And the object of that love is you!

“Was everyone kind? Nice? Respectful? Because you’re going to be paying for it and we want to make sure you get your money’s worth!”  That’s what the customer serve representative said as I was checking my son out of the hospital.  I understand she was just doing the quality control thing but I think she probably got off script a bit! Should we really expect people to be kind, nice and respectful just because we are paying for it? What happened to being kind and respectful because of love?

I think what has happened is that we have gotten way off course on our understanding of what love is all about. There seems to be this idea that we love only if we get some sort of payment in return. It’s an “I’ll love you if you do something for me” kind of world. Even among Christians. But that isn’t love as God has given it us! He doesn’t love us in exchange for something else. He doesn’t give us that “I’m going to love you if you do these 10 things (or 20 or 100).” God loves because it is his nature to love. I JN 4:8 reminds us that “God is love”. It’s who he is. And the object of that love is you.

Today you will have the opportunity to love. It is so easy for us, all of us, to let our selfishness or our desire to be right get in the way of loving people. Don’t let anything stand in the way of that love!

I JN 4:7-9 - ⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ⁸ Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. (esv)