How
great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called
children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)
Valentine’s
Day has come and gone. For a whole day
love was in the air. It filled carts at ShopRite with beautiful floral bouquets
and heart-shaped boxes of candy. But
now it’s February 18th.
There are lots of empty heart-shaped boxes in trash cans, and the
beautiful flowers are starting to droop.
The
love that John speaks of in the quotation above does not end like that. God
lavished His love on us when He sent his Son into the world so we could become
His children and live forever in relationship with Him, the perfect Father.
That option became a reality when we believed and received Christ into our hearts.
So now, not even death can separate us from the love of the Father that is in
Christ Jesus. We have been born into the eternal family of God, and Christ the
first-born is the head of the family.
We
all love the Father, and "
everyone who loves the father loves his child as
well." (I John 5:3). That means that we now live as brothers and sisters,
loving one another as the Father loves each of us. We have no need to be taught of this love by earthly fathers
because we have received the anointing of the Spirit who lives in us and
teaches us by bringing to mind all that Jesus taught as He walked the dusty
roads of Palestine. We are perfected vessels for living together with our
brothers and sisters, displaying the fruit of the Spirit, which is love. “
For
by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” (Hebr
10:14 (NKJV)). We are being sanctified as perfected vessels for our assignment
to bring the love of God to a lost and dying world, to those who do not yet
know the love of God. We have been perfectly designed, our
gifts complementing one another, to show the world that the love of God is far
better than the love that comes with floral bouquets and heart-shaped boxes of
candy on Valentine’s day.
