"...Put on and wrap yourself in [unselfish] love, which is the perfect bond of unity [for everything is bound together in agreement when one seeks the best others]. (Colossians 3:14 AMP)
I’ve been struggling make my way through junior high. Turns out, it’s not any easier the second time around. Eight hours a day ‘encouraging’ teenagers to do their schoolwork is pretty tedious. Sometimes, by the last class or two (regrettably, both math courses), I’ve had my full of snide comebacks and my patience is tapped out. It seems my love for these teenagers leaks over the course of the day and by seventh and eighth period I’m pushing through on fumes.
This is a problem because love is the relational bubble wrap we roll around our lives so that we don’t chip or shatter when we interact with others. Love protects us and the people we come in contact with. We tend to interpret this scripture as our love for the souls around us, and while that could be true, we fail to realize just how fragile our affection for others actually is. We may walk in love all the way to mid-afternoon only to lose it in a moment of altercation.
No, the love we insulate ourselves in is divine in nature. When we can begin to comprehend and accept God’s love for us as children, when we can learn to stay in that love despite relocation, interactions and interruptions, then we are insulated from the barbs and blows of the fallen world around us. It’s not about our fickle and failing ability to love others, it’s about our receptivity of God’s love for us.
Consider it. If we are safely enfolded in the security of God’s unblinking affection: the insults and accusations and even mistreatment of our fellow man (or adolescent) does not damage our soul. We are secure in God’s undying devotion. I picture Stephen, forgiving the men as they stoned him. The abuse of his peers fell off him as he focused on his connection to God through Christ.
"They continued stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive and accept and welcome my spirit!” Then falling on his knees [in worship], he cried out loudly, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them [do not charge them]!” When he had said this, he fell asleep [in death]." (Acts 7:59-60
I point to Stephen rather than Jesus because we know Jesus was perfect, but Stephen was perfected. He learned to live in God’s love to the point of blessing his abusers. That means there is still hope for us.
So how do we cultivate such an appreciation and awareness of God’s love for us? The Daily Office is a powerful habit builder. Peter Scazzero tells us that we are living in a blizzard: life comes at us so fast and furious that we are endlessly disoriented. We need a rope in the snowstorm to guide us home. The simple practice of pausing at multiple points throughout the day gives us opportunity to grasp God’s great love for us in the midst of an unrelenting white-out.
“[the daily office] offers us a rhythm for our lives that binds us to the loving God.”
Peter Scazzero
Most of us begin the day in devotion, but how often do we lose sight of who we are and where we are going by noontime? This manageable discipline of stepping away and resettling on the rope of God’s presence actually rewraps us in His love. In a few quiet moments apart from the world, He reminds us of our identity in Him and assures us of the temporary nature of this blinding blizzard.
“God’s love is the parka we wear against the blizzard that is our daily existence:
insulating us from the brutal elements of bare humanity.”
We are ill-prepared to love others until we have learned to live confident in His love for us. Once we’ve begun to grasp His great and unshakeable affection; when the issue is settled in our spirits and permeating our lives, we discover a natural spring of love for others bubbling up within. We learn to love because He first loved us.
"Let the peace of Christ [the inner calm of one who walks daily with Him] be the controlling factor in your hearts [deciding and settling questions that arise] to this peace indeed you were called as members of one body [of believers]. And be thankful to [God always]. (Colossians 3:16 AMP)
We only experience the peace of Christ in the presence of Christ. The daily office rhythms are the most steadfast disciplines I’ve discovered thus far for abiding. My soul is prone to wander. Planned pauses throughout the day keep me from straying too far off the beaten path of His presence.
Lord, please forgive us for forgetting You in the blizzard of daily life. We don’t mean to. Today we realize our good intentions are not enough. Apart from You we will always lack the level of love we need to live with. We will inevitably crash against others and experience breakage. Lord, we want to learn to live ‘wrapped in love’ – not our own, but Yours. Please help us develop a plan to reconnect with Your presence and thus affection throughout the day. May we discover and implement rhythms that remind us of our identity and purpose. Help us hold the rope leading us home despite the blizzard. Teach us how to stay in touch with You. Amen.