When a Birthday Is a Double Blessing
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If seven is the heavenly number…
…what do you call 77?
Well, it will be my age in a few days as my birthday once again rolls around. I believe double seven surely means double blessing in many ways.
One thing I know for sure:
God loves me!
No daisy petal wondering here.
As I mark another year in what is getting to be a lengthy life, His love for me continues to astonish, overwhelm, amaze, comfort, encourage, lift, strengthen…me. Wow!.
One of the benefits of adding years is you begin to grasp why God put you here.
The wonder of His love
I think I am understanding that one of the most important messages I have to communicate is to help people, including myself, comprehend how incredibly much God loves each one of us. Yes, we surely know this, but do we really comprehend it?
Just listen to these thoughts God has toward us:
…“I am the apple of His eye.” (Zechariah 2:8) The NIV notes tell me that means that I am someone who is to be greatly protected.
“I am a treasure to Him.” Ephesians 1:18 reminds me that I am part of the riches of His glorious inheritance.
‘He delights in me.” In Zephaniah 3:17, I am told that God is with me, He takes great delight in me, He quiets me with His love and He rejoices over me with singing.
“I am His joy.” In Hebrews 12:1, I learn that Jesus endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him. That joy was a restored relationship with me.
“He died for me.” Because of His great desire for me and delight in me, He was willing to redeem me with the price of His own life. What an incredible love! (Galatians 4:4-5)
“He keeps doing good to me.” In Jeremiah 32:38-41, God promises, “I will make an everlasting covenant with them. I will never stop doing good to them. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.”
But wait! There is more. Out of that love flows to me and to you myriad other gifts from our Savior. Let me mention two: mercy and grace.
Mercy is the overflow of God’s love
Over and over Jesus, out of great compassion, had mercy on the suffering, the needy, the mistreated, and the sinful. Like you and me.
"But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit" (Titus 3:4-5)
“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:3-5)
Grace is the generosity of God
Through our Savior’s sacrifice, we receive grace that gives us new life, abundant life, all the fruit of the Spirit who lives in us—all that we need: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
‘Let us then approach God’s 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)
God’s grace could be described as God paying it forward for us.
A grateful response
And what is the response of my heart?
I am so grateful. I feel so loved. I rest securely. I truly want to love Him in return with my whole being. And I can’t help but let that love—and mercy and grace--overflow and touch others.
I pray that you--and I--being rooted and established in this incredible love, may have the power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.
Being reminded of the depth of His love is a great birthday present!
What about you? What has God given you on your birthday?
C2021 Judy Douglass