Loving One Another

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:9-13 ESV). Yesterday I quoted from the afterword of my latest book. Reading those snippets from my sons made me rethink some of the basics of the faith. Today I am going to reproduce the afterword from David. It will again seem to be self-serving. I hope you will recognize that it is intended to be an encouragement to you as it was to me. It is a call to me to reevaluate and renew my commitment to love my family as Christ has loved me. All of the family counseling I do revolves around the breakdown of this principle. Let me use David’s words to inspire and encourage you as it did me: When my Dad asked me to write this afterword for his book and tell people just a little bit what it was like growing up with him as my father it gave me a great opportunity to remember back and think about my childhood. My Dad taught me many things, but one of the things I most remember and cherish to this day, teaching me is love. Not only the love he showed for all of us kids growing up but how to be a loving husband to my wife. He showed me how to be a true man and take care of your family and always be the strong backbone and center for the family. Nothing means more to my Dad than my Mom and his three boys. I see so many of my friends and co-workers that struggle to even be around their family. However, to me the time I get to spend with them is the most important thing. It saddens me to hear those stories from others, but I am also so fortunate never to have experienced it firsthand. I don’t get to see my father as often as I would like anymore because of the distance we live apart, but we still talk often and I always keep him in the loop with what’s going on here in Texas. Because of the love my Dad showed me all of my live it has helped me to be a better man and husband to my wife. I wish that I could duplicate that sense of love and commitment to everyone I come into contact with in life. It might mean the end of the ministry I do now; but, wouldn’t that be a good thing? I’d like to be able to really “retire” knowing there were no more husbands and wives who can no longer find a way to be with one another because they don’t “love one another” any longer. I’d like to stop ministering to parents who have lost the ability to deal with their children because they have no longer found their children “perfect.” Real love changes how we see one another. It extends our patience; it expands our understanding. Or, as Paul said, “…love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, love never ends” (1 Corinthians 13:7 ESV). I need to love more; don’t you?