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How God Showed His Love

             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. (I John 4:9)

A number of posts in the past have mentioned or discussed the Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. I’ve also shared my belief that love is seeking what is in the best interests of the beloved. In today’s passage, God is shown as a giver of gifts. He gave His Son to us, for us, and in our place, and He gave His Son permission to give Himself for all those purposes. He could have told Jesus He wasn’t permitted but He gave Him permission to do what love required of Jesus, knowing the cost, and He allowed Jesus to take the responsibility He chose to and to suffer the pain that such a responsibility required.

In giving His Son, God served our needs. In coming, Jesus served our needs.

The 33 years that Jesus spend in Palestine are far removed from ours, but because of the records of His time here, the high quality of that time spent continues, as do the words of affirmation He spoke to us. Of the languages described by Dr. Chapman, only physical touch seems to be missing from this verse. If you can find it, I’ll be glad to hear of it from you.

But as I consider this passage and our calling to imitate Christ, I find myself wondering about the extent of the sacrifice we should be willing to make for the best interest of those we are called to love. One of the key issues is the question of what is truly in the best interest of our beloveds. How far did God allow His Son to go in doing what could not have been done by another? I think that question may answer the larger question. What is in the best interest of the beloved is for the beloved to do what the beloved can, and we are to step in when the beloved cannot.

To the extent that the beloved can do for him/herself, he/she should. We may step in to show our love only if that stepping in does not reduce the beloved in some way. That’s a hard line to draw. And it’s hard to stand by and allow the beloved to face something difficult or painful that the beloved can face. 

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