For...YOU

Dear Elizabeth,

I’ve always been a lover of love in all its forms. On Valentine’s Day, I planned to have a  devotion with my family and the topic was, take a guess… love. When I was planning the session, I wanted to take the direction of thanking them for the love they’d shown me and double it up with sharing  a blessing from the Bible on how much God loves them . It was to be a great Valentine's message; a well curated Word…but the Lord, had other plans.

I started the session by asking them what they understood by love and then followed with whether they had felt love before. It was wonderful to hear them share moments that people around them made them feel loved.The heart of the message,however, was the Bible’s teaching on love.

For this part, I had hoped to talk about all the affirmation we get from the Bible on being loved. The Bible is filled with numerous verses that speak on how much we are loved. The beauty is, each ofthem is true. These verses are often sought after and I was keen on seeking them out on that particular evening. It's the natural instinct for most of us; to be the recipient of love. It’s easy to think about what someone could do for us to show us they love us, how they could love us better, even see the gaps in their love. The Lord, again , had other plans and led me to a different scripture:

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”John 15:12 ESV

Now that had my attention, especially being a red lettered verse meaning these were direct words from Jesus. We are neither requested, nor suggested to, but commanded to love. And not just in any way, but how Christ has loved us. This is undoubtedly a tall order when you consider that this is one who laid down their life for us, whilst we were sinners. Paul puts it well in his letter to the Romans saying: 

For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die,but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:7-8

That’s the love we are commanded to. A love that is dying to self . A love that asks “How can I love you better”, “What can I give to you” , “What are the gaps in my love to you”. Because as we study scripture we see that indeed love gives, God who is love, gave… John 3:16 tells us that for God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son.. love gives.

I know I’ve been guilty of wanting to feel and receive love. It’s an innate desire in most of us and not a sin to feel that way. God acknowledges that human part of me and gently reminds me that the love I seek is already freely given to me. One of my favorite verses confirms this:

The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.” Jeremiah 31:3

I sometimes ask myself why it could that God’s love isn’t enough for many of us, when it should be. It doesn’t mean that we should lose all desire for love from the people around us, rather that we experience love from others from a place of wholeness from God’s love.

Yet, despite all this, God is still so kind as to allow us to experience love in different ways. Even if His love in itself is complete, He still surrounds us with people who are an extension of that love. It is a great gift to experienc this and we should be filled with a sense of gratitude for each person allowed to come our way and show us love.

My challenge to us however, is to seek more to be the givers of love. To selflessly and freely give what God has given us. Can you imagine if we all loved those around us wholeheartedly. It would eliminate so much sin because love would stop us from causing any form of harm and instead lead us to doing that which lifts the other person up… what a world. A world where we would all live out scripture that says:

“Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”Romans 12:10 NIV

We can never outlove God, but we can strive to give of oursleves as an extension of that love. What can you give today? How can you practically love someone today even when it may seem hard?

Love is beautiful and it is special in different forms; parental, friendship, romantic- and I do pray we get to experience the loves we desire- but more than that, that we offer up great love without restraint.

I’ll close with two quotes from two great Spiritual writers “"The measure of love is to love without measure”(St. Augustine of Hippo) and There, where there is no love, put it and you will find love there.”(St. John of the Cross). Love after all, is the greatest commandment.

Ps. This is not a blog, it's my letter to you.

Love, Mary.