Post by Cindy on Jun 3, 2018 10:16:57 GMT -5
Whenever I think of 1 John 7-11, or the commandment to love others, I think of a dear sweet friend who died many years ago now. She was only 19 when she died, but she and her sister who was two years older, truly lived a life of love for their Lord. They had a terrible childhood, although you'd never know it by watching them or listening to them. The only reason I knew about it was because they were comforting me concerning my children who were sexually molested when they were just toddlers. So they told me about their childhood and how their father molested both of them from the time they were toddlers until they moved out of the house as a teenagers. Their mother refused to believe them, so their father continued to hurt them.
It was amazing to me, because especially now days we hear people using their "bad childhoods" to excuse their rotten behavior or bad character traits. We even see "Christians" doing that, as though having a bad childhood makes it not their fault anymore. What blew me away is that neither of them hated their father or mother. They forgave both of them and loved them and showed that love to them both daily. It's mind boggling when you really think about it. Much older adults who were molested as children have great difficulty forgiving the molester, much less loving them. Yet these two young adults forgave and loved the way Jesus forgave and loved them, just like Colossians 3:13 tells us to do. This all happened over 20 years ago, and to this day the older sister, Wendy, continues to be loving to her parents. I feel as though I'm repeating myself, but I want you to understand that they didn't just say they loved their parents, they showed that love to them with their actions as well as their words.
Wendy was married with two little ones and she took her little ones to see her parents regularly. The only thing she did that was a little different than what the average person might do when visiting parents, was that she wouldn't allow her children to be alone with them or to spend the night there. But she never made a big deal about it or rubbed their noses in it or anything like that. To anyone listening in or being present at the time they were visiting, it appeared the same as any adult child bringing their children to visit parents they loved. The reason she wouldn't allow her children to be alone with them or spend the night, was because she knew that part of her job as a parent was to protect her children from harm, and part of her job as a Christian was to not put a stumbling block in the way of another. It wouldn't have been loving to knowingly put her children in harms way when she knew that her father was a pedophile. It wouldn't be loving to her father to have been putting temptation in his way either, and very possibly causing him to sin, and of course could have brought harm to her children.
To me, Bev and Wendy show the meaning of what John wrote, and what Jesus commanded us to do. And I strive to grow up to love as they did and do. I can't wait to see Bev in Heaven and I know Wendy, her sister can't wait either. I know the Lord has rewarded her greatly for the love she showed, because people who knew her, quite literally saw Jesus in her.
It was amazing to me, because especially now days we hear people using their "bad childhoods" to excuse their rotten behavior or bad character traits. We even see "Christians" doing that, as though having a bad childhood makes it not their fault anymore. What blew me away is that neither of them hated their father or mother. They forgave both of them and loved them and showed that love to them both daily. It's mind boggling when you really think about it. Much older adults who were molested as children have great difficulty forgiving the molester, much less loving them. Yet these two young adults forgave and loved the way Jesus forgave and loved them, just like Colossians 3:13 tells us to do. This all happened over 20 years ago, and to this day the older sister, Wendy, continues to be loving to her parents. I feel as though I'm repeating myself, but I want you to understand that they didn't just say they loved their parents, they showed that love to them with their actions as well as their words.
Wendy was married with two little ones and she took her little ones to see her parents regularly. The only thing she did that was a little different than what the average person might do when visiting parents, was that she wouldn't allow her children to be alone with them or to spend the night there. But she never made a big deal about it or rubbed their noses in it or anything like that. To anyone listening in or being present at the time they were visiting, it appeared the same as any adult child bringing their children to visit parents they loved. The reason she wouldn't allow her children to be alone with them or spend the night, was because she knew that part of her job as a parent was to protect her children from harm, and part of her job as a Christian was to not put a stumbling block in the way of another. It wouldn't have been loving to knowingly put her children in harms way when she knew that her father was a pedophile. It wouldn't be loving to her father to have been putting temptation in his way either, and very possibly causing him to sin, and of course could have brought harm to her children.
To me, Bev and Wendy show the meaning of what John wrote, and what Jesus commanded us to do. And I strive to grow up to love as they did and do. I can't wait to see Bev in Heaven and I know Wendy, her sister can't wait either. I know the Lord has rewarded her greatly for the love she showed, because people who knew her, quite literally saw Jesus in her.
!!
