One of my favorite shows as a child was “The Little Rascals.” I remember one episode where Alfalfa was pining for little Darla. (For that matter, when wasn’t he pining for his darling true love!) I can see him now, his one hair was sticking straight up and his freckled face was smiling dreamily. He gets a daisy from the flower garden and starts picking away at the flower…”She loves me, she loves me not. She loves me, she loves me not…until he finally got to the last petal…She loves me!” (Huge smile-sigh!)
Love, so tender and precious. Yet in our humanness we scarcely can express it in all its fullness. We sing songs, write poems, get married, buy or make presents, all to show our love to each other. Despite ourselves and our deep feelings, we can still break up, get divorced, or put an end to that love.
There is one love however, that never ends. From the moment it begins, it grows and evolves with faith, time and experience. This love ever deepens each day until forevermore. This is the love of God.
When did this love start you may ask…before the beginning of time. Paul spoke of this in Titus 1:2 “ in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,” So before the earth and all within it were formed, God had a plan to save mankind by the shed blood of His own Son to bring us into relationship with Him. God did it! He demonstrated His love for us. He has always loved us. He shows us in so many more ways every day. From a beautiful sunrise, to a sweetly answered prayer, God is always taking care of His beloved ones.
My question is, how do we show love to Him? We surely tell Him we love Him in prayer. We write songs to Him, and poems with all the markings of great depth of feeling. Is that what God wants? I’m sure He appreciates those things, but those are not the things that demonstrate our love to Him.
There are things that show God we love Him. One of those things is obedience. John 14: 21 says, Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” God didn’t make us like puppets. He made us with free will. We must choose to obey Him. This pleases Him. He reveals Himself to us more and more as we obey Him.
Micah 6:6-8 says “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly[ with your God.” Loving God changes us. We desire to have actions and an attitude that will please HIm.
In loving God we also begin to love the things that He loves, and He loves us His people. Therefore, we must love each other also. John 13:34-35 says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
If God is to walk in His gardentoday and pick a daisy, may He not say, "He/She loves me not, but rather “My beloved one loves me, loves me, loves me!” ” This will make Him smile from heaven and deepen our love for Him. True love…there is nothing like it!
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