Meditation 6

There are few things that irk me more then being loved for the wrong reasons.  Have you ever felt like someone was using you, not because they enjoyed you, but because they enjoyed what you could do for them? They were nice to you because they wanted to use your pool! They showered you with compliments because they thought you could get them a job. Almost everyone knows the feeling of being taken advantage of. Someone loving you for their own personal gain. 

There is genuine love as well. I’ve seen it most purely displayed by a grandmother I know, doting on her son’s first child. She was willing to fly half-way across the world to see her new grandchild. No expense was too high. She would rather spend her time and money on this little baby then anything else in the world. She loved giving to this tiny child because of who he was not for what she could get out of him. 

We have also experienced another kind of love; the joy of giving to those in genuine need. There are few things that can give us a feeling of real and deep contentment like giving to those in need. Have you ever met the need of someone who had no way to help themselves? Buying gifts for a single mom at christmas, paying off the student loans of a relative, or helping pay down the medical bills of someone at church. I remember sitting across the table from a Syrian refugee living in Jordan. He looked at me and said, “I have enough money for rent this month and next, but then I have nothing left.” For me, giving to this man, even though it limited my own budget, was the only thing I wanted to do. I loved helping him. 

Before the throne of God, dear Christian, you stand double-blessed; loved and doted upon as His child as well as blessed and cared for as a poor and weary traveler. The scriptures says that God has loved you so much that gave His own Son to die for your rescue, and if He has given this, the most costly gift the universe has even known, surly He will also give us everything else we need (Rom. 8:32). The same God who has given a peace that surpasses all understanding and a place in Heaven, will surly provide for us our daily bread as well. He will never use you or take advantage of you. His love is pure and poured out on His children. 

Father, I deserve nothing, and yet have found myself honored by the King of kings. You have made me your child; an heir of all things, a joint heir with Jesus Christ. Thank you for the love and tender care you have shown me. All I have needed your hand has provided. Great is your faithfulness, Lord, unto me.