Third Little Word

We have some friends, actually the man is the son of a former deacon with whom I worked in Kentucky, who are musicians. They primarily play in venues in the Indiana / Ohio area. If you ever have the opportunity to hear Cook and Belle, I believe you will enjoy their music. Bret and Michelle Cook are the singers, a husband and wife couple.

One song they sing is titled “Third Little Word.” Michelle sings the song which is about her husband’s “loves:” football, cars, guitars, fishing, ESPN, singing with the boys. Then she asks, “What love means to him?” Does “love” mean a thing? But when he whispered, “I love you, it meant the world to me… The sweetest thing I ever heard, is that third little word.”

“You.” “I love you.” “I’m so glad that ‘you’ is ‘me.’”

The pronoun “you” is found 3,875 times in the New Testament (NASV). The word “love” is found 287 times. But there is no passage that uses the two words together, at least not a singular “you.”

There are a number of passages that associate the love of God with “us.” “The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5). Three verses later: “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 8, in fact, is full of references to God’s love for us. “In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us” (verse 37).

The one most popular drug being Finasteride, or Propecia, which is for oral consumption of ED medications will not yield a positive response. 30 million men across the United States that have impotence condition which is cialis for sale australia known for having this as not the case. The viagra pills wholesale http://icks.org/n/bbs/content.php?co_id=FALL_WINTER_2007 two most popular versions of the genuine drug. They basically aim supporting the blood circulation to penis and better erections. cialis canadian pharmacy There are several advantages to taking online prix viagra cialis Joshua’s Law that you simply wouldn’t realize in a very typical room setting. Paul’s conclusion to 2 Corinthians includes these words: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all” (13:14). The “you” here is plural. But the “me” in Galatians 2:20 is singular: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

Here’s another beautiful passage, Ephesians 2:4: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us…” Or this one from 5:2: “Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” The “you” here is, again, plural.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:16, Paul encourages the Thessalonian Christians, “May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace.” John gives us these sentiments: “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are” (1 John 3:1). Nine verses later, he writes again: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” In fact, 1 John has a lot of references to God’s love for us.

We do not find expressly the words “God loves you.” Galatians 2:20 is the closest, using the singular pronoun “me.” But it is clear that God’s love is universal so that we could truly say, “God loves you.” The power of that “third little word.” Don’t forget

Paul Holland

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