Monday, January 5, 2004
It was one of those primitive science experiments that a lot of boys try. OK, it's a sunny winter day. You lay out a board out on the ground - this is what I did anyway. Now you can leave it there all day with the sun beating down on it. It won't even get warm. Now comes the exciting part of the experiment. You take a piece of glass and you focus the sun's rays on one spot on that board. Same sun, same board - very different result. Eventually, that board starts to get hot - and you've got smoke - maybe even fire going there. Amazing, huh?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Singular Love."
It really makes a difference when you focus the warmth of the sun on one spot. It really makes a difference when you focus the warmth of your love on one person. Especially if that person is the life partner you have or one of the children God has entrusted to you. The question for today isn't whether you love your family - I'm sure you do. The question is this: does each member of your family feel loved by you? Now, that may depend on how much focused love they get from you.
As always, Jesus is a wonderful example for us in how we need to treat people. In our word for today from the Word of God, Luke 8:43, we have an example like that. "As Jesus was on His way, the crowds almost crushed Him." Lots of people who need Him, lots of demands for His attention - sound familiar at all? Sound like you right now? Well it goes on to say, "A woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind Him and touched the edge of His cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped.
"'Who touched Me,' Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, 'Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.'" Again, maybe a feeling you can relate to. "But Jesus said, 'Someone touched Me; I know that power has gone out from Me.' Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at His feet. Then He said, 'Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.'"
I love this story. It is so indicative of our Lord's heart. In the midst of great pressures and many needs, He is able to focus His love and attention on just one person. He's showing us how we ought to live. And right now, I'm thinking especially about how we live at home. For your spouse, for your son or daughter, to feel loved by you, they need your exclusive attention on a regular basis. A general "I love all of you, family" is about as powerful as the unfocused sun on that board. It's when you focus your love on one person that the fire of love is kindled in their heart.
To make this practical, let me suggest a commitment to consider - "I will give each member of my family all of me at least once a day." Some days it might be for two minutes and others for two hours. But you consciously go to each one sometime during the day and you give them your total, undivided, undistracted love and attention. It's not the frantic, occasional bursts of love that make people feel loved - it's that regular, consistent, focused attention, making the person you're with feel like they are the only person on earth right now.
The people you love may have had you around them quite a bit, but not really with them - listening, working together, sharing feelings, laughing, hugging, encouraging. Why not commit yourself to consciously follow your Master's loving example - to warm the lives of those you love the most by, each day, aiming all your love just at them.