“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.” 1 John 3:1
How would you choose to start each day if you clearly understood and accepted this day and every day that the Father lavishes us with His great love? I ask this because I believe most of us choose to listen to the noise of a broken World rather than the truth and promise of the only everlasting, never-changing, always loving, ever guiding, Lavisher of love, hope and promise.
The Oxford Languages dictionary struggle to properly define lavish as to “bestow something in generous or extravagant quantities on.” Think of what lavishes you with love in this World and then multiply that by infinitely more to try and grasp the Father’s love for you. What does a small child laughing, playing, hugging, kissing you do to your heart? How does a puppy playing, jumping, licking you brighten moments of a day? Laughter is called ‘the best medicine” because it literally enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.
Today and every day we have a choice. We can choose to focus on that that is good for our heart, our mind, our soul and our life, A life created for purpose. Or we can choose to pursue the fleeting and fickle accolades of a World full of people and situations that delights in minimizing what is important, discounting what matters and discourages belief in the only truth that stands the test of time.
Choose wisely today. Be thankful that God loves you so much that he gave you the choice to love and be in relationship with Him. Recognize that you are created in God’s image, so much that He desires a genuine, one on one relationship with you based upon your choosing Him as He has chosen you. Live expectantly for the love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (Galatians 5:22) that God freely gives each of us through the Spirit.
Today you have the choice. To live in the lavish love that God gives each of us as His children. Or, to wallow in the mire of pursuing hope and happiness in a World that has proven over and over again its inability and unwillingness to affirm and encourage its inhabitants. The saying goes the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result. Choose wisely.
You are worthy of the Father’s lavish love. You can believe this because He lavished His love on us as His Son died on the cross. You can look in the mirror and know without question that you are His beloved daughter or son, whose value only He can properly define…if you’ll just trust and allow him. Your choice.
You’ve got this.