02/21/2017
I am wondering about my displays of love for God this morning. Have I ever thrown caution to the wind and done something totally outlandish and bold for Him... just because? Have I left behind my more stoic religious faith and loved Him purely from my heart?
Looking to the Bible we see examples of this, but none more explicit than that of Mary of Bethany. Her outpouring of love for Jesus set all decorum aside and was straight from the heart. She washed His feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and then after kissing them, she anointed Him with "Nard", which was a very expensive perfume, and immediately drew the ire of the disciples. The value of the perfume was equal to a year's wages and was anything but rational... all of this was an act of love that threw caution and social custom to the wind. This is a story told in all four gospels.
“Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.”
John 12:3 KJV
The three wise men gave Jesus gifts and although there were spiritual overtones to them, they were equally akin to protocol gifts; such as those a dignitary would give to another country's king. These gifts were truly appropriate for a king, but not given in abandon, but out of generally accepted custom.
“And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”
Matthew 2:11 KJV
What are love gifts we could give to God? What can we do out of unfettered love that would show Him the depth of our caring? It isn't a gift of something, but rather a gift of ourselves... our personal gift of everything we are.
Once I gave my wife, Ann, a gift of love. It was her birthday and instead of giving her a traditional gift, I wrote a series of poems that led her on a treasure hunt. Each poem was an expression of love that, once interpreted, led her to the hiding place of an item (and the next note) that represented a particular feeling of love I was trying to express. So although none of the gifts were large, they were unmistakeable me... the entire gift of poetry, adventure, and tiny gifts was about how much I loved her. This gift threw tradition to the wind and replaced it with me.
So what are the things Jesus loves? One thing he loves is when we give our time to others in service, so a creative new way of giving ourselves to others, in some way that is uniquely us, and just for His glory, would make for a great gift of love. Doing something in secret for just His eyes would also make a good love gift, but it would need to be of ourselves and only for Him. Are you getting the idea?
The person who first pulled up to the payment window at a fast food restaurant and paid not only for himself, but also blindly for the car behind him, made a love gift to God, and it went viral. I saw a man that was down on his luck who tried to order lunch only to discover that the coupon he had (which would make that possible) had expired... I paid the difference without knowing him and despite the consternation of my server... that was a gift of love to the Lord, and I walked away feeling as if I had been fed. Not all gifts involve money... I mowed the grass of the single mother of four little children who lived next door for a couple of years without her asking and with no expectation beyond a smile... this was a gift of love for the Lord.
As you can see, there are many ways in which we can give love gifts to God that are beyond those of tradition or commandment. Have you ever been the recipient of such a love gift? Has your wife, your husband, or maybe even a total stranger, done something for you that came out of nowhere and was totally unexpected? How did that make you feel? My experience is that it gave me a warm feeling of being loved... loved by the gift giver, and loved by my Heavenly Father.
Showing love at unexpected times and in unexpected ways is an incredibly powerful expression of the depth with which we love one another... and God. Ask yourself this morning if there is a love gift you can give Jesus... just because you love Him... and then do it!
Prayer:
Father, I love you with my entire being, and I love you with my mind and imagination. If I seek to surprise you with a love gift, I hope that you understand the depth of my affection for you that led to it. You are not only the focus of my attention, awe, worship, and prayer, but also my unfettered love. Lord, I often ask you to guide me in what I do each day, but if I take your lessons and use them personally to give you a gift of love that is entirely of me, I hope it will please you and warm you. Feel my love Father in the humble gifts I am able to give; may they warm you as much as my children's pictures on the refrigerator warm me, and that upon the giving, you hold me extra tight as I pray thereafter.
Rich Forbes