The Holy One calls to me this morning. The blessing of my family feels like a warm and wonderful blanket as the temperature outside begins to drop. Sweet thoughts and precious memories of each one come to mind and the bonds of love stretch to where they are in the world.
The morning conference with Holiness begins on that note: Love for family.
The human love for flesh family is our first and (or should be) the best picture of God's love for his Beloved Creation. What I "feel" emotionally in the exchange of family love sets the tone of thanksgiving that I offer up to the One who gave me those who make up my family.
God's love draws me and the Holy Spirit receives my gratitude. Then the Holy One reminds me of the unconditional love He has for his Beloved....all of us....each of us, and I begin to compare the great love I have for my flesh family with the great love He has for humanity.
The truth about our Sovereign Creator is that He IS love. The Holy One doesn't just give it, He IS love. Everything He does stems from Who He is. God IS love. Compare that to the love we "feel" as humanity and the difference between His love and ours is vast.
Human love emanates out of human need from birth on and without knowing it our love becomes quite conditional. God's love on the other hand is unconditional. God is outside our realm and He is self-sufficient to use a human word to describe the One who cannot be described by limited human language. God needs nothing from us. He is the Great benefactor of all we need and needs nothing in return.
What this means to me is that the love God has for me cannot be bought, exchanged, manipulated or destroyed. I cannot earn it or demand it, or threaten it. I cannot steal it from someone else. I cannot direct it, dictate it or control it. I cannot get away from it but most of all I cannot live without it. God's love is to be accepted. respected and relished by me, the unworthy recipient.
Even as I say that I am unworthy of His love, there is a human component to my understanding of it that I must shed if I am to truly experience the depths of His unconditional love.
Jesus is our model and example of God's unconditional love. He sat with sinners, touched lepers, healed demoniacs and yes, even, rebuked the Pharisees in love.
One of the most telling demonstrations of His unconditional love for all of us happened on a day when He was speaking to a crowd. His human family was outside the place He was teaching and wanted to speak with him.
Matt 12:46-50 tells of the encounter. "Someone told Him. "Your mother and brothers are standing outside to speak to You". He replied to him, "Who is my mother and who are my brothers?" Pointing to His Disciples, He said, "Here are my mother and brothers, for whoever does the will of My Father in Heaven is My brother and my sister and my mother."
This has always hurt my human heart as a mother bound to my children. I can only imagine the human hurt His statement might have caused His flesh family at that time.
Today I see more into what He, God in the flesh, was teaching about His unconditional love. I believe He was modelling the wider and broader scope of His love. It's not that He loved His human family less, but for those listening close, He was telling them that he didn't love His flesh family more.
Conditional love sets boundaries, and forms tight bonds. Honor and reciprocation dictates human loyalties and then incorporates rejection. Manipulation and relational abuse happens with conditional love. God's unconditional love covers over the sinner and the saint.
Today is a day for me to see through the boundaries of human conditional love and try to grasp the boundlessness of His unconditional love. I know I cannot begin to operate at that depth of love without making more of the great exchange with My Lord. I must bring to Him my conditional human love and ask for His unconditional Divine love in exchange.
I make no promises to my Counselor that I can do anything other than yield to Him in this matter. Coming into His Presence and finding myself empty is one more hard lesson in humility.
The love I feel for my family is not diminished in the lesson of today. But knowing God's love is the standard and possibility set before me, and having the "love power" of His Holy Spirit within me, I am assured that I can grow more and more in His unconditional love for my own family as well as the human world around me.
The Holy Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
The morning conference with Holiness begins on that note: Love for family.
The human love for flesh family is our first and (or should be) the best picture of God's love for his Beloved Creation. What I "feel" emotionally in the exchange of family love sets the tone of thanksgiving that I offer up to the One who gave me those who make up my family.
God's love draws me and the Holy Spirit receives my gratitude. Then the Holy One reminds me of the unconditional love He has for his Beloved....all of us....each of us, and I begin to compare the great love I have for my flesh family with the great love He has for humanity.
The truth about our Sovereign Creator is that He IS love. The Holy One doesn't just give it, He IS love. Everything He does stems from Who He is. God IS love. Compare that to the love we "feel" as humanity and the difference between His love and ours is vast.
Human love emanates out of human need from birth on and without knowing it our love becomes quite conditional. God's love on the other hand is unconditional. God is outside our realm and He is self-sufficient to use a human word to describe the One who cannot be described by limited human language. God needs nothing from us. He is the Great benefactor of all we need and needs nothing in return.
What this means to me is that the love God has for me cannot be bought, exchanged, manipulated or destroyed. I cannot earn it or demand it, or threaten it. I cannot steal it from someone else. I cannot direct it, dictate it or control it. I cannot get away from it but most of all I cannot live without it. God's love is to be accepted. respected and relished by me, the unworthy recipient.
Even as I say that I am unworthy of His love, there is a human component to my understanding of it that I must shed if I am to truly experience the depths of His unconditional love.
Jesus is our model and example of God's unconditional love. He sat with sinners, touched lepers, healed demoniacs and yes, even, rebuked the Pharisees in love.
One of the most telling demonstrations of His unconditional love for all of us happened on a day when He was speaking to a crowd. His human family was outside the place He was teaching and wanted to speak with him.
Matt 12:46-50 tells of the encounter. "Someone told Him. "Your mother and brothers are standing outside to speak to You". He replied to him, "Who is my mother and who are my brothers?" Pointing to His Disciples, He said, "Here are my mother and brothers, for whoever does the will of My Father in Heaven is My brother and my sister and my mother."
This has always hurt my human heart as a mother bound to my children. I can only imagine the human hurt His statement might have caused His flesh family at that time.
Today I see more into what He, God in the flesh, was teaching about His unconditional love. I believe He was modelling the wider and broader scope of His love. It's not that He loved His human family less, but for those listening close, He was telling them that he didn't love His flesh family more.
Conditional love sets boundaries, and forms tight bonds. Honor and reciprocation dictates human loyalties and then incorporates rejection. Manipulation and relational abuse happens with conditional love. God's unconditional love covers over the sinner and the saint.
Today is a day for me to see through the boundaries of human conditional love and try to grasp the boundlessness of His unconditional love. I know I cannot begin to operate at that depth of love without making more of the great exchange with My Lord. I must bring to Him my conditional human love and ask for His unconditional Divine love in exchange.
I make no promises to my Counselor that I can do anything other than yield to Him in this matter. Coming into His Presence and finding myself empty is one more hard lesson in humility.
The love I feel for my family is not diminished in the lesson of today. But knowing God's love is the standard and possibility set before me, and having the "love power" of His Holy Spirit within me, I am assured that I can grow more and more in His unconditional love for my own family as well as the human world around me.
The Holy Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
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