How do I love thee?

As promised, a great quote from John Owen, the 17th century pastor and theologian:

Jesus Christ is the beam of his Father's love and through him the Father's love reaches down and touches us.
It is God's will that he should always be seen as gentle, kind, tender, loving and unchangeable. It is his will that we see him as the Father, and the great fountain and reservoir of all grace and love... Believers learn that it was god's will and purpose to love them from everlasting to everlasting in Christ, and that all reasons for God to be angry with us and treat us as his enemies has been taken away. The believer, being brought by Christ into the bosom of the Father, rests in the full assurance of God's love and of never being separated from that love.
Many saints have no greater burden in their lives than that their hearts do not constantly delight and rejoice in God. There is still in them a resistance to walking close with God... So do this: set your thoughts on the eternal love of the Father and see if your heart is not aroused to delight in him. Sit down for a while at the delightful spring of living water and you will soon find its streams sweet and delightful. You who used to run from God will not now be able, even for a second, to keep at any distance from him.

As I mentioned in my last post, this is taken from Tim Chester's book, The Ordinary Hero. Buy it. Read it.