ODJ: perfect parents
February 20, 2012
[Love] keeps no record of being wronged (v.5).
READ: 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
I don’t know what else I can do!” my exasperated friend sulked. “I set high standards for my children and hold them accountable for their actions, and all they do is hate me. What did I do to deserve this?” He noted how he has always been “hard” (his word) on his son so that he would do great things. Hmm. Is this about the ingratitude of the kids? Or the rules based, inflexible view of love held by the father?
In the beginning, there was a perfect Father who didn’t have many rules. Just one, actually. He gave His children a stunningly gorgeous garden in which to live and work. He enjoyed their company. They had everything they could ever need, including a perfect mate. (Only Adam and Eve could say that.) He gave them one solitary prohibition. “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden,” He told Adam, “except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die” (Genesis 2:16-17). You know the rest of the story. Adam and Eve, it seems, were just like us . . .
God, being the perfect Father, didn’t let His kids off the hook. There were consequences for their bad behaviour. Yet He didn’t leave them there either. Even on that sad day, He set in motion a plan to buy us back from sin’s curse with the sacrifice of His perfect Son Jesus.
In this world, imperfect parents struggle to raise imperfect children who grow up to accept or ignore their advice and correction. We do well to remember a lesson God taught us long ago: Perfect love doesn’t require love in return (1 Corinthians 13:5).
A love that we demand from others is no love at all—it’s simply extortion.
—Tim Gustafson
What kind of love do you extend to others? How do the people in your life love you in ways that remind you of God’s love? Why is it important that God’s love for you isn’t based on what you do?
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I have a very strong kind of love for others, that would walk through fire, but also one that needs to learn forgiveness again, or how to discipline with kindness.
I don’t know… usually I’m too busy loving them to notice, until they love me back, which sends me over the moon with joy.
If God’s love were based on what we did, it would no longer be unconditional, and it would depend on His satisfaction with what we did. If we didn’t do enough, He wouldn’t love us enough, because it wouldn’t be a perfect love for us: one that’s unfailing, long-suffering, and accepting, but instead one that looked at our achievements to earn what we deserve.