I Love You Because...

 It has become a silly little tradition of ours to watch the movie Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days on the last day of school every year.  We started the tradition since the movie came out in 2012. Dylan and I continue to watch it after Grant graduated, and we truly enjoy it.  It's the official start of summer break for us.  

At any rate, in that movie, there is a scene where they are playing a game called "I love you because..." It is a really funny scene which is now imprinted in our interactions as a family.  We laugh and make fun of it every time we watch that part.  

Today, I was listening to one of the short devotional podcasts that I try to listen to every day, and the minister said something that I thought was really simple, but profound.  He said: "we don't obey God so God would love us.  We obey Him because He loves us."

Our acts of obedience and of service to the Kingdom should not be meant to gain the proverbial "step" to heaven.  We can't do that.  If we could, Jesus' work on the cross would have been for nothing.  His love for us is not based on our performance, and Praise the Lord for that!  Otherwise, we would be lost without any hope of redemption.  As Paul reminds us:

“None is righteous, no, not one;

no one understands;

no one seeks for God.

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good,

not even one.” Romans 3: 10-12

Therefore, doing "good deeds" to earn God's love is futile.  It's all the way around.  We do our "good deeds" because He loves us and that is what a beloved child of God does.  Our acts of righteousness and obedience are all based on Love...on God who is Love!

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13: 1-3

Our motivation should always be love, but not so much to gain it, but to demonstrate it and share it...for we already have it.

The silly game in the movie we watch is all about performance.  It goes something like:  "I love you because...you cook for me/buy me nice things/help me keep my body clean..."  It is conditional love, based on what the other does for us or what we do for others.  God's love...real love...is unconditional...solely based on the One Who Is Love...it is based on His sacrifice...it is based on the cross.  We love, because He first loved us (1 John 4: 19).  There is no way we would know what love is without Him. May we always remember that.  In Jesus' Precious Name.  Amen!