For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
Memory of the month: And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?" —Luke 24:32
Today's reading: 1 SAMUEL 1-3 LUKE 8:26-56
This Many
(THis was written a year ago as we went through the lock-down.)
I was one of two children, both boys, in our family of a small North Texas town. Like most towns of that time, we were surrounded by working folks of simple ways and means. Many of the men were veterans of 'the war'(World War 2) and my Dad was in that number. Like a lot of them, Daddy carried the ghosts of that time without speaking of them-ever.
I saw him out of his hickory-striped overalls only two times in my life with him when he wore khakis to two funerals. He moved us to town to the house with an indoor bathroom when I was five and said good-bye to the out house toilet paper-the big Sears catalogue.(For all the folks hoarding toilet paper right now, there are other items that suffice...)
At bedtime, Daddy never said prayers with us but stood at the door and said, "Night'n boys, I love y'all this many"-and he would hold up his huge, worn fist and open and close it a couple of times and we would hold up both our hands and flash our fingers at Him meaning that we loved him more and say, "We love you this many, night'n".
I would learn early that quantifying love was not possible. We all know that we cannot quantify love but our language says we continue to try.
A saying:
"They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care".
A scripture:
"And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." Paul wrote in Ephesians 3.
Matthew 22:37-39
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
How much is 'all'? Though it is not a quantity, God challenges us to find it out and do it.
26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”Matthew 19
Jesus makes us a promise in scripture that we must remember:
38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”Luke 6
We have another choice given by God: 'the measure we use'.
These times are so very foreign to us all. We have to stay away from people and places we love and like. The measure we have chosen over the years has come home to roost. How much have we loved people in our lives. How much do we miss them? How much do they miss us?
On Palm Sunday, we are reminded of what came after-the arrest, the torture, the crucifixion. How much does God love us? I cannot think of Jesus on the cross with His hands nailed up and not think of 'this many' from my childhood--"I love you this many..."
Whatever measure we choose, we cannot 'outlove' or 'outgive' God in all He has done or is doing for us but our lives must be lived in pouring our lives out for Him and for others.
...because He loves us...
Father in Heaven,
I confess I fall so short of loving You with all of me. Increase my measure...
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