We spent part of Mother’s Day with three of our grandchildren (and their parents!). It was delightful. The outpouring of love was tangible. My children went together on a new food processor, to replace my 45 year-old processor I inherited from my mother-in-law. My grandchildren picked 2 bouquets of roses for me in two of my favorite colors. There were effusive cards from each of them. We joined them for a delicious dinner. What a blessing to see the love spontaneously and generously pour forth, not only for their mom but also for me.
They wanted me to see the cards and gifts they had made and bought for their mom also. I was particularly struck by the cards written at school enumerating why they love their mother. They said she was kind and beautiful and fun. But what I noticed most was that they love her because she loves them and takes care of them when they are sick. My first reaction to that was that they love her for what she does for them. That is to be expected of young children, that they are essentially self-centered. But then I remembered the verse “We love, because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19)” Perhaps we as adults like to think that our love for God and others is not self-centered, but maybe we can learn from little children to meditate more on the love God has for us, in order to be empowered to love Him and others more. We love God because he is worthy of our love, but we also need not shy away from loving him because he loves us and takes care of us.
John is teaching Christians to love others in 1 John. He does that by pointing to the love of God for us, his children. He says that it is a visible trait of the children of God, that they love others as he has loved them (1 John 3:14 and following). It is also a visible trait of his children that we show our love for him by obedience to him – practicing the righteousness that characterizes him (1 John 2:29 and following). Why will we become like him? Most people I know will answer that gratitude for God’s love will be the source of our love for him and others. But there is more than that. 1 John 3:9 tells us that “no one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.” This seed is the presence of God himself within us, his Spirit. Even when gratitude fails to motivate me, because I have failed to meditate on “all his benefits” as Psalm 103 exhorts me, his Spirit will never fail. It goads me, quickens me and empowers me even when I falter. I have experienced his presence in real ways. He troubles me when I go astray which I haven’t always appreciated. “Quit following me! Leave me alone!” I might have said occasionally in my past. But thanks be to God that he wouldn’t leave me alone to continue straying! More often now, because of his great grace and power within me, I am amazed and so grateful when I act like I genuinely want to act, when I act more like him, even when I feel feeble and prone to selfish moods. I love now, because He first loved me. What an amazing enactment of his Word to us!
Sometimes we struggle to see the evidence of his love for us, like little children who don’t get exactly what they want and consequently think their parents are mean! We have to train our hearts to see his love. First and most importantly, the Bible teaches us to look back on how God has shown his love to all people, not just us. Romans 5:8 says, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Even on bad days, when we haven’t gotten what we want, we must tell ourselves that he loves us, because he sent his son to die for us. Though it is for all God’s children, Christ’s death is NOT impersonal to each of us. Second, like I wrote above, I see the constraints and empowerment of the Spirit as evidence of his love. Hebrews 12:7-11 has taught me to see his discipline as a display of fatherly love. In periods when my holiness has faltered, I am grateful for the sure sign discipline provides that he hasn’t disowned me! And third, I list his gracious provisions for me. I hesitate to enumerate them here, since we haven’t all received the same benefits, and comparison of benefits can blind us to what we have received. Because I know that I have been abundantly blessed, I try to be a blessing to others who struggle with feeling forsaken, on the chance that I might give them one evidence of God’s personal love for them.
Just as we observe Mother’s Day, may we each day meditate on our Father’s love for us, how he has carried us along in his care. May we be unashamed to be like little children to enumerate all of his benefits, so that our hearts might overflow with love for him and for others.