Love Abounds
The running joke after having your first child seems to be that nobody cares about you or your presence any longer, & that now that you have provided the grandbaby or great nephew, what have you, the love that used to be reserved for you must now be shifted to the baby. Sorry, but your time has passed, expired - the baby now replaces you.
Yes, yes - hahaha, very funny. I get it. It's worth a laugh. The cuteness of a baby is no match for an adult man. But this joke I'm now very familiar with has led me to reflect & be grateful for the reality that we are given the communicable attribute of love from God.
John 17:26 reads, "I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."
Romans 5:5 reads, "and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."
Not only does God's love being communicable to us allow us to return that love for God, but it allows us to love our fellow man.
What an awesome reality that as we've moved from city to city & therefore from church to church, that we haven't had to stop loving those in our previous churches in order to love those in our current local church.
How awesome that as my family has grown & as I have gained brothers-in-law & sisters-in-law that I have not had to subtract any love from my brothers & sisters I grew up with in order to add love to those who do not share my blood.
I'm so grateful that if anything, my love for my parents & my wife & other family members & friends has only increased with the arrival of our first son as I've realized how precious life and love are, and seen the privilege it has been to have those in my life that I have been blessed to share the years with.
I'm so grateful that the love of God did not stop with Adam & Eve, but is vast enough to ransom someone from every tribe, language, people, and nation.
And though I realize that there are many unbelievers & pagans who love their family & increase their love for others, we must recognize that that is only because all men are stamped with the image of God, whether they give Him any recognition or not - He alone gives the ability to increase and add love upon love. God is love (1 John 4:16).
But where the triune God makes it so clear that love is His alone to give & communicate from Himself to us, and from man to man, is in the fact that in Christ, love abounds not only for family & friends, but also for our enemies (See Matthew 5:43-48).
And I'm so grateful that God loved His enemy, me, so much that He reconciled me to Himself by pouring out wrath I fully deserved on His perfect Son!
For a Christ-like love that abounds for family, friends, & the faithless!!
Yes, yes - hahaha, very funny. I get it. It's worth a laugh. The cuteness of a baby is no match for an adult man. But this joke I'm now very familiar with has led me to reflect & be grateful for the reality that we are given the communicable attribute of love from God.
John 17:26 reads, "I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."
Romans 5:5 reads, "and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."
Not only does God's love being communicable to us allow us to return that love for God, but it allows us to love our fellow man.
What an awesome reality that as we've moved from city to city & therefore from church to church, that we haven't had to stop loving those in our previous churches in order to love those in our current local church.
How awesome that as my family has grown & as I have gained brothers-in-law & sisters-in-law that I have not had to subtract any love from my brothers & sisters I grew up with in order to add love to those who do not share my blood.
I'm so grateful that if anything, my love for my parents & my wife & other family members & friends has only increased with the arrival of our first son as I've realized how precious life and love are, and seen the privilege it has been to have those in my life that I have been blessed to share the years with.
I'm so grateful that the love of God did not stop with Adam & Eve, but is vast enough to ransom someone from every tribe, language, people, and nation.
And though I realize that there are many unbelievers & pagans who love their family & increase their love for others, we must recognize that that is only because all men are stamped with the image of God, whether they give Him any recognition or not - He alone gives the ability to increase and add love upon love. God is love (1 John 4:16).
But where the triune God makes it so clear that love is His alone to give & communicate from Himself to us, and from man to man, is in the fact that in Christ, love abounds not only for family & friends, but also for our enemies (See Matthew 5:43-48).
And I'm so grateful that God loved His enemy, me, so much that He reconciled me to Himself by pouring out wrath I fully deserved on His perfect Son!
For a Christ-like love that abounds for family, friends, & the faithless!!
