08/15/2020
As a parent we feel the pain of our children, and as our Heavenly Father, God also feels the pain of our suffering. He not only feels our discomfort, but He intercedes in it by soothing our agony, and carrying us in His arms when we are unable to walk on our own. We should never let Satan convince us that our God is detached, or uncaring, because in truth He loves us so much that He sent His Son Jesus to share in our bruises, and to become our surrogate in affliction... thus healing, and redeeming us.
“In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.”
Isaiah 63:9 ESV
How far would a good parent go to heal a sick child, or take away the pain that one of their children was feeling? When they are heartbroken, or crushed by circumstances, how tightly does a loving mother hold them to her breast, or how many tears does a father offer up in intercessory prayer? Love is more than how we feel, it is a causeway that carries the traffic of joy, fear, triumph, agony, yes every feeling, of those we love into our own hearts. Indeed it links us together, as we feel the very life of those we love. Yet as powerfully as we feel that love it is only a taste of what God feels for us, it is a portion of His that has become a gift to us.
“We love because he first loved us.”
1 John 4:19 ESV
I have a son who was afflicted with cancer, and in the grief I felt for him, I prayed that if it be God‘s will, that he remove my son’s cancer and place it in me instead. I watched my wife cry tears when our boy had none to cry for himself, and this is how love becomes a road that joins us. We call this well travelled road by many names, such as empathy, caring, compassion, sensitivity, and others, but in fact it is the Grand Avenue of Love, and every thing that is a life traverses it between those who love.
God loves us, and as much as we believe that no one could possibly love as deeply as we do... he loves more. Where I would offer up myself for my son, and my wife’s heart would be shattered by grief, God’s Love is more complete; He gave His precious Son for us. This is our example of how completely He is willing to love us... how far down the Grand Avenue He is willing to travel for us.
“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. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
1 John 4:9-11 ESV
So today our love for someone might be breaking our heart, but tomorrow that same love could bring us great joy instead. A life is comprised of all sorts of traffic, and each moment of it travels along the Grand Avenue of Love between us as we love one another. Do we, even for an instant, believe that God only felt the pleasure for his Son Jesus that He expresses when Jesus was lifted from the waters of baptism, and not the immense suffering in Gethsemane, or the pain of the nails driven atop Calvary? No, love is a thoroughfare of life that allows us to share two lives as if they were one... and this a gift. One comforting another in the loss of a child, or two sharing in celebration of a new life in birth; one holding the hand of the other in sickness, and two witnessing in joy a miraculous healing. Each of these experiences we share is an act of love, and as bitter, or sweet, as we find them to be, they are a gift... a gift of sharing each other’s life, and of traveling the Grand Avenue of Love, not only with one another, but with God Himself.
“Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,”
1 Thessalonians 4:9 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for loving us just as you have instructed us to love you, with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength, but thank you most for sharing a portion of your love with us so that we can love not only you, but one another as well. We praise you, and offer thanks for every moment of life that our love allows us to share between each other. Even in the worst of times our love connects us and allows us to comfort each other; just as it is when you place your arms around us and comfort us in your magnificent way. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God of love, and the spring from which two streams emerge, and then join again as one in a more powerful and complete flow of love. Praised be your name for every moment of life that we share with you, and all those we share with one another by our love. By your love we have experienced, and loved, Jesus Christ, and your Holy Spirit, and It is by your love we are led each day to love others... our family, friends, neighbors, and enemies. Great are you in the strength of your arm, and mighty is your sword in battle, but neither of these great strengths can match the power we find in your perfect love. Hold us close by your grace Father, and feel the love of Jesus that smooths our rough edges, and heals the sin we have carried. Let our love for you meet your love for us along this Grand Avenue, and bring you to say... these are my children in whom I am well pleased! Then bring us into your home, and seat us at your table, for an eternity in the presence of your love.
Rich Forbes