By Gina Caswell Kelly
“God is love.” 1 John 4:8
I could actually stop right there and call it good. Because it is. God is love. The entire verse says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” And it is true!
So what does this mean in our own lives? As we are heading into the Hallmark holiday of Valentine’s Day, love is literally everywhere we look. But, what does love mean to those of us who have accepted God’s free gift of love in our lives?
To a follower of Christ, love should mean seeing a need and meeting that need as best you can. Love should mean loving those who do not love you. Love should mean loving those who are hardest to love. Loving those who do not always smell the best and look just like us. Love can be extremely difficult. But I am thinking God intended for love to be easy for us. To come very naturally to us on a daily basis. I think He made us to love others and to love Him!
It is pretty easy to love those closest to you. Your family. Your friends. But even with those groups, sometimes love is not the easiest. Sometimes, those who you are closest to are very unlovable! Have you ever had those days when you love someone because they are yours, but you just don’t like them very much right in that moment? I think anyone who has raised kids has had that feeling before! It does not mean that you do not love them. It just means you don’t like how they are acting right then.
My daddy used to say you could love some one without loving their crummy ways. This is a concept the world cannot understand. If we step out and call sin what it is, the world sees us as hating. But, God called us to call sin a sin, and to continue to love those who are screaming about how we are haters when we do that. Man, that gets tough!
We are to love all people. Little Knox goes with me and his dad when we do Gatorade and God each week. I always tell all those kiddos that come through to get Gatorade and a scripture card that I love them. One day, Knox looked at me and said, “How many kids do you have?” Clearly, in his mind, they had to be mine if I was loving them. As he grows in his faith, and he will because I know his family, he will grow to understand who all we are to love. I hope that in me, he is seeing what love looks like for those outside our family. I hope I am showing him a bit about what God has called us to do. And that is to love like He does. To look at people with His eyes and to love them anyway.
Love like God does this week! It will make a difference!
