August 17th

God is Love

            Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.  By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.  And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world.  God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. So we have known and believe the love that God has for us.  God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 

1 John 4:11-16

            “Love” has become a meaningless word in the English language that can be used to describe my positive feelings towards anything.  It can be used to describe my feelings towards my wife…or my kids…or my community…or the bowl of cheese on the table.  I can easily say that I love all those things and the meaning of that word changes in each circumstance.

            For our purposes here, I am going to supply the definition of love that I operate under:  Love is pouring yourself out for the benefit of someone else.  Love involves a cost, whether that is time or money or energy or emotion or anything else.  Love benefits the other person; it makes their lives better in some way.  Love is action and emotion working together so that another person is elevated.

            This definition does not come from Webster’s Dictionary.  It does not come from Google or a devotional book that I read somewhere.  This definition has been shaped and cultivated over the past 15 years through the care and keeping of my children.  Love looks different when the kids are different ages, but the principles remain the same.  When they were young and could not sleep, I would pick up the screaming child from my weary wife’s arms, load them into the car and head out into the dark night to drive for miles until the screaming stopped and the snoring began.  These days the teenagers do not need to be driven to sleep, but sometimes I need to pile them into the car and go for a drive so that we can talk over a big event or conversation or decision that they are struggling with.  Both scenarios involve me leaving the comforts of my home and investing my time, the cost of fuel and the wear and tear on our family vehicle into the health and well-being of my child.  And there is never a question in my mind about whether the cost is worth it.  Because I love my children. 

            Were the sleepless nights worth it?  Were the therapies worth it?  Was homeschooling worth it?  Was the cross country running team worth it?  Every time the answer is yes because each of those examples are simply different expressions of pouring out myself for the building up of my kids…love.

            As if that were not enough, John writes that anyone who loves does the work of the Almighty here on Earth.  Those who love follow His example.  Those who love obey His commandments.  Those who love abide, consistently reside, in His presence.  Loving our kids connects us to God in ways that we don’t fully understand.  We live out God’s story…we become a living parable when we give the best that we have so that our children can live and grow and thrive.  For that is exactly what God has done for us.

            Loving is hard.  Loving is tiring.  Loving leaves you exhausted and drained and delirious from lack of sleep.  That is when we turn to God, for we are His children and he longs to pour himself out for us so that we may live and grow and thrive.  God’s love will look different now than it did when we were baby Christians, but if we allow Him, He will fill us up with everything that we need to continue loving our kids.

            When we are tired and stressed and just done with giving…when we get to that point, remember that God loves us even more than we love our kids.  Also remember that we can only give what we have received.  Spend some time being loved by Jesus.  Abide with Him so that you have the strength to pour yourself out some more with your child.      

A moment to reflect:

How does God want to love you at the moment?