‘Love never fails.’ 1 Corinthians 13:8
The words of an old song go, ‘I love you for a hundred thousand reasons, but most of all I love you ’cause you’re you.’
Some parents want to live out their dreams through their kids. It’s not enough for the baby to be healthy and happy, he or she must talk earlier, walk sooner, be a natural athlete and amaze his teachers with wit and wisdom. Did you ever dread showing your parents your report card? Did you ever feel you’d let them down? Did they ever expect more of you than was reasonable? Did they ever deny you love and acceptance because your academic standing or sporting performance just wasn’t up to scratch? Did you always think that, if only you’d tried a little harder, put in a little more effort, got a better result, then your mum or your dad would truly love you?
Such thoughts set us up to believe that we need to perform just right to get God’s love and attention. We develop the idea that any mistake we make—and, let’s face it, in life we make a lot of mistakes—God’s going to put on His stern face and say: ‘You aren’t good enough!’ The pressure is on to strive to be always better, so God can love you.
Now let’s recall the song lyrics: ‘Most of all I love you ’cause you’re you.’ God doesn’t need a hundred thousand reasons to love you. He just does. If you mess up, He loves you. If you don’t mess up, He loves you. If you take the message to heart that there’s ‘no strings attached’, you can live in His freedom and favour.
SoulFood: Gen 25:19–27:46, Matt 18:21–35, Ps 61, Pr 6:16–19
word4today an adaptation of The Word For Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright © 2021
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