So, as the holidays approach, he’s ready to “watch him some Hallmark Christmas movies.” As for me, I can’t watch many because they are sometimes too giddy and not realistic. Larry reminds me that we need a little giddy and a picture of what a near-perfect world could look like instead of the steady stream of wars, death, and tragedy that we hear daily in real life! I have to agree he’s right so I’ll watch some of my favorites along in the season.

One in particular is about a sweet love story of a young couple who met accidentally and quickly fell in love. They lived in different states and had obligations to get home to. Still, they promised each other that before they went home, if they felt what they had was true love and wanted it to continue, they would meet on a certain day in a specific place to commit their love to each other, and if they were not present, the other would know it was over.

Needless to say, the lady got delayed, and when she arrived (after he had waited for most of the day), he was not there. They had no way of contacting each other, so they both went their separate ways. Many years later, one day, the lady opens up her dresser drawer, and something is stuck in the back of the drawer. She pulled it loose, and it was a  letter from her young love that had been mailed but never given to her. As she opened the letter, it was entitled, “My Love!” As her eyes began to read, tears began to flow, and she learned he, too, came to meet her, but she never came. He tarried as long as he could and assumed she didn’t love him as he did her, so he came home. He shared how he had lived his life: he had married, had a good career, and had beautiful children. He just wanted her to know she was always his first love and hoped one day they would meet again.

Is this not a heartbreaker? I weep every time I watch the movie, but the greatest heartbreaker is a real true love story, the all-encompassing, undescribable, perfect love of God! His love for you was written on stones by the prophets, and His love letters from the disciples and apostles were written on scrolls. His word has been protected down through the ages so one day you would open his love letter and know the depths of His Love for you.

If you are not opening the Bible and reading it you are missing out on the most wonderful relationship you will ever know. This is a secret place you can go and meet with the greatest love of your life, one that surpasses your Mother, Father, husband, and children. He is the lover of your soul and died for it; please don’t trample on His love!

If you have not accepted him as your Savior, did you know you can’t truly love your husband or family if you don’t love the Lord? He is the author of love. He breathed life into you; you were conceived to be His. He predestined you to become His through the blood of His son Jesus! When the comforter, the Holy Spirit, arrives in your heart through salvation, it explodes into an everlasting love. Jesus is so personal if you allow him to be. Don’t tuck His word away like the letter that was never read in the movie. He is intimate, personal, and affectionate; he will be corrective, teaching us obedience in the right boundaries for our life.

I’ve had many people tell me I just don’t read the Bible because I can’t understand it; it’s foreign to me. As a young Christian, I remember feeling like that and for sure still don’t understand a lot of things, but God will reveal more each time you open it. This I know.

I want you to understand Satan is jealous of you!! Satan will hinder you every time you start to read God’s word to make you think you can’t understand it because he is jealous of your attention and time given to the Lord. He goes after you with a zeal not of God to hinder your love, relationship, and growth. He becomes the scorned lover, and he will come after you with a vengeance to reclaim his attention and his time in your life.

The Bible is the greatest love letter ever written to humanity. It gives you the desires of the Lord’s heart for you, and it gives you hope, peace, and hidden secrets to many doors for you that increase your faith and personal journey.

In marriage, the Bible says, “we become one, leaving Father and Mother and clinging to each other as one.” It is the only thing in our physical life experience given to the example of our life in Christ. The old saying ” absence makes the heart grow fonder”  will not be true in our relationship with God’s word. If we are not careful, it can become tucked away for so long we forget our first love. We wonder if we recognize His voice when He speaks.

I found some letters our son, Zack, wrote years ago before he passed away! I put them in a place to get to quickly when I want to see his handwriting. What joy to see something he wrote to me again! I will cherish them always because he wrote it.

Recently, a dear friend brought me her grandmother’s Bible to see. She was so thrilled to show me the notes and scriptures that were underlined throughout her Bible as God spoke to her heart. What a treasure it was to her.

The greatest treasure we own is God’s Word—the greatest love story ever told.

May the true meaning of Christmas rise up from your heart and celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God With Us…

Diane Mann

Lean Into Jesus Ministries

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