My life is blessed with love and I am so grateful for that fact, much richer for it. The home were I was raised, while not perfect, included real love. The church community of which I have been a part for my entire life is a place where I have found a place to love and be loved; yes, at times with gaps and failure on my part as well as those of others. My marriage was a filled with love for the 4 decades that we enjoyed together before Bev died. My children love me as do a wide circle of friends.
Perhaps you are thinking “Jerry is feeling sentimental today.” True, perhaps, and yet I recognize that we are born with a hunger for love which a powerful force in the shaping of our personality and character.
This is truth – People who are loved learn to love! Love creates security. Love encourages growth and is a basic part of soul nourishing connections with others. A family therapist writes that “feeling loved and valued by others helps to promote healthier lifestyle choices, good self-esteem, lessens stress factors, and provides better life-long mental health.”
Love gets tangled up with other things including sex, social
acceptance, and popularity. Sometimes even the healthiest person finds it
difficult to experience and give unconditional love. We learn early on that if
we are willing to ‘dance to the tune that other’s play’ we will, at least in
the short term, receive emotional rewards in return. But, that is not love! Genuine love is freeing, without manipulation,
and reciprocal.
For the Christian, genuine love begins with the Spirit, an awakening of faith in God’s gift. John teaches that “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it." (John 3:16-17, NLT) Our Creator is not a vengeful Deity waiting to punish us for our failures! He is loving, full of grace, desiring to make us whole as human beings. What a tragedy that so many people only understand Him as an angry God.
I frequently quote this line from Scripture because it so
foundational to whole living - "We love because He first loved us."
(1 John 4:19, NIV) That principle is
vividly illustrated in the story that Jesus’ told about a selfish, wayward son
who took his inheritance, left home without a look back, and went off to do his
own thing. Eventually, after having a
great time, he was broke, alone, hungry, and trapped in miserable
circumstances.
“When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At
home even the hired men have food enough to spare, and here I am, dying of
hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against
both heaven and you… and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.
Please take me on as a hired man.” (Luke 15:17-19, NLT) He still did not
understand the depth of his father’s love for he was ready to negotiate a place
of servitude believing his place at the table was lost forever.
The story continues - “So he returned home to his father.
And while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming. Filled
with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His
son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am
no longer worthy of being called your son.’ “But his father said to the
servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a
ring for his finger, and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been
fattening in the pen. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was
dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the
party began." (Luke 15:20-24, NLT) He expected judgment, he found amazing love.
This
is our story! We take the life God gives us, do our own thing, and when we have
come to the end of ourselves, we try to make a deal with God. But, He offers love: restorative, whole, gracious love.
God’s love gives us a new place at His table, our sins not
just covered but forgotten, our past not just set aside, but erased by the gift
of Christ’s act of love at the Cross. The result of His love is justification –
completely reconciled to God, set right. "Therefore, since we have been
justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now
stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:1-2,
NIV) All of this is because of love
offered that when received is healing.
Want to be loved and loving? Start with the soul, not the heart. Let God love you to life, making you capable of a new kind of love for others.
The word from the Word is an amazing prayer that Paul first offered
for the Christians at Ephesus, and that has become one of my most cherished
prayers of the Bible. "When I
think of the wisdom and scope of God’s plan, I fall to my knees and pray to the
Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his
glorious, unlimited resources he will give you mighty inner strength through
his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your
hearts as you trust in him.
May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s
marvelous love. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people
should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love really is.
May you
experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully
understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that
comes from God." (Ephesians 3:14-19, NLT) Join me in a heartfelt – AMEN!
(Video of this blog at this link)
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One day when heaven was filled with His praises
One day when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin
Dwelt among men my example is He
Living He loved me dying He saved me
Buried He carried my sins far away
Rising He justified freely forever
One day He's coming
O glorious day O glorious day
O glorious day O glorious day
One day they led Him up Calvary's mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on the tree
Suffering anguish despised and rejected
Bearing our sins my Redeemer is He
One day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose o'er death He had conquered
Now is ascended my Lord evermore
One day the trumpet will sound for His coming
One day the skies with His glories will shine
Wonderful day my beloved ones bringing
Glorious Savior this Jesus is mine
John Wilbur Chapman Public Domain
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