He First Loved Us

BY BECKY BARNETT

This past weekend we took the kids to Knoebels Amusement Resort, we went on the family train, ate some of those great Knoebels fries, and our daughter rode her first kiddie rides! As she spun around on the miniature fire engines I happened to glance up at a mom, semi-frantically waving and cheering for her small son on the ride.

Have you ever stopped watching the kids riding around in a circle and taken a look at the parents surrounding the ride?

There we all stand grinning, clapping, cheering, waving, taking pictures....as our babies sit on a ride and do basically nothing at all. Sure, they stay seated (most of the time), they don’t have a meltdown and start screaming (if we are lucky), they might turn the pretend steering wheel or ding the tiny bell.... but they certainly aren’t really driving or doing anything that requires a whole lot of special talent. And yet at every kiddie ride you’ll find the same circle of proud, grinning adults enthralled with their tiny people spinning around at the control of the ride operator. I am one of them—my camera roll is proof.

So why this reaction? Well, because ultimately it isn’t really about WHAT our kids are doing, it’s about WHO they are, it’s about the fact that they are ours and we love them fiercely and unconditionally, regardless of their performance or talents.

As I watched those parents I thought “this is how The Lord sees us”

He doesn’t base His love and devotion to us on our works. He doesn’t love us because of WHAT we do, but because of WHO we are. Being covered by the blood of Jesus makes us His. He chose us, He saved us, He sanctifies us.

He sees the ride operator, He sees the mechanical parts that make the ride spin, in fact, He created the whole ride Himself. Of course He doesn’t find it particularly special that we are capable of sitting on the ride He made and dinging the little bell. But because we are His children, He loves us, guides us, and keeps teaching us.

Like those happy kiddos riding around, how often do we—grown-ups who should know better—forget that we didn’t make the world we’re riding around on. We don’t have a full view of the mechanics that make it spin, we forget that without the ride operator we wouldn’t be going around at all. We get so caught up in the ride, become so puffed up with pride over WHAT we are doing, that we can forget WHO we are in Christ. If we are saved, we belong to The Lord. If we belong to The Lord, He calls us His children. John 1:12 If we love Him, it is because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19.

It’s ALL Him, isn’t that a beautiful truth to rest in. The way to rest and joy is Jesus. Knowing He is everything and we are saved, loved, cherished, and lead by Him. All we have to do is trust and obey His words. And even that comes by His grace alone.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

PHOTO CREDIT: LENA ARGOT