He First Loved || Responding to His Love

I'm going to try to summarize the parable of lost son in two sentences. The younger son takes his inheritance from his father, squanders all of it, comes back home, and his loving Father throws him a big party. The older son doesn't understand his Father's heart for Him and gets jealous.

I was thinking about this recently and if I think about the parables of the lost son, I can often relate to the older son. Often times, I fall into the mentality of the older son. The older son lived in his Father's house and had all the benefits of living in his Father's house! And in the future, all that was the Father's would one day be his. He didn't know his Father's heart and because of this, when his younger brother came home after squandering all his inheritance, instead of celebrating with his Father, the older son was disappointed that he didn't get a party.

And in the same way, I forget that God does love me and he wants the best for me. When I start wandering and looking at others and what they have, I start to forget how much God has blessed me,

which is really silly if you think about it! God has provided for me, protected me, loved me, etc. 

So I try to obey because I know he has the best plans for me. But then, I begin to forget to hope in

all the great things God has for me because I'm not perfect. I start to get tired. I start forgetting that God is good. I forget that God doesn't make cookie cutter humans with cookie cutter plans. He has a purpose and plan for each one of us. 

Then I start forgetting of God's great love for me.

Then that affects everything - how I treat others, my level of patience, how willing I am to help someone, etc.

How I love reflects how I'm being loved - how I'm accepting God's love.

One that has been loved much loves much!

It's like money in a sense. If there's a small flow of money coming in, you try to spend as little as possible.

But if there's a large income coming in, you feel more free to spend more. It's easier to spend more money.

In the same way, if I'm receiving much, then it's easier to give much.

I think that's what God is calling us to do. He desires us to drink deeply from his well. This is the only way we can love others. This is the only way we can bear the pains of loving others as Jesus did. 

I wondered for a while. How did Jesus continue to love when he was rejected? When people used him? When people ignored him? Spoke lies about him? How did he endure it?

It's because He knew the Father's love for Him. God's love is SOOOO great that Jesus could endure all these things.

At the end of our lives, it's not going to matter what someone thought about my actions. It's not going to matter if someone approves or rejects me. It only matters that God accepts me. The only thing that matters is what God thinks of me.

And at the end he's going to ask me - did you love, how did you love, who did you love?

I want to be able to reflect upon my life and say I loved well. Not because I'm capable of loving people so well. No, it's because he loved me first that I can love and his love is THAT great that I can endure all things.

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails."

- 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

And so, I want to treat people well. I also listened to this message this weekend and it was really good: http://vimeo.com/59969404. Pastor Stephen Chandler speaks about the importance of treating people well. I want to be able to speak encouraging words to the people around me. I want us, as a church, to be able to encourage each other and launch each other into our futures. (:

An excerpt from "A Love Worth Giving" by Max Lucado that my class is reading that has been replaying in my mind: http://www.oneplace.com/devotionals/upwords-with-max-lucado/upwords-week-of-aug-29-sept-4-11581079.html. I want to live knowing that God gives me a fresh bouquet of flowers every morning!