The Love Bug

Jesus said, “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:33-35 ESV).

We are creeping closer and closer to Valentine’s Day. The title for today’s devotional is somewhat misleading. At first you may think of the movie starring “Herbie.” After all, he is the real “love bug,” right? Well, the truth is there is an insect commonly known as a love bug. It is the Plecia Nearctica. The picture today is of two of those little pesky critters. If you’ve driven through anywhere in the South in early spring or summer you have met him head-on. They congregate in clouds over the highway only to be smashed against your windshield, often nearly obscuring your view of the road. Even though I have done the research and understand why they hang out over the roadways, I’m still not altogether sure why God made them like that. I read the article and could not really figure out the purpose. Maybe it has nothing to do with the environment and the cycle of nature while having everything to do with growing my patience. “Purpose” implies design. They were designed to do something. Here is what I got from the University of Florida, from Thomas Fasulo, an extension entomologist with UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Lovebugs help the environment when they are in their immature stage, Fasulo said. When grass is cut and the excess falls to the ground, it creates a covering known as thatch, where immature lovebugs live and eat. Through this process they redistribute essential nutrients back into the ground that are beneficial to plants and the environment. Another interesting tidbit from Fasulo: “As for lovebugs looking strange when flying together attached, they are actually mating. During the mating process, the male lovebug attaches to the female lovebug and only disengages during the daytime while resting on vegetation, never during flight or at night. Successful mating takes as much as 12 hours, and the female lovebug dies within 86 hours of laying eggs.” Like all things created by God, they were created and designed to fulfill a purpose. And, that brings me to our reading today. It’s easy to “love” your friends and family. However, Jesus is enjoining us to love all men. That’s a lot harder and much more difficult. His purpose for that command is that all people might know we are his disciples. That’s his purpose. Everything God wills and does has purpose. I wonder, who are the hard folks you need to show your love to? Who needs to see this part of your discipleship?