Do You Know Why I Love You?
"Mommy, do you know why I love you?" Charlotte asked. No matter how preoccupied, frustrated, or laser-focused I am, that particular question from our daughter instantly softens me. Nothing can truly be wrong with my world when there is an incredible, living, breathing, human being freely and openly declaring her love for me. "Why babe?" I asked beaming with joy and curious as to the answer. "Because you love me so much!" I didn't know what to say. Talk about having somebody completely figured out. At four years old she seems to have a great understanding of who her mama is, indeed I love her more than life itself! "And you're so sweet and so kind and you do everything for me and you're a cutie!" she continued. Oh wow, there was more. Again, I was speechless, flattered, but speechless. Her dad was the only other person who would randomly, without provocation, declare his love for me and now his mini-me was doing the same. Like father, like daughter. "I don't know about cutie," I finally said to her, "but you are right about one thing, I do love you so very much!” I said grabbing her and giving her a big smooch. We have this thing where one of us will say, “I love you,” and the other person will say, “I love you more.” The response to that is, “It is a competition and I win!” Then it’s a race between the two of us to see who can say that part first. She gets a kick out of it when she's the first to say it but I've told her that's a competition she will always lose. There is no way that she could ever love me more than I love her. She said it herself, she loves me because I love her so much!
Every time our daughter proclaims her love for me I think about God. Our love for Him is always in response to His love for us. "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 Jn. 4:19). There’s a song by Zach Williams called, "Heart of God." The lyrics are, "There's only love in the heart of God. No room for shame in His open arms. There's beauty from ashes so come as you are. There's only love in the heart of God." God is love. If we know how to love it’s from God. 1 John 4:8 says, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." Some people do not know how to love. We all know them, the absentee mom or dad who pays for everything but can never manage to show any affection to their child. The deadbeat dad who lets a lifetime go by without having a relationship with his offspring. The parent or spouse who lives in the same household but shields their heart like it’s Fort Knox never showing any type of warmth to the people who share the same four walls. If only they would get to know God. Through Him, they could learn how to love.
We learn how to love God through the example of His love and we learn how to love others through the example of His love. We love one another because we are loved by God. He is the one and only source of true love. He gave His only begotten Son for our sins, that’s how much He loves us. It wasn’t just the sacrifice that Jesus made that was evidence of love but the sacrifice that God the Father made by sending His own Son to the cross (Jn. 3:16). That’s right, He did that for us, out of pure love.
Our devotion that morning was about talking to God. I asked our daughter, “Do you talk to God?” She smiled. I said, “You can talk to God, even when I'm not around. You don't have to wait to talk to him when we pray. You don’t have to ask Him for anything. You can tell Him how cool He is, how neat the stuff He makes is. You can thank Him for all the incredible things that He does. You can even tell Him how much you love Him. You know how you ask me, ‘Mommy, do you know why I love you?’ Well, you can say that to God too. Look around at His creation, at how He shows His love for you, and tell Him how grateful you are. Talk to Him.”
God loves you. He chose you. Before you could even respond to His affection, He loved you. Get to know Him and you will love Him too. Talk to Him and you will gain a greater understanding of just who He is. You might even find yourself asking Him one day, “God, do you know why I love You?”
