I thought about this and couldn't believe how true it was. If you are loving, your are not being selfish, envious, jealous, full of rage, discontent, fearful, angry, telling lies because in each instance you are loving God first and others second and loving them as ourself.
Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with my " to do" list, but I just need to live in the moment. Focus on the task, the moment at hand and love through it because then I will be displaying the heart of God. If the new anole cage has A&D ointment oozing into it and the 30 crickets that I now need to feed w/ bits of apple and a cotton ball full of water have been sprayed with water and are floating in their NEW, expensive cricket carrier dead and the anole has pooed in his water and the heating lamp has yet again fallen and bulb broken, I need to love in that moment. Why? Because I have a 7 year old who is trying his hardest to care for his anole. He sprays it diligently because the humidity levels start dropping and he LOVES his anole, he cares for it, it is HIS.
Is this not what how Christ feels towards us, we make messes we require a LOT of maintenance yet HE has never given up on us. IS this not a model I want to follow for my own children even when I feel like giving up on the anole mess. Messes that are not mine, messes created by someone else ( A and M), messes created by something else- "Frisky" our dear, dear anole.
Well what if we don't love ourself? That's why we love God first. " In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." He loved us first so I can look to Him to observe love, model His love. If I am that valuable to someone to allow their son to be sacrificed for my horrible things WHILE I am still in sin than how can I not receive that love and apply it to my heart? What a gamble. God sent His son while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He did not do it knowing we would all come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ but " For God so loved the world".
So my challenge for you busy mamas and wives- Love. Stop trying to beat yourself up over all the things you need to change about yourself, focus on loving God first, than your families and then the world. God is Love. Be encouraged, I know I am!
"Love is patient, kind, it does not envy , it does not boat, it is not proud, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered..."
Hebrews 2:17 For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
1 John 2:2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
1 John 4:9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
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