Today is December 13. Exactly seven years ago today, I gave birth to my first child. It was a difficult, traumatic event that didn’t go as I’d expected, but the moment I saw my screaming, distorted, slippery baby, my very first thought (right after, oh wow, he’s HUGE!) was, “I would do all of that again for a baby like this.”
There are many avenues in this life to enable us to more fully understand the amazing, never-ending love of God, and becoming a parent is one of them. Suddenly, my child was everything to me. I immediately loved him. It was both an instinctive feeling and a conscious decision that continued throughout the many trials of new parenthood. I spent each waking moment those first few days and weeks thinking about him and attending to his needs, sacrificing sleep, space, and a good bit of sanity to make sure he was cared for. And although it was completely overwhelming, I only loved him more with each passing day.
💗“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God!” I John 3:1a
💗“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.” I John 3:16a
I’ve now given birth three times, and one thing that always amazes me is that no matter how fearful I am prior to the birth, no matter how much beforehand I dread going through labor, when push comes to shove (pun intended), I do not care a bit about my own well-being. It’s as if my instinctive drive to deliver my baby to life obliterates my usual instinct of self-preservation. I mentioned before that my first birth experience was quite difficult, and it was, but throughout it I don’t remember being worried about my own safety at all. I honestly didn’t care about living, just about birthing my baby. Thankfully, I was able to do both.
To be clear, I could NEVER claim that my love is perfect-- far from it, and I almost cringe to make any comparison-- but is this God-given instinct perhaps another dim reflection of God’s love for us?
💗“There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear….” I John 3:18a
I never knew I could feel so concerned about another person’s well-being until I held my newborn babies. I hate conflict and I don’t like to upset people, but I would risk ridicule and condemnation from others to protect my children. If someone hurts them, I’m on their side. If they have a difficulty, I’m there to help them. I care about who they are becoming, especially about the character they’re developing. I want to nurture in them kindness and love. I want them to be gentle and thoughtful, and I’m ready to protect them from influences that would steer them in the wrong direction. No matter what happens, I’m in their corner, just as my heavenly Father to an even more powerful degree is forever in mine.
💗“You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” I John 4:4
Many of you will relate to my experience of gaining a richer understanding of God’s love through parenthood, but maybe you don’t have children. There are many other types of love you may be experiencing in life: love between friends, love for your parents, love between a husband and wife, love for animals, love in a church family, love for nieces or nephews, love between siblings, love for neighbors and community members, love for those you serve in a care profession, love for those who can never repay you, love for people who don’t love you back....
You can look for and find reflections of God’s love in every single one of those scenarios, and as you more fully understand and know God’s love and allow Him to reflect His love through you, you bring joy to the heart of your Father.
💗“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” I John 4:7
The BEST thing about increasing our awareness of God’s love is that the more we understand how much God loves us, the more we love Him back. His love is real and intense and beautiful, stronger than anything we experience on earth, and that should amaze you, humble you, shock you. As poignant as our experiences with love on earth can be, they are only a dim reflection of our Father’s endless boundless love.
💗“We love Him because He first loved us.” I John 4:19
Lydia Dukaric
is the mother of three amazing children, and the wife to their incredible father. She loves animals, curly hair, and getting things done.
The Word of Promise audio Bible is used by permission. For more information and to purchase the complete audio Bible go to https://www.wordofpromiseapp.com/.
1 John 3
The Command to Love
1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Sin and the Child of God
4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. 5 And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. 6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him.
7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
The Imperative of Love
10 In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. 11 For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, 12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.
13 Do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
The Outworking of Love
16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. 19 And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. 20 For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 22 And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. 23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error
24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
1 John 4
Love for God and One Another
1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Knowing God Through Love
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 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. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
Seeing God Through Love
12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
The Consummation of Love
17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us.
Obedience by Faith
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
Psalm 37
The Heritage of the Righteous and the Calamity of the Wicked
A Psalm of David.
1 Do not fret because of evildoers,
Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,
And wither as the green herb.
3 Trust in the Lord, and do good;
Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.
4 Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the Lord,
Trust also in Him,
And He shall bring it to pass.
6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light,
And your justice as the noonday.
7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
Do not fret—it only causes harm.
9 For evildoers shall be cut off;
But those who wait on the Lord,
They shall inherit the earth.
10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more;
Indeed, you will look carefully for his place,
But it shall be no more.
11 But the meek shall inherit the earth,
And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
12 The wicked plots against the just,
And gnashes at him with his teeth.
13 The Lord laughs at him,
For He sees that his day is coming.
14 The wicked have drawn the sword
And have bent their bow,
To cast down the poor and needy,
To slay those who are of upright conduct.
15 Their sword shall enter their own heart,
And their bows shall be broken.
16 A little that a righteous man has
Is better than the riches of many wicked.
17 For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
But the Lord upholds the righteous.
18 The Lord knows the days of the upright,
And their inheritance shall be forever.
19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time,
And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.
20 But the wicked shall perish;
And the enemies of the Lord,
Like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish.
Into smoke they shall vanish away.
21 The wicked borrows and does not repay,
But the righteous shows mercy and gives.
22 For those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth,
But those cursed by Him shall be cut off.
23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.
24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down;
For the Lord upholds him with His hand.
25 I have been young, and now am old;
Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,
Nor his descendants begging bread.
26 He is ever merciful, and lends;
And his descendants are blessed.
27 Depart from evil, and do good;
And dwell forevermore.
28 For the Lord loves justice,
And does not forsake His saints;
They are preserved forever,
But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off.
29 The righteous shall inherit the land,
And dwell in it forever.
30 The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom,
And his tongue talks of justice.
31 The law of his God is in his heart;
None of his steps shall slide.
32 The wicked watches the righteous,
And seeks to slay him.
33 The Lord will not leave him in his hand,
Nor condemn him when he is judged.
34 Wait on the Lord,
And keep His way,
And He shall exalt you to inherit the land;
When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it.
35 I have seen the wicked in great power,
And spreading himself like a native green tree.
36 Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more;
Indeed I sought him, but he could not be found.
37 Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright;
For the future of that man is peace.
38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together;
The future of the wicked shall be cut off.
39 But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
He is their strength in the time of trouble.
40 And the Lord shall help them and deliver them;
He shall deliver them from the wicked,
And save them,
Because they trust in Him.