Today’s meditation is about the most important thing we can do: LOVE. Our loves reflect who we are as people. We are shaped by what we love, by who we love, and by whether or not we have been loved.
Over the past couple of years, I spent a great deal of time as a caregiver for my father who had cancer. The seasons of hospital visits, treatment schedules, pain management, and decline were difficult. One of our church members said about caregiving, “When you’re a caregiver, you learn things about yourself that you wish you did not know.” She was right. Caregiving was the most difficult thing I have ever done. There were plenty of times I cared for him from duty or necessity, but when I cared for him from love I sensed the strength and peace of God.
The Love value is one of a list of values I selected to teach my boys about following Jesus and growing into maturity. For each value, I wrote a motto and identified complementary Scriptures to memorize.
We discuss these values in our family devotions. The love value emphasizes developing a heart of love for God and for others. The Love Motto is an acrostic: “JOY: Love Jesus above all; love others next, love yourself appropriately.”
The memory verse for this value is Matthew 22:37-40:
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Our first love must be “J” for Jesus, the Lord our God. We love God first because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). If we don’t receive God’s love and give love to God, our other loves will be disordered.
Our second love must be “O” for others. Loving others begins with those closest to us: family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc. We are to love others through acts of sacrifice and service, right attitudes, and proper perspective.
The final love in our acrostic is “Yourself.” We should love ourselves appropriately. Today’s culture is self-absorbed and self-obsessed. This is not what I mean. Self-love is about care and health physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Loving self appropriately includes things like sleeping properly, eating healthy, exercising, emotional health, personal growth, etc. Too often our other loves (likes, such as screens, entertainment, pleasures, etc.) actually get in the way of our love for God, others, and self.
Are your loves ordered properly? Do you love God first and others next? Do you love yourself appropriately? Consider these questions and let today’s meditation remind you to be loved by God and to love others.
Meditation takeaways:
- Read the letter of 1 John and note all the commands concerning God’s love for us and how we are to love others.
- Memorize and meditate on Matthew 22:37-40 about loving God and loving others.
- Get active and do something for someone out of love.
- Consider the order of your loves. Journal your reflections about the order of your loves.
- Know you are “beloved” by God (66x in the New Testament and 6x in 1 John).
Happy Monday!
