Love Notes
GOD’S COMMANDS ARE ONE OF THE WAYS HE EXPRESSES HIS LOVE FOR US.
Bible Reading of the Day: Read John 14:18-21.
Verse of the Day: “Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me” (John 14:21).
Teddy opened his lunchbox and took out a sandwich, a plastic bag of cookies, an apple, and a juice box.
“What’s that?” his friend Kyle, who sat next to him, asked. Kyle pointed at a yellow note stuck inside the lid of Teddy’s lunchbox.
Teddy smiled. “Oh, that’s just a note from my mom.”
“Why?”
“She just likes to write notes,” Teddy answered. He pulled the note off and showed it to Kyle. “It says, ‘I love you.’”
“I know what it says,” Kyle said. “I can read, you know.”
Teddy and Kyle ate in silence for a few moments. Finally, Kyle spoke again.
“The only time my mom writes notes to me is when she wants me to remember something. She’ll say, ‘Wear your gloves home,’ or, ‘Feed the dog,’ or stuff like that.”
“My mom does that sometimes too,” Teddy said.
“But my mom never writes ‘I love you’ notes like your mom does,” Kyle said.
“Sure she does,” Teddy suggested.
“No, she doesn’t.”
“Yes, she does. Like when her note says to wear your gloves home. She wants you to wear your gloves because she loves you, right?”
Kyle wrinkled his nose as if Teddy wasn’t making sense. Teddy continued.
“If she didn’t love you, she wouldn’t much care if you wore your gloves or not,” he explained. “But if you caught a cold, that would make her sad, because she loves you.”
Kyle’s nose wrinkled again.
“Sure,” Teddy insisted. “It’s just like what my mom says about God’s commands. She says she tells me what to do or not do because she loves me, just like God gives us commands because he loves us. I bet your mom is the same way.”
“Maybe,” Kyle said.
“I’ve got an idea!” Teddy said.
“What?” Kyle asked.
“Why don’t you write an ‘I love you’ note to your mom? Then maybe she’ll write you one back!”
“Yeah,” Kyle said. “That’s a good idea.”
TO DO: God expresses his love to us in many ways. One of those ways is in the loving commands he gives to us. To demonstrate an expression of love, you could surprise other family members this week with love notes in surprising places (lunch boxes, briefcases, schoolbooks, the bathroom mirror, and so on).
TO PRAY: “Thank you, Lord, for your immeasurable love. Help us to love others as you love us.”