Timothy needs lots of squeezes right now. His new baby brother, Titus will be arriving soon and he has been especially clingy with his mom of late. Her lap, once his favorite spot, is now completely occupied by her pregnant belly and watching him, I realized that try as he might, he could no longer get as close to her as he would like. He lingers close by her, sometimes whining or pinching her arm and even biting on occasion. If she sits down, he immediately tries to climb up.
I remember Thomas at his age, just before Timothy’s arrival being the same way so I reminded my daughter of how we would fill his love tank with hugs, prompting her to try it with Timothy. In spite of her growing belly, she pulled him close and squeezed him with all her might until her arms were spent. She leaned him back and looked into his eyes and asked, “Is that enough?” Every time he beamed and through giggles replied, “No!” After a few minutes, he is usually satisfied and wiggles down to play. As Piglet said to Winnie the Pooh, “I just wanted to be sure of you.”
“We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
We love each other because he loved us first.”
1 John 4:16, 19 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1jn.4.16-19.NLT
More recently I noticed five year old Thomas edging closer during his mom and Timothy’s squeezes and watching intently so I winked at my daughter and rolled my eyes toward the soon to be big, big brother. Once Timothy scooted from her lap, she held her arms out to Thomas who immediately melted into them with the biggest, warmest smile. While she hugged him tight, I reminded him of when he was two, of how he would say his tank was empty and wait for mom’s hugs to refill him. He would always answer that he was full- up to his knees or his belly button or his elbows, then to his chin and his ears until he was overflowing! Then he would tease, saying he had gotten all of mom’s love and there was none left for his daddy or for me. That’s when I would remind him that mom’s heart was full to running over with Jesus so she had plenty of love to spare. In fact, His love overflows from us too as we abide in Him.
“Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God.
Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.
But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.
This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
No one has ever seen God.
But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us.”
1 John 4:7-10, 12-13 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1jn.4.9.NLT
Things are changing in my daughter’s home. Her boys sense the change but they are unprepared to deal with it on their own. Their mom and dad want them to grow to love their baby brother, not resent him, so they have to be sure that both big brothers know that their love for them is not diminished by a new addition. The love they share within their family is being multiplied! That’s the incredible thing about God’s love. It is inexhaustible and the more we give it, the more it grows and expands. As we rely on and abide in Jesus, we share from His unlimited supply. Regardless of our situation or our stressors, His love abounds. In spite of our limitations, we give from His abundance.
Jesus said, “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me.
Remain in my love.
When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.
I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy.
Yes, your joy will overflow!
This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.
There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
John 15:9-13 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/jhn.15.9-13.NLT
That is exactly what Jesus did for us. He proved His love by going willingly to the cross. He led by example. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
“What shall we say about such wonderful things as these?
If God is for us, who can ever be against us?
Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?
Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own?
No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself.
Who then will condemn us?
No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love?
Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?
(As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”)
No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.
Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.
No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:31-39 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/rom.8.31-39.NLT
“And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.
So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.”
1 John 4:17 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/1jn.4.17.NLT
“Love never gives up
Love never let’s down
Love keeps on trying through smiles or frowns
Love never says die even when it gets tough
True Love just never gives up.”
Love Never Gives Up ~Bill & Gloria Gaither https://youtu.be/kcfZfB61kXE?is=3nbu5Zpzwk1aPTVG
“God is Love.” I John 4:8
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