posted by Jessica Lynette on Family

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I am no where close to being equipped to share the how-to on this subject, but this is one thing I feel passionately about – I want to communicate to my children the need to love others as Christ has loved us.

“My command is this; love as I have loved you.” {John 15:12}

And while I am fumbling and tripping – even regressing some days and ignoring it other days- with this command to love others as He has loved I can’t not share this with my children just because I haven’t perfected it.
No one will perfect it.

While we will all fall short of loving to this extent it should still be that which guides us, we should meditate on it so that we measure our days according to His love, so that our children can see that the love of God alters us and causes us to strive to live differently.

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” {1 John 4:10}

To communicate to our children that we need to love others we need to point our children to the cross – where true love was shown. We will fall short, we will fail at loving well – and while we must strive to be an example for our children, we must point them to the cross, to the ultimate example. 

 A distinguishing feature of a child of God is a real love for others; a love for fellow believers is evidence of our relationship with Christ. It is not effective for us to love and serve others unless it is an overflow of our love for God because of His love to us.

Love is better felt than spelt. 

I have a dear friend who has been such an example to me of encircling her family into this passionate idea to love others in unique and yet such practical ways- we have been blessed to be on the receiving end of their love many times. For Wesley’s first birthday Paul was out of town and I was a worn out mama with two little ones – this family invited us over and threw a wonderful first birthday party for him.
Weeks ago they brought all their kids over for a work party cleaning up our overgrown bushes {really, it was more work than party!!} It was such an example to me that they would bring their children over and spend their Saturday helping us – loving us selflessly as a family.
They have been a true source of encouragement and inspiration to not only model for our children to see but to just draw our children into an active role of serving others – to make loving others a part of the family culture. 

In closing, I have found this following paragraph from Simple Hospitality to be incredibly encouraging to think on, and in light of the challenge to communicate to our children the need to love others I think this is fitting to encourage us in our uniqueness’s and that the way we love others isn’t going to look the same as how others love – we need to seek Him for wisdom and balance;

“There is no blueprint for all Christians in the use of their time, any more than there is for spending their money. God has given us widely differing abilities, amounts of energy, opportunities, responsibilities and personal needs. In that light, instead of comparing yourself to someone else, realistically consider the basic components … ask God; ‘What are Your priorities for me right now?‘ You can then prayerfully set appropriate personal goals.”

Day 16 of 31 Days of Communicating With Our Children. Click here to see all posts in this series.

 

Tags: communicating