The Grands Letter (Deut/GLJ)

Dear Grands,

Deuteronomy 7:7-11, “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

9 “Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments;

10 but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.

11 “Therefore, you shall keep the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them.”

Have you ever wondered why the LORD decided to love you? We know how unlovely and unloving we are; why then, would the LORD ever love us? In all probability, our “dilemmas” occur because we simply love ourselves! “How could the LORD not love us?” we say. “How could anyone not love us?” Oh, please!

Possibly, others resist loving us because we’re so consumed with ourselves. Could they possibly conceive of us not having room for the love of others? Is that not possible? With the LORD, however, things are different. His love is far greater and exceedingly beyond our knowledge! His love is not because we love Him; He loves us because of who He is! God is love!

Look at our world! It excels in the hoarded accumulation of “things” – things that will ultimately be destroyed in His judgment upon the world. Are we not His in order that we might be used by Him in securing others into His love? Do we not truly know Him? To know Him is to love Him! And to love Him is to love others – even those who do not know or love Him! May God help us to excel in demonstrating His love to the world that is laid before us for that very purpose!

Heartily in Christ,

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.

United States of America

“We will never know that Christ is all we need,

Until He becomes all that we have.” –Corrie ten Boom