Lavishing Love



How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
1 John 3:1


For several weeks the first half of this verse has been in my head. To be called the daughter of God is a ridiculously huge privilege. Beyond that I love the wording. “The love the Father has lavished on us.” I’m a word girl. I love words, especially when the way they sound indicates their meaning, like conquer or conquerors. Say that a few times. It sounds strong doesn’t it? Conqueror. Now try lavished. It sounds like something that would flow over you, cover you, make you feel warm and secure. Then consider that the love being lavished is from God. Amazing right?

For the last several weeks I have been praying for my friend Charlene a lot. Due to a major change in her life we have also been in pretty constant contact. At some point in all of our conversations, be they live, on the phone or through text, we share some way in which God has blessed us. Even with the struggles Char is experiencing, or maybe because of the struggles, she feels love being lavished on her.

My life in these same weeks has been, just life, with its inherent ups and downs. My heart breaks for Char. I am irritated by the behaviors of some of the people nearest and supposedly dearest to me. I have the regular day to day struggles and some great times. Through it all I feel the love of the Father being lavished on me. How blessed we are, Char and I, how blessed we all are, to be called the sons and daughters of God.

Today when the verse caught my attention I really saw the second half. The world doesn’t know us because it didn’t know our Father. What is our mission then? To make him known in the world. Okay! So get your boots on, the ones made for walkin’, get your Bible and your best evangelist voice and start stepping. We’ve got work to do! Hmm, no, I don’t think that’s the best idea. What then? How do we get the world to focus on God?

In these same weeks I had the immense privilege and pleasure of taking a cruise with my daughter and granddaughters. Since our return I’ve shown the pictures and told the stories over and over to anyone who will look and listen. Several of those people have said “Oh man, now I want to go on a cruise.” Why? My excitement is contagious. They can hear in my voice and see from the pictures what a great time we had. Hmm, maybe that’s it.

As I said, Char and I share the movement of God in our lives with each other and with other like-minded friends. When I’m talking about the cruise I don’t hesitate and wonder if the person is interested in cruises. I don’t think, “Oh, I hope I don’t push them away from cruising.” No, I just share my joy.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I know that I have to find a way to share my joy in the Lord more obviously. I need to be more open about why and how I have the life I have. In good times, I need to “show the pictures” of what God has done and is doing for me and in me. In hard times, I have to be open about the struggle and how I’m facing it, with the help of my Father.

God is willing to call me child, daughter and he is willing to lavish love on me. Now that is something to get excited about, to brag about, considering it is all to his glory. I want the world to know him and to see him in me. It’s time to do something about that.

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