Day Twenty-Three: Love Goes Around

Love Knows No Bounds

      When my first son was born, I fell madly in love. They put that baby in my arms and my heart felt a love I had never experienced before. Over the next two years my husband and I built a life around this baby and our passion in life was to watch as he experienced every new milestone. From his first giggle to his first step to his first fall in the snow, we were so in tune and in love we followed him everywhere to make sure we didn't miss anything. We were infatuated.
     Before my second child was born I was worried I wouldn't be able to love another baby the way I loved my first born. However, the day they placed her in my arms I realized a thing or two about love. Love expands a heart, it does not divide it. Have you ever noticed a person when they fall in love? Their whole world brightens up and  they seem to fall in love with everyone around them. Love expands.
    When you love someone you do things you would not normally do. I would never have raised my voice to an Air Force Captain, reached across the desk of a government official, or wrote a three page letter to a school principal, if not for the love of a child. I would have never sat in 106 degree heat to watch a ball game, stayed up all night watching the front door, or slept cramped in a chair while eight months pregnant, if not for the love of a child. If not for love, I would have never ran without thinking through a barb-wire fence, delivered a breech puppy, or touched a tick.
    There are many things we would never think of doing that we would do without thinking for the love of a child or a beloved pet. What would you do for the love of Jesus?  Does your love for Christ expand your heart and overflow to others? If you are still compartmentalizing your love, then you may need to reaccess your motivation because action motivated by love is not contained by a box or rationed out in portions. Action motivated by love is unguarded, unrestrained, and unbounded.

STUDY GUIDE:
 Follow along in JOHN: 90 Days with the Beloved Disciple by Beth Moore pages 105-110
 Read John 21:15-23
 Answer the questions in your study guide.
 Share a brief highlight or two from your thoughts and answers in a comment posted to the group. (Read guidelines and cautions posted August 1, 2010 before you post).
 Read the comments of others and share your thoughts and encouragement with them by replying to their comments. Identify which post you are responding to by addressing them and their subject or pasting a brief portion of their reply at the start of your post.

PRAY WITH ME:
Lord, teach us to live by loving others. Though sometimes others may seem to not deserve or desire our efforts remind us that our motivation is our love for you. We no longer live for ourselves but for you, to serve you not build ourselves up in the eyes of others. Your love for us is so great that it is not portioned out in shares but is so incalculable we can not measure it. Help us to love others as you have first loved us. In Jesus Name, Amen.