He Loved Us First

Is there someone that you poured your life in to, someone you loved and took care of?  Someone you gave yourself to without asking anything in return?  And then one day, you finally heard those words, "I love you," from their heart...

Giving Into the Lives of Others
Many of us have given care and love to a lot of people throughout our lives.  We have cared for children, spouses, elderly parents, friends, other relatives, and even some strangers.  We have cared for and nurtured them.

Some Never Notice
Some people never noticed.  It was a one-way thing.   We gave them our love - our time, our resources, and our care - and they may or may not have noticed.  They may not have known about or acknowledged the love and care we gave them.

Like a stranger.  Like the recipients of donations you give at church or the Salvation Army.  They don't know who you were.  They may be thankful for the help but don't know whom to thank.  They didn't know you.  They can just acknowledge thankful appreciation to someone.

Some Show Appreciation
Then there are those that have shown their appreciation.  They have been thankful.   Now, you weren't doing what you were doing just to be appreciated, but when someone did appreciate you, it sure made it all worthwhile, didn't it?

Like your children, after years of pouring your life into them and they finally say thank you in some way.

Or your spouse, when they do extra special things for you, like a your husband buying you flowers unexpectedly to show his love and appreciation for you, or a wife cooking her husband's favorite meal and thanking him for being such a good provider for this family.

It feels good to be appreciated.  It feels good to know that the people you love genuinely love you back.  It feels good to know that you make a difference in someone's life.

Rachael
When my daughter was about a year and a half old, I was getting her dressed.  We were facing each other and I remember her looking at me and saying, "I love," while she leaned in to give me a hug.  I stopped!  I looked at her little face that was looking lovingly at me and I realized she was telling me that she loved me for the first time!  "I love."  The sweetest words I ever heard.

After months and months of feeding, changing diapers, changing clothes, baths, late nights, early mornings, where the love was one-way. 

All of the times I helped her to discover the world and all the times that I watched her play.  All of the times I nurtured her and kept her safe.  All of the times I tried to stay sane when she had colic and would cry endlessly.  When she didn't want to go to sleep, when she didn't like the food I fed her.  When I changed poopy diapers.  All those times I didn't get much in return.  But day in and day out I cared for her and loved her.

Then that one day, she let me know her feelings.  She gave love back to me.  "I love."  It made it all worthwhile.  Everything I did for her was all small price when I heard her speak from her heart; "I love."

I first loved her and now her love for me was evident.

How many of you who have children remember the first time your child told you they loved you?  These are words you'll never forget, right?

Sean
One day my son, when he was about 14 years old, was sitting at my desk in my home office doing his homework while I was working on the computer.  When he left the desk, I saw that he left me a note.  It had a smiley face on it and it said, " You’re the greatest mom ever, luv Seaner."

I was thrilled when I read it!  It meant so much to me. 

I first loved him, and now his love for me was evident in this small way.  Two years later I still have that note pinned by my desk.

Voluntary Love
As a parent, any voluntary demonstration of love from your child is cherished, isn't it?  At first it is a one way street.  We give them love.  We hug them and kiss them and care for them. They eventually give us hugs and kisses and we know they love us, too.

You know you believe your children love you, but you sometimes wonder if it's just obligatory.  You wonder how they REALLY feel.  Well, when they voluntarily say or write their feelings, it warms your heart.  The really do love me! 

When they do something on their own, no matter how small, it is big in your heart.

Is There Someone You Poured Your Life In To?
Is there someone that you poured your life in to, someone you loved and took care of?  Someone you gave yourself for?

And then one day, you heard those words, "I love you," from their heart.

Or you got a little note with words from their heart that showed you how they truly felt.

Or they gave you a look that let you know that you were so special, so appreciate, and so loved?

We Help Them Learn To Love
Do you know that we help our children learn what love is by loving them?  When they are born they don't even know what love is, but by our caring for them, we teach them what love is.  When we hug them, kiss them, protect them, feed them, cloth them, take care of boo-boos, and countless other things, we show them what love means.

We also show them how to love and care for others, by teaching them to be nice to others in the play groups and then later when helping them pick out gifts for their friends' birthday party, how to be a faithful friend, and other acts of compassion.  We give love to them and we show them how to give it to others. 

Someone Who Pours Into Our Lives
Do you know, there is Someone else that has poured into our lives in countless ways; given us food, a roof over our heads, and many of the luxuries that we take for granted?  This Person gives and gives.  He takes care of us day after day.  He is the ultimate parent.  Giving, giving, and giving, day in and day out.

A Few Of Us Have Realized This
And then one day, some of us realize this.  Our eyes are opened and we say, "Thank You!" "I love You!"

We acknowledge the goodness, kindness, and mercy.  We give our lives to Him in appreciation for all that He had done for us.

After He gave and gave His love to us, our love FOR HIM finally becomes evident to Him.

Who Is This Loving Person?
Who is this loving, giving Person?  This is God!  The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, through Jesus Christ.

He gives us life and all that we could ever want to enjoy it.  He takes care of us.  He nurtures us.  He keeps us safe.  He feeds us, dresses us, and even changes our poopy diapers - in other words, helps us out of the messes that we get ourselves into.

He gives us cars to drive, entertainment, things to enjoy, friends to enjoy them with, beautiful landscapes, beautiful music, and countless other things.

His Love Gives Us the Ability to Love
He gives and gives.  He even gives us the ability to love. The only reason that WE can even love Him or any one else is because he first loved us.  His love toward us is the only reason we can show love to our children, spouse, or strangers.

"We love because He first loved us."  1 John 4:19

Jesus gives us HIS love and this in turn makes it possible for us to know what love is even all about.  He sows His love in to us.  He shows us what love is, what love means, and then He hopes that one day we start loving Him.

He wants us to know how much He loves us.  How much He loves to care for us and how much He wants to give us all we need.  But, He wants to know that we do love Him, too.

Just like a loving parent longs to hear "I love you" from their child, so God, our Father, longs to hear "I love You" from our hearts to Him.  He longs to hear, "I want you in my life.  I want to get to know you better.  I want to be your friend."

God Has Our Well-Being in Mind
Like earthly parents, our heavenly Father has our well-being in mind.  And, like our earthly parents, He longs to have our love in return.  We, as parents, don’t love our children so that they will give us things, buy us things, or become our slaves.  We love them to give them all that they need to live their lives as completely as possible. 

But at some point, it is so nice to hear, "Thank you for all that you have done for me." It is so nice to be appreciated for all that you have done to raise them, and then when they are adults, to have a friendship with them.

So it is with God.  He wants our love and appreciation back.  He wants your love in return.  Your devotion to Him.  He wants you to show Him that you love Him.

How To Show Love To God
How do we show our love to God?  Since God is not here in a physical form, we can't just walk up to Him and give Him a hug, or sit down and have dinner with Him.  Or can we?  We have to learn what it means to love Him.  How we show love to Jesus.

We get the first clue from the command He gave us about love while He was here on earth:

"'Love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'"  Matthew 22:37-40

Jesus told us to love Him and then love our neighbor.

How do we love Jesus?

• Acknowledge Him as the true God.

• Worship Him. Honor Him.  Respect Him.

• Follow His ways.

• Spend time with Him.

How do we love our neighbor?

• Acknowledge each person as a creation of God.

• Respect them.

• Spend time with them.

• Fill their needs.

Some people are hard to love!  But if we look at them as a creation of God, a soul that God delights in, it will be easier for us.

God sees the heart and in each person's heart there is something to love. So we can love what God loves, whether we see it or not.  We just have to take God's word that there is something to love in some people!

Loving Jesus is Loving Others
How does loving others show Jesus that we love Him?  How is it that we are loving God when we love our neighbor?

Many of us think that love is a crazy emotion that you feel when you are 'in love.'  We have been taught to expect that feeling throughout our entire marriage.  When that feeling ends, our relationship must have ended, so we get a divorce.

In reality, true love is not just an emotion.  It is an act.  It is sometimes just a responsibility.  The crazy love we feel when we first fall in love, is like the spark to get the engine in a car going.  The spark gets the motor going.  We feel the spark in our relationship, it gets our attention, sparks our interest, and it starts the relationship going.  But eventually the engine will get to a steady purr that will stand the hills, bumps and potholes of life.  Our romantic love gets to the stage where we are there for each other and helping each other through life, whether we feel crazy love or not.  The love is now deeper than merely emotions or feelings.  This is real married love.  But this is not a love that we have for every person.

There is a kind of love that we should show to other people.  Most of the time there is not much emotion involved.  We help them where they need it.  This is where we have the opportunity to show Jesus that we love Him.

Jesus tell us how to love Him in Matthew 25:35-46 (KJV):

This is How We Show Love to God
This is how we give our love back to Jesus.  We show love to Jesus when we show love to His creation - when we show love to other people.

We show our love, devotion, and appreciation to God by giving food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, shelter to the homeless, clothes to the poor, taking care of the sick, visiting those who are in prison.  Basically it is filling the needs of those who are in need, whether big or small, according to what you can do to help.  This is how we show our love and appreciation for Jesus.

Give Every Day Needs and in the Darkest Hour
We can actually give God a hug, or sit down and have dinner with Him when we do this to another person in need.  Whether we help a woman at the grocery store who has three children and is struggling with her grocery cart and we give her a hand, or whether we give food to a homeless person.  We show love to Jesus when we are helping people in their every day needs, or in their darkest hour, supplying their greatest need, or consoling them in their deepest sorrow.

• If you have time, you can show love by volunteering to help at church or another charitable organization.

• If you have money, you can show low by giving so that these organizations can do it for you.

• If you have energy, you can show love by helping fix up a house of Habitat for Humanity.

• If you see a lonely person, you can talk with them.

• If you see a sick person, you can make sure they get the care they need.

• If you see a single mother, you can say a prayer for her.

Showing Love is Inconvenient
There are countless ways that you can show your love.  And it sounds simple, doesn't it?  But it isn't.  You see, caring for others is not always convenient.  In fact, most of the time it is inconvenient.  Problems are never scheduled into our lives and are never convenient.  So many of us choose not to help because it doesn't fit in with our plans.

Did you know that everyone that Jesus helped was basically an interruption to His schedule?  Every time someone asked Him to help, He was doing something else, or on His way to another place.  He was interrupted by someone's need and He had to stop what He was doing, change from His planned activities to stop and help, to stop and love, to stop and care for someone in need.

Let's just look at part of a day in the life of Jesus.

Man With Leprosy
Wasn't He on His way down the mountain after giving a long talk about the Beatitudes, when a man with leprosy came and knelt before him and asked to be healed.  Jesus was probably tired and hungry after speaking for so long.  The last thing He probably had on His mind was to start ministering.  He probably wanted to take a break.  But instead, He showed His love and reached out His hand and healed this man.

Centurion
Then when he was nearly home, nearly in Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, interrupted Him, and asked if He would heal his paralyzed servant.  Instead of telling Him to go away, or come back another time, or to schedule an appointment, Jesus said He would go and heal him.

Peter's Mother-in-Law
Then He got to Peter's house, and here He finds Peter's mother sick with a fever.  He touched her hand and healed her.

It sounds like one thing after the other, doesn't it?  Taking care of these people's needs was an interruption.  But Jesus did it anyhow.  He knew that was what it was all about.  Meeting people's needs; showing His love.

Realizing the Value
Many times we don't do these kinds of things because we don't see the value in them.  What's in it for me?  If there is nothing in it for us, we don't see the value in it.  But if we realized that we were giving our love back to God through these acts, they would take on more of a value for us, wouldn't they?

Jesus knew the value of caring for others.  He knew the value of showing His love.  He was showing His Love for God the Father.  By doing what The Father sent Him to do.  He knew that there was nothing more valuable than giving The Father's love to a lost and dying world.  Nothing more valuable than showing you and me the Love that He has for us.

Now, if Jesus can be interrupted to help us, if Jesus sees the value in caring for others, in showing His love for others, we can surely be interrupted sometimes to help someone else.  We can be interrupted to show our love to Jesus.

"We love because He first loved us."  1 John 4:19

Our Jesus.  He loved us first.  The only reason we even know how to love is because He first loved us!

Whether We Realize it or Not, God Takes Care of Us
Whether or not we acknowledge Him, or are thankful for what He does, He keeps doing it.  Just as we did for our children and many of our earthly parents did for us.

If our infant child keeps fussing when we feed him, or doesn't like to get a bath, or tries to push us away when we try to get him dressed, we don't stop loving him.  We know that he doesn't know better, so we just persistently take care of them.

If our toddler doesn't get his way and throws a temper tantrum, we don't disown him, do we?  We just remove him from any harmful objects, wait until he gets get over it, and continue to love and care for him.

When our teenaged daughter goes through a rebellious stage, and doesn't want to listen to any of our advise and talks back, we may get very angry or disappointed, but we just keep loving her in spite of her rebellion.  We just hope that she will understand one day.  This is where those famous statements like, "Wait until you have children of your own" come in.

When our children finally become adults, it's a different story.  We have given to them, and nurtured them, and brought them up to know right and wrong.  We hope that they will recognize all that we have done for them.  We want a relationship with them now.

Now that their eyes are opened to what the world is all about, we want them to reciprocate in this relationship.  It is not right to be one-sided any more.  Our adult child knows better now.  We hope to be friends now.

He Wants Us To Love Him
Just like my daughter, just like my son, we start out in a world of our own.  We are oblivious to much of what is going on around us.  But some how we are taken care of.  We don't really know that we are.  Just like the children.  Just like a toddler.  Just like a teen.  They don't think they really need anybody.  Little do they realize how much we do to keep their lives going well.

Puppies
My two new puppies, Maxwell and Winston, are so lovable and cudable.  When we got them at 7-1/2 weeks of age, they ran around and played with each other.  They had to learn all about a new environment, potty training, what was OK and what wasn't in their new home.

Every day I cared for them.  I fed them, took them in and out too many times to count so they could learn where to go potty.  I clipped their nails, groomed their hair, gave them baths, and gave them hugs.

Our relationship was one-sided at this point.  I gave them love and care.  I hugged them and petted them.  I tried to build a relationship with them and let them know that I was the person that would take care of them and that they could trust.

They played with each other and didn't really notice me.  They ate, pooped, and played with each other.  Having two dogs, they relied on each other a lot.  They constantly played with each other and then slept in the same crate together

About 4 weeks into our new relationship, they started to come out of their little puppy world and into mine. I could tell that they were starting to notice me.  They voluntarily started to come up to me to be held and petted.  They looked into my eyes in a different way.  A loving way.  A connection.  I felt they were bonding with me.  They were starting to love me. They started to come into mine.  They still had that close bond with each other, but somehow their eyes were opened to me.

They noticed me.  They opened up to me.  Somehow my love and care for them drew them out of their world into mine.  They looked forward to being with me, wanted to be petted and hugged, wanted to be held (for a little while at least!).  They were starting to show me that they loved me - as much as dogs can love.

I first loved them.  They didn't even realize it.  Now they experienced love and they are starting to give it back to me.

God is Watching Over Us
So it is with God.  He is watching us, looking over us, and taking care of every one of our needs before we even become aware of Him.  He first loved us.  He first cared for us.  We don't know all that He has done for us in the past, and we don't know all that He is doing for us now.

His love toward us gets our attention.  We are going about our lives, in our own little world, and all of a sudden we look up and notice God.  We notice how He has been so good to us.  We see His face for the first time.  His love drew us to Him.

But we should come to a point where we are aware; where we are thankful; where we do want to include Him into our lives.

Some parents never gets the thanks they long for from their children, and it hurts.

Sadly, God never gets the thanks the He longs for from most of His children.  It hurts Him, too.

Let's not hurt our God.  Show Him that we love Him, too.

Show Him that you love Him by giving love to your neighbors.

To the people we know are in need.  To the person who is hungry, thirsty, naked, poor, homeless, sick and in prison.  There are a lot of needs that are waiting to be met.  There is a lot of love that can be given.

It may be a little inconvenient, but if we each do a little bit, a lot will get done. God will be so thankful for the love that we are showing Him.  It will be worth it all when God truly knows that YOU LOVE HIM TOO!

Let us give Him the love, appreciation, and praise that are so rightly His.  Let's praise God each day.  Let's thank Him for all that He has done for us.  And most of all, let's love Him with all of our heart, our soul, and our mind.  There is no one who deserves our love more than Jesus.

Praise God. Praise Jesus.  Tell Him that you love Him every day! 

"God, help me to show your love to others, and mostly show my love to YOU.  You are so awesome and mighty.  You are so good to me.  I truly love you.  Help me to give the love that You have given me back to You through the people you bring across my path in life.  Thank You, Jesus!  Amen."

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