The Choice to Love

It was a beautiful winter day in Northern California…
74 degrees…warm and very sunny.
My husband and I were treating my daughter and our two grand children to an ice cream.
We walked from our ranch, down to the newly opened local store…
a very special event if you are 4 and 2 years old!


Both of them walked with a lively skip in their step, that sometimes broke into a jog.
When we got to the store, six tubs of ice cream laid chilled in the display case…barely visible when standing on tiptoe.
After great consideration, chocolate and mint chip were agreed upon.

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 Little, short, chubby legs swung back and forth in the booth as we waited for our order.
They watched every move of the proprietor as she prepared their cones…
Finally the awaited cones arrived and the delight of the long anticipated moment was here.
Their tongues licked luscious ice cream with smiles and eyes that sparkled.
Then the unthinkable happened…Mom asked for a bite.

 1 John 4:20
“If we say we love God, but hate others, we are liars.
For we cannot love God, whom we have not seen,
if we do not love others, whom we have seen.”
(GNT)

Have you ever given anything up that was precious to you?
Something that you really wanted?

A grievous child yielded up his cone as his little heart hurt.
“You are mean mom”

His words were honest and tumbled from his heart.

“What?” asked his Mom with a slight smile curling on her lips.
 He hung his head in his hands…

He knew he had no choice but to give his mom a bite.
He could not say "No" to someone he loved....
He had to sacrifice what was so very important

Not just because he had been taught manners…
but because he loves his dear Mommy so very much.

It cost him a full bite of his chocolate ice cream.

The little man that sat across from me had just experienced sacrificial love…
he surrendered his precious ice cream to his Mama.

 So let’s look at a list of what love is and is not

Love Is Not
envious
boastful
              rude              
indecent
self-absorbed
unfair
  irritable
jealous

Love Is
patient
kind
rejoices in the truth
full of hope
persistent
trusting
protective
supportive
                         

 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
“Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut, Doesn’t have a swelled head, Doesn’t force itself on others, Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle, Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others, Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.
(MSG)

We can sometimes overlook the simple as Christians...
forgetting to...

Love God and Love others

1 John 4:20-21
“If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar.
If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see?
The command we have from Christ is blunt:
Loving God includes loving people.
You’ve got to love both.”
(MSG)


Caprice <><