January 17

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God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 1 John 4:16

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🔊 The beauty of the Lord is His love. His face is beyond description because it is the face of love. We often seek to be content, to be blessed, and to possess the things we want. The best of all is love, which is not a mere feeling – it is a quality of character that directs our being outward to notice others, to care for them and touch them with the kindness and tenderness of God. Love is the most refreshing and invigorating work of the Spirit in our lives. If you seek to be refreshed, seek to love. Let the love of God soften your heart and your thoughts, and you will find that your physical body is refreshed and released from burdens that wear you down. The selfish heart is cursed with the burden of a self-centred life. The only answer is to be released from that inward-looking self-obsession. It is often the case that a depressed person has no reason for their depression. If they had, they would be sorrowful, not depressed. It is often the case that there is nothing wrong with us; it is simply that we will not allow our lives to be taken up as tools in the hands of a loving Father. Abandon yourself to love; look with compassion on those around you. Ask yourself how you can touch them with the love of Jesus today, and the fountains of love will flow from within and you will find to your surprise that you are free from the burden of your own needs.