HAVE YOU CONSIDERED GOD’S LOVINGKINDNESS?
Again we return to one of the favorite themes of the Psalmist, namely, the “lovingkindness” of God. This attribute in the Hebrew is called “chesed.” It describes the unconditional and covenantal love of God. The Psalmist wrote that they had “thought on” this Divine attribute in the temple. In other words, they had “meditated on” God’s lovingkindness, literally, likening or comparing it to what they knew, in order to understand it and appreciate it better.
Today as believers, we are God’s holy temple. When we gather as the church, we encourage one another to “think on” God’s lovingkindness just as the saints of old, yet with greater illumination and understanding. For we have God’s greatest expression of “chesed” love in the Lord Jesus Christ. As Jesus told Nicodemus, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” (Jn.3:16). The Greek word translated, “so loved,” is “agape.” It describes God’s kind of love, the kind of love that gives sacrificially. If the Old Testament word, “chesed,” expresses the promise of God’s covenantal love, then the New Testament’s “agape” expresses its fulfillment in Christ.
Let us meditate on this great love today. As the apostle John wrote, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us!” (1 Jn. 3:1).
PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, O how great is your lovingkindness! We love You because You have first loved us. Your love expressed itself most fully in that You gave us Jesus. We lovingly offer our whole heart and lives back to You in praise. In Jesus’ name, amen.