What is this love being spoken of here? The Greek word is agápē, and it speaks of love which centers in moral preference, which prefers what God prefers, which is all that is holy, righteous, morally pure, upright, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord and to his commands. For God is love, and so he is holy, righteous, honest, and faithful in all that he is and does. And so the love which he has for us is also pure, upright, and godly.

So, how was God’s love for us demonstrated to us? God the Father sent Jesus Christ, God the Son, who was the only begotten Son of God, to the earth, to be born as a baby to a human mother, but conceived of the Holy Spirit, and not of man. So he was not born with a sin nature as we are. And when he lived on the earth as God incarnate (in the flesh), he never once sinned. And so he became our perfect lamb sacrifice for our sins.

And in Jesus’ death on that cross, and in his bodily resurrection, he made the way for us to die with him to sin and to be raised with him to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but as servants of righteousness in walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands. By God-persuaded faith in our Lord Jesus we can now walk in freedom from bondage (addiction) to sin and live holy lives, pleasing to God, in his power.

So, if we who profess Jesus Christ as Lord and as Savior of our lives abide in his agápē love, it means that we are acting in accordance with his love. We are upholding, obeying, and conforming our lives to all that is of God, and to all that is morally pure, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord and to his commands. We are no longer walking in sin, making sin our habit, but now serving our Lord and doing his will, in his power, is what we live for.

Therefore, we have confidence on the day of judgment, not because we gave lip service to God and made a verbal profession of faith in Jesus Christ, but because, by God-persuaded faith in our Lord Jesus, we were crucified with Christ in death to sin, and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin, but now as servants of our Lord and as slaves to his righteousness, by his grace and in his power.

So for those who have given only lip service to the Lord, and whose lives are not surrendered to the Lord in walks of obedience to his commands, but who are still making sin their practice, living to please the flesh, and not living to please God, they do not have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God, but the dreadful expectation of eternity in hell. For they have rejected the truth of God’s word and have chosen to believe the lies, instead.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

You Loved Me

A song based off the poem by the same name @ Original Works
Music and lyrics by Sue Love @ Original Works & Tosin Iyawo Ogaga
Vocals by Tosin Iyawo Ogaga & Sue Love
An Original Work / December 3, 2019
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

When I was lonely and afflicted,
You were there to pick me up.
You took me in Your arms,
And You held me tenderly.

Your love embraced me.
Your grace sustained me.

When my heart cried out to You
In my fear and my despair,
You never turned away,
But You let me know You loved me.

Your grace forgave me.
You did not shame me.

Then, when I answered the call,
“Here, Lord, send me.”
You sent me to where I must be.
Your mercy held me, did not fail me.
All this, You had planned, to use me.

And, when all trials and scorn
Came to test me.
You gave me all that I would need.
You strengthened me so I’d not fail You.
Your kindness blessed me, it touched me.

And, when I needed the church
To lift up me,
To hearten me so I’d not fail,
You blessed me with folks who would love me.
Their presence with me, Your praise hailed!

And, when I walked through the valley
Of the shadow of the death,
And tears flowed from my eyes,
Still Your kindness was there for me.

Your touch, it healed me.
For I believed You.

When now I think about the ways,
Of the many, many ways
That You in Your great love
Show me that You’ll always care for me,

My heart, it thanks You,
And gladness fills me, fills me.

Login to view embedded media
The Love Which God Has For Us
An Original Work / February 22, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Landon Caeli said:

The devil is viewed by no one as a god in Christianity... That's false.

Click to expand...

He’s the Leader of “the Bad Guys”.
Yeah, “God” is pushing it.

Analysis: These two new economic numbers blew a hole in Trump’s rosy narrative


The trade deficit was down 0.2% in 2025, not down ‘78%’

...The Bureau of Economic Analysis revealed the actual 2025 trade deficit in goods and services. It was nearly identical to the 2024 deficit, down just 0.2% — nowhere close to Trump’s professed “78%” decline. And the trade deficit in goods, the items subject to Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, was up 2.1% compared to 2024.

___

Economic growth in fourth-quarter 2025 was 1.4%, not ‘5.6%’

The figures released Friday show just how far from reality his “5.6%” claim was. The economy actually grew at an annualized rate of just 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025, much slower than the 4.4% growth in the third quarter of 2025.

FireDragon76 said:

I don't think a deep reading of the Christian tradition gives any certain ground to say other religions are merely deception, because God by nature exceeds our conceptual categories. The biblical language is primarily of covenant and personal relationship, but that doesn't imply we know all the secret things of God. The best statements about the relationship between Christianity and other world religions are found in documents like Luments gentium from the Second Vatican Council, based on reasoning that stretches back all the way to Justin Martyr in the second century.

Click to expand...

I think Closet Christians can be saved. In some parts of the world, public conversion from Islam to Christianity has historically carried severe penalties, and there are documented cases where converts were killed. The highest form of faithfulness is living for God, not dying

ViaCrucis said:

If you cared about fair and honest elections, then you'd stop listening to Donald Trump and his boot-licking MAGA minions; and you'd come to your senses and reject the Save America Act like a sane, reasonable, honest American.

Click to expand...

The name-calling which has been so effective on the Democrat base hasn't worked for voter ID. The idea that having an ID for voting, just like you have to have for getting government benefits or cashing a check, is Jim Crow 2.0 is laughable to many Democrats. Voter ID will go far towards the goal of each citizen, and only citizens, voting one time each election. Look at the most recent hypocrisy:

Aryeh Jay said:

The Easter Bunny disagrees with you.

Click to expand...

I checked with the Tooth Fairy (we’re “friends on FB”), and yinzer right!

Hi
I have created this app (no-profit) that I am hoping will help serve the Good Word to people.
WalkByFaith - Discover Stories Along The Trail
The app holds community made walk/trails with a message for each waypoint, that unlocks when the user gets close.
Helps people get outdoors, walk and get healty, and at the same time be uplifted by the good word.

Be blessed
Tobias

Onion soup

prodromos said:

Some good advice from Bishop Irenei for Lent and beyond.

Login to view embedded media

Click to expand...

I think you are both mostly right. The bishop is right about the direction in which we will gradually but inevitably realize where we must go. All of these technologies will ultimately enslave us, even the most pious and God-fearing, not merely by evil content, but by its forced intrusion into every aspect of our lives. But…. in the mean time, we have to live and survive right now, and even need to use SM to hear the bishop’s words. Our friend DL here is right that there is indeed edifying content and food for the soul to be found in the internet, though it will increasingly be choked by paywalls, blocked by ads and “geographical restrictions” (an oxymoron in relation to the global reach of the internet, invented by the wealthy to maintain control), outlawed as “hate speech” and other modern nonsense terms.

If there is anything that non-Christian Frank Herbert was perspicacious in, it was envisioning a Butlerian jihad against technology ruling our lives, however misguided he was in other things.

Personally, listening to people like Fr Seraphim of Iona and Fr Josiah Trenham have given me spiritual oxygen where otherwise I would have none. But I recognize that this situation is not going to last. (And Fr Seraphim has recently disappeared off the radar again, posting nothing new for an extended period.)

It is a very tough situation. Sorry that this is happening. No one can hurt like family.

We have to guard our hearts. Pro 4:23 Though very difficult, you could already be asking the Lord to help you to forgive them. (Eph 4:32) because you know how important that is Would continue to pray for them asking Him to help them in their relationship. Encourage you to keep in touch and keep the lines of communication open. Would send a note thanking your son and wife for the preparations they made for the visit. A little later would address the mattter of him missing you and wanting to see you and spend time with you and would asks from his perspective how to go about doing those things. When appropriate, urge him to get vital rest.

essentialsaltes said:

Most of the government is funded. Just not the Department that's shooting Americans dead. There may be some tweaks needed there, and if the GOP won't get on board, so much the worse for them.

Click to expand...

"Most", including the department that's rounding up illegals. So the shutdown is a waste of time. Just democrat theatrics.

Pommer said:

Did President Trump order flags to be flown at half-mast for Reverend Jackson, (you know, like he done for Mister Kirk)?

Click to expand...

These things take time.

Gracious Heavenly Father,
Please protect Your child who believes in You from being delivered into the hands of those who hate Your word and mistreat Your children. Please be with her to grant justice.
In Christ's Name,
Amen

The language used of "Trump wants to deport her back to Iran", has he spoken on the matter of her particular case?

Or is this sensationalized language being used to focus on the most sympathetic sounding cases as a means of casting a negative light on the concept of deportations as a whole.

Sort of like when a politician proposes a policy change that imposes a limitation on something or cuts funding to something, and opponents find the most heart wrenching example of a person would be negatively impacted it, and shine a huge spotlight on it for self-serving reasons.

Abbreviated version: in essence, is this the political inverse of the Laken Riley "say her name" thing??

The Rev. William Barber, a retired minister in the Disciples of Christ, organized the modern Poor Peoples Campaign and Repairers of the Breach. He might be worth looking into.

Hhhhmm...years ago when Naruto was big I noticed that a lot of girls liked Gaara and Sasori. And Sasuke. They probably still do.