Our children are a blessed gift from God. These children placed in our care best experience God’s love through the flesh and blood of their parents in the home. We can better teach them God’s love by embracing His qualities as we grow in sanctification and demonstrating them to our children. Here are a few attributes of God that we can share as a model for our children.
God is love: God indeed does loving things. However, the more important truth is that God is love (1 John 4:8). God can’t help loving because it is essential to His character. Everything God is and everything He does stems from that love. The word used in the Greek for His love is “agape,” an unconditional, self-sacrificial love. We see the love of God through the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus also said in Mark 12:29-31: “29Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Jesus is telling His disciples that they are to LOVE. This applies to us as well. We are to love others the way God loves us.
God cares: We can cast our anxiety on God because He cares (1 Peter 5:7). Like a spouse’s hug when we’re stressed or a parent’s hug when we’re worried, God’s love comforts and reassures us because we know that He cares about each troubling detail of our lives. When our children are struggling, embrace them in that loving hug that is calming, and pray for the God of all comfort to comfort them as well.
God gives himself: Jesus said that the greatest love is when someone lays down his life for another (John 15:13). God did this when He became man to rescue us from death. It is important to share with our children the sacrifice Jesus made for us on Calvary and how we, too, are to make sacrifices for others.
God initiates: Our Father God takes the initiative to love us rather than wait for us to show love to Him. The Bible describes this love as “not that we loved God, but that he loved us” (1 John 4:10) and “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Loving the unlovable is challenging. But we must teach our children that love is not just a feeling but a choice. God chose to love us, and we must love others daily.
Key Points:
Parents can help their kids understand love by modeling it
God doesn’t just act loving; He is love.
God’s love is caring and giving and makes the first move.
To love is a choice.
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