Loved By God

Last night I had two back-to-back experiences that got me thinking.  First of all, my husband and I hosted our first session of a new small group with other Christians as we began the video/discussion portion of a short-term series our whole church is currently going through.  We talked about how God loves us and created us to love him because he cares about us.  After everyone left, I watched the Academy Awards show on television.  I probably couldn’t have done two more contrasting things in the same evening.

The Oscar program showcased lots of Hollywood stars seeking the love and recognition of their peers, which is measured by the winning of the award they were nominated for.  In other words, many more people went away feeling unloved and unrecognized than those who won, since there were at least four other nominees (and sometimes more) in every category.  On the other hand, our small group focused on how much God loves us no matter who we are or what we’ve done – and how he created us just so we could love him in return.

The Hollywood crowd tried to wear all the right clothes, talk to or sit by all the right people, and find their joy in the festivities and the hope of hearing their name read as a winner.  You and I don’t have to do anything to impress God and can find our joy in obeying him and following his leading in our lives – regardless of how anyone else feels about us or whether we get recognition for anything we’ve done.

Now I enjoy a good movie and appreciate good acting when I see it.  There are some excellent stories being told well that can move us all in many ways.  But I am very thankful that my worth doesn’t come from what I do or what others think or say about me – but only from the fact that God loves me and created me in his image.  And I’m thankful that he can be counted on to continue to love me no matter what I do, what I look like, who my friends are, or how many kudos I receive from others.  Only what God thinks of me matters – and his faithfulness means I can count on him to always love me.  And the good news is: he feels the same way about you!

“Long before [God] laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love . . .                           Ephesians 1:4 (The Message)

Happy Valentine's Day

Tomorrow is a Hallmark holiday, a day to celebrate the people we love – especially those we call lovers.  For some, this will be the first Valentine’s Day they have celebrated together; for my husband and me, this will be our 39^th time to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

The love we share with others is very special and comes in various forms: we love our spouses, we love our children, we love our parents, we love other family members, and we love our friends.  Each type of love looks slightly different, but all forms of real love have the same source: God’s love for us (1 John 4:19).

We are able to love others because God first loved us.  He is the one who showed us what love is all about when he sent his Son as a sacrifice for us.  He also gave us a complete description of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, which all of us fail to live up to (to some degree) in our love relationships.  Nearly 40 years ago, a song was written for a wedding that paraphrased these verses and helps us to understand what love should look like on a daily basis:

Love is patient, love is kind

Love isn’t jealous, full of pride

Love thinks of others first before it’s satisfied

Love is an action, brought from feeling deep inside

Love forgives the other’s wrong

Love doesn’t hold a grudge for long

Love doesn’t look for ways to even up the score

Love takes a chance on pain to help the other more

Love defends its own from loss

Love trusts no matter what the cost

Love always hopes, though it seems all hope is gone

Love perseveres until life’s battle has been won.

In 2017, love is a frivolous word that seems to have lost most of its meaning.  We use it to describe things like our companionship with our pets and our preference for certain foods.  We also use it for political and social gain, trying to shame or ostracize others that we believe are not properly exhibiting our broader definition of the word.

But God has not only outlined the qualities that describe real love, he also makes it clear what love should lead to: “. . . let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18).  Real love isn’t about what we say or how we feel about those we claim to love; it has its basis in what God says about them and manifests itself in what we do for them.  Real love is action.  And every person deserves love because all are created in the image of God and loved by him first.

 

As we celebrate with our loved ones this Valentine’s Day, let’s focus not only on “warm fuzzy feelings” but also on the true characteristics of love as God intended it and modeled it for us.  Then let’s spend the next year reminding ourselves how to truly love everyone that he puts in our path and asks us to love.  We love, because he first loved us.