Love

My parents took me to church before I could crawl. I learned about God and His love for me since before I can remember. One of the first things I learned was John 3:16 which says "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." I always believed that God loved the world, but was not always sure that God loved me. We moved quite a bit during my early years, and I saw friends turn away from me more than once. Without realizing it, because I perceived that friends might not love me, I became very unsure of God's love for me. I still knew that God loved the world. I just was not sure that God loved me.

As I read and meditated on God's word several years ago, I came across I John 3:1 which says, "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God." We do not use the word "lavished" very often. I could not get the word out of my mind. I kept thinking about God lavishing His love on me. Somehow--perhaps through God's still small voice--I began to believe that God did indeed love me, and he was lavishing His love on me. This one simple word made a huge difference in my life as I began to truly believe for the first time that God did indeed love me.

I also learned from an early age that the Bible talks a lot about how to love others. I had a lot of knowledge about what the Bible said about love. I had spent a lot of time doing different Bible studies and had a lot of general knowledge about what was in the Bible, but I did not always treat others with love.

One day as I was spending time with God, I thought about I Corinthians 13. It uses the phrase "if I have not love, I am nothing" over and over again. It even says that "if I have all knowledge, but have not love, I am nothing." I realized that it is easier to know about love than to actually love others. I knew that my life needed to be more about love.

We are going through "The Story" at church this year. It goes through the Bible in story form. As I read "The Story," I see God's love and pursuit of His people over and over again. I see God's patience towards those He loves. And, it causes me to ask myself, what difference will this make in my life? How will I love others more as God loves me?

As I spend time with God and listen to His voice, I feel him gently showing me how to love more each day. When I treat others with love, it looks different than how the world treats them. It looks different than how I would treat them on my own power. God has been very patient with me as I have journeyed with Him. Loving others can be difficult, but when I hold tight to God, He gives me what I need to treat others so they can have a better view of God's love for them.

Deb Riddell
Closet Manager