Daring Love!

A recent Reader’s Digest article told the story of a child who had been adopted from Romania by an American couple. The boy had spent the first seven years of his life in an orphanage where he was deprived of any human love and affection, subjected to harsh and austere living conditions, and shut off from society at large. Within weeks of meeting his new parents, the boy began acting out in aggressive fits, which ultimately turned violent towards his adoptive parents. I wondered why a boy, adopted into a loving family, would reject that love and even assault the very people who were his salvation. The article said that the medical diagnosis was separation anxiety disorder (SAD). And then it dawned on me. All people everywhere are suffering from separation anxiety disorder…of the soul.

David asked a similar question to mine in Psalm 2:1-3;
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us."

We know that the answer to David’s questions is that from birth we have been separated from God by sin. The anger and violence we see in the world, in our cities, in our schools, and in our families is the result of that separation. Rather than responding to the love of God the Father, we have rejected it and abused Him. This is the plight of all men. But it is not the end.

The solution to the madness of the Romanian boy was true love demonstrated by parents who, at great risk to themselves, did what was necessary to save their son. They brought him close and, despite his resistance, established a relationship of love, which over time became life changing. God, our loving Heavenly Father, has done the same for us in the person of Jesus Christ.

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:9-12)

If God has so loved me…I ought to love others in like manner. As I read the scriptures and consider the unfathomable love of God, and as I read of the love of these parents for their abusive son, I am reminded of the personal responsibility I have to love people…daringly! In the death of Christ, God’s love was made manifest to the world. In risking physical danger and broken hearts, the love of these parents was made manifest to all who read their story. I come away from these two “paintings” of love with one overwhelming thought…Christian love demands risk!

Christians are compelled by the love of Christ to take risks of love in bringing people close to them, and in establishing relationships that change lives as they manifest the love of God the Father in those relationships. It is in enduring the danger and the abuse that true love shines forth like the sun. O, Christian, for the sake of souls, love daringly this week.

Grace to you!

John Blount

VBS July 14-18

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