God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him.

1 John 4:9

Dear God, I don’t want to talk as much about the words of this passage as much as I want to talk about the journey John took after he met Jesus. He went from being one of the sons of thunder to always talking about love. Some of his highlights (lowlights?) were asking to be elevated above the other disciples and wanting to cast down fire on the Samaritans for denying Jesus a place to stay on their way to Jerusalem. Yet, he was there at the foot of the cross in everyone’s darkest hour. He was there at Pentecost. He wrote the story of Jesus’s life on earth and humbly told negative stories about himself. And he implored us (including me 2,000 years later) to love as you love.

I think about my own journey and how you are growing and stretching me. I think about my wife and children in the same way. The journey never looks like I dreamed or hoped it would look–especially for my children. But I’m sure mine hasn’t looked like my parents hoped it would. But the journey is what you use to grow us. Amy Grant had a song from the early 80s called “In a Little While.” There’s a line in there that says, “We’re just here to learn to love Him.” The good news is, I think I am learning and growing. I’m different than I was even six months ago. But I am also aware enough to know I have a long, long way to go.

Father, get me to the destination to which you took John. Get me to an extreme level of knowing and understanding your love and then extending it to others. Let that love motivate me. Let it drive my love and actions for my family. Let it drive me in my work and friendships. Let it drive me in my worship of you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen