In our house we like to play this little game. It goes like this...... One of says "I love you", and then the other responds, "I love you more." Now we are all just a tad competitive (and I have no idea where they get this from BTW) so we can't just leave it at that. So my child then says "NOT possible, I love you higher than mountains!" So, I respond, "Well, I love you to the moon!" My child says: "I love you to Jupiter and back!" So, I say...... "I loved you first!" And then there is silence. Gotcha! The words may change but we play this game often. You would think that by now they would know that eventually I am going to play my trump card and WAMMY I WIN!!! But instead we are always trying to prove our love for each other is greater.
A couple months ago I was playing this little game with my three year old grandson. He said, "I love you grandma." And so I replied, "I love you more." He giggled and the game was on. He loved me more than his matchbox cars, McDonalds Happy Meals, and his rocking horse, Black Beauty. But then he said, "I love you more than candy!" And WAMMY! There was silence. My grandson LOVES candy!! I was speechless. That's a lot of love. It touched me so deeply. I felt immeasurably loved and valued. Silly I know....
So the other day my grandson and I were sitting on his couch and we started to play our little game. We went back and forth proving and outdoing each others love for each other. That is until I said, "I love you more than candy!" His smile turned serious and he said, " I'm done playing this game grandma." I guess the competitive gene got passed down one more generation......
Some people have a huge capacity to love. With five children my love was never divided among them, but multiplied. The human heart grows and expands the more you love. Moms know what unconditional love is. A mothers love for her child is not earned or measured by the child's compliance or actions. It is not performance based. If our children make bad choices, or get into trouble, we may be sad or disappointed, but it does not change our love for them. This feeling, this knowing that I have about my love for my children, is the closest thing I can compare to how God loves us.
Our worth to God, his unconditional love and acceptance of us, does not come from proving or earning it. Every soul was created by God and in the image of God's love. God's love is unfailing, eternal, everlasting, and unconditional. All of us crave this sense that we matter, that we have value, that we can be loved just as we are. We want someone to truly see us and say, "You are more than." Some of us try to earn it. Some try to pretend to be perfect. Some try to avoid the pain by self medicating with the habit of their choice. God has already declared that our soul has great worth!
I realize that God plays the, "I love you more" game with me daily. He says, "I love you so much that I gave you a healthy body so you can run and jump and play with your grandchildren." "I painted the sunset in vibrant colors so your eyes could see beauty." "My love for you is wider than the streams, and taller than the mountains." And then he says "I loved you first." WAMMY! I am speechless. And then I remember....... 1John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.