during Lent

This is the time of year I really beef-up my meditation, scripture reading and self reflection. Recently, I came across this bit of encouragement and I thought I would share it.

"Marked by Love"

Imagine God’s perfect creation: the garden of Eden. In the garden, there was no evil and hardship—the world was perfect and good. Unfortunately, because humans were deceived by the devil into disobeying God, we now live in an imperfect world.

The world we live in is different from what God intended—in this world, situations are not always good. People make mistakes and they sometimes hurt us and the people we love. Because of this, you might feel uncertain about loving others … or even God. But there’s good news: when our world changed, God did not change.

God is still perfect—and He still loves us perfectly. Regardless of the mistakes we make, God will not stop loving us. We know God loves us because He redeemed our mistakes on the cross through Jesus. And when Jesus returned to heaven, He sent His Holy Spirit to be with us.

His love for us is not dependent upon our love for Him—it’s not reliant on what we do, what we say, or how we act. This does not mean we should purposefully go against God’s Word—it means that no matter where we are at in life, God’s love will meet us where we are.

In 1 John 4, we are told that whoever remains in love remains in God because God is love. If we say we love Jesus, the evidence of love in our lives should be seen through how we treat and serve others. This does not always feel natural—but this is a challenge the Lord wants to help us overcome.

As we continue to grow closer to Him, His love is perfected in us. And as He transforms us into people perfected by His love, we do not have to fear His judgment because we can be confident that we are His.

God desires our love, and our love for Him grows through worship, prayer, and spending time in His Word. But God is also the source of love, and He wants to help us remain in love so we can remain in Him. He loves us perfectly, He understands our imperfections, and He can make us perfect in His love.

So today, take some time to ask the Lord to help you live a life marked by love. Today make a focused effort to let the love of God shine through you in everything you say and in everything you do. Remember you cannot do it on your own so call on the one who is always willing to help. Call on the name of the Lord!

Be blessed my sisters and brothers in Christ!

Gratefully yours,

Valerie