The word “shalom” is Hebrew for “peace”. However, the Hebrew word has a deeper meaning — wholeness, completion, delight and universal flourishing. Wow! That’s a lot! Shalom is a peace that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4). It’s feeling content even during hard times. Yes, that’s possible when you have a relationship with God. Furthermore, it’s part of His Amazing Love for us!
Jesus didn’t suffer what He did on the cross so we could have religion! No, He sacrificed Himself, defeating sin and death, so that we could have a personal relationship with Him. That happens when we invite Jesus into our hearts and allow Him to change our lives.
Unfailing, Amazing Love
King David wrote in Psalms…
8 Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning,
Psalm 143:8
for I am trusting you.
Show me where to walk,
for I give myself to you.
Search in one of the Bible apps or here on Bible Gateway for the phrase “unfailing love” and in the NLT (New Living Translation) it comes up 121 times!
Here’s a quote from a Bible study from the free YouVersion Bible app from Third Millennium…
For example, reading the phrase “Your unfailing love…” makes me stop and ponder what makes God’s love so “unfailing”?
If we look up that word in Scripture or think about its meaning, we find that unfailing means: constant, reliable, dependable, steadfast, steady, endless, undying, unfading, inexhaustible, indefatigable, boundless, tireless, ceaseless. Pretty incredible, right?
What in our world today can be described by those words? Nothing. No one. Only God.
The reason we don’t present offerings for atonement is that we believe Jesus’ singular sacrifice has completely fulfilled the need for atonement for all God’s faithful people for all time. And by this one act, he has secured our holiness, making us able to dwell in God’s special, holy presence.
Some skeptics view the death of Jesus as nothing more than the tragic end to a misguided career. But for believers, the death of Christ was intentional, and significant, and redemptive.
Third Millennium
I took it a little further and came up with other adjectives to describe God’s Love…
- Agape — Unconditional Love
- Everlasting
- Infinite
- Trustworthy
- Eternal
- Ongoing
- Undeniable
- Incompatible
- Complete
- Deep
- Immovable
- Relentless
- Amazing Love
Like the quote said — nothing and no one in this world can be described in all those words! Only our amazing God can.
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16 NLT
14 So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.
John 1:14 NLT
Jesus told us…
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.
John 14:1-3 nLT
When Jesus ascended into Heaven, He didn’t leave us here as orphans. He gave us the Holy Spirit so that He could live in our hearts until He returns or calls us home. When you become a believer, your new home is in Heaven with Him. You’re just passing through this earth. That’s our confident hope!
This earth, filled with evil and wickedness is not our home! Thank God!
Peace and Love
I was in high school and college in the early 70s. Yes, the era of peace and love. Right. What happened to all the peace and love? That’s just it. Man made peace fades away with the next evil, misguided, greedy, power-hungry dictator or terrorist. And love? Well, you can keep looking for that in all the wrong places and still come up empty. Why? Because only Jesus can fill the hole in your heart. Only Jesus can complete you! No earthly person can.
It took me 19 years from the time I started going back to church, after being a prodigal for 15 years, to finally surrender my life to Christ. What took me so long? Check out my testimony…
- From Catholic to Prodigal: Surviving College
- From Prodigal to Progressive: Surviving Hurricanes
- From Progressive to Born Again Christian: Surviving Unemployment
Are You Missing Something?
It’s probably Jesus! Give Him a try — you’ve got nothing to lose, but your old, sinful life and you have eternity to gain as well as the peace that surpasses all understanding — shalom — and the joy and hope of His unfailing Love!
FRIENDS! Jesus wants to be YOUR friend! Does that sound like the Jesus of the Catholics or the Muslims? Definitely not! They don’t teach that you can have a personal relationship with Jesus!
Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart.
Why not let Him in?
If you’re not sure if you’re saved or not, if you truly want to be born again and have the assurance of salvation, receive the Holy Spirit, feel His Shalom — a peace that surpasses all understanding, and get a 1-way, non-stop ticket to Heaven after you die, or that you won’t be left behind at the Rapture, which can happen at any moment, this is what you have to do…
