Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them

 on the tablet of your heart.  Then will you obtain favor from the LORD

Proverbs 3:3-4

                  We want to love, and we want to be loved by others.  When we are not shown the love we think we deserve, we become distraught.  Our expectations of how someone aught to love us are what cause us the most harm. But that’s the secret about love; you have to keep it.

This is the will of God: to guard love and faithfulness.  To live in communion with those He has placed in your life.  To honor Him and His saints and to allow yourself to be loved.  If we do not bind love, we will lose it.  We must show, give, and appreciate the love that has been given to us while there is still time.  And this—this—is what gives us favor.

Isaiah 43:5 reads “you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you,” God wants you to know that you are loved, and you are cherished.  You are enough because He made you enough.  God has placed specific people in your life who show you His love, but it is your job to receive that love.  We must cling to that love and remember the faithfulness in it.

God is gracious enough to place people in our lives to help us understand the value that He has given us.  This is not a suggestion; it is a command.  Let those around you love you.

For further reading:

I John 4:7

John 13:35

Romans 8:38-39

Romans 12:9

Ephesians 4:2