He Longs for Our Love
God desires our love so He can make us supremely happy and reveal Himself to us.
Mary Wilder Tileston preaches about God's everlasting love for us, drawing us close with His lovingkindness. She emphasizes the importance of using life's circumstances to draw near to God and prepare for eternity. God longs for our feeble love because it brings Him joy and allows Him to make us supremely happy. By loving God, who is ever lovely, we can become lovely ourselves and experience the fullness of His love and presence.
Text
Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
JEREMIAH 31:3
MY song is love unknown;
My Saviour's love to me;
Love to the loveless shown,
That they might lovely be.
SAMUEL CROSSMAN
HE so governs and shapes all the circumstances of life, that if we use them aright we may draw near to Him here, and prepare to be near Him in the Forever after. He longs for our love,--our love, which is so feeble and faint, and yet so precious in His sight when we give it to Him freely. And why does He so desire it? Ah! I have told you many times before, and yet we cannot too often remember it, that it is because, if we love Him, He can make us supremely happy. All that belongs to us, or occurs to us, in this life, is so ordered that we may find in it the means of putting far from us those obstructions of evil which prevent us from seeing Him as He is, and as He has revealed Himself to us; for if we did but so see Him, how could we fail to love Him with the whole heart and soul?
THEOPHILUS PARSONS
How shall we become lovely? By loving Him who is ever lovely.
ST. AUGUSTINE
Sermon Outline
- God's Desire for Our Love
- Why God Desires Our Love
- Becoming Lovely by Loving God
- By loving Him who is ever lovely
- Through seeing Him as He is and as He has revealed Himself
Key Quotes
“He longs for our love,--our love, which is so feeble and faint, and yet so precious in His sight when we give it to Him freely.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“How shall we become lovely? By loving Him who is ever lovely.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“If we did but so see Him, how could we fail to love Him with the whole heart and soul?” — Mary Wilder Tileston
Application Points
- We can become lovely by loving God who is ever lovely.
- Our life circumstances are ordered by God to help us see Him as He is and remove obstructions of evil.
- Loving God with our whole heart and soul is possible when we see Him as He is and as He has revealed Himself to us.