Fireproofing our Love for God

There is a particular storyline from the film Fireproof that came to my mind today.  The main character, Caleb, is a firefighter who, due to the constant weariness of life, has become a hard working, though critical and unloving man.  Because of this, Caleb finds his marriage falling apart, even coming close to a divorce. It is then, when he is nearing the end of his wits, that his father challenges him to a daily devotional which is meant to encourage him to re-engage his wife over the course of forty days.

Over time, Caleb devotes himself to the Lord through prayer and Bible study.  As he grows in his devotion to the Lord, he begins to love his wife in a way that he never had.  The culmination of this is the apex of the movie.  For years, Caleb had been selfishly saving and hoarding money for his dream boat.  All the while, Caleb's wife's mother has been deathly sick and in desperate need of medical supplies.  So, in an act of pure love, Caleb quietly uses the money that he had been saving for years to pay for his mother-in-law's medical supplies. His love for the Lord expresses itself through his love for his wife and his mother-in-law.  This is one of the main points of the whole movie.

John the Elder, the disciple whom Jesus loved, has more to say about love than perhaps any of the other New Testament writers.  And while most remember that God loves us through Christ Jesus His Son, many neglect how we love God.  John answers that important and necessary question with this: "No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us (1 John 4:12)."  And again, "Dear Friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God (1 John 4:7)."

In truth, John is indicating that loving others is how we exhibit our love for God.  In other words, we love God by loving those whom He loves.  This should not be overlooked or neglected ever.  Although worship, praise, and thankfulness are the essentials of loving God, loving others is also a vital and necessary component of that mixture.

This plays itself out in very practical ways.  For as we love others with humility and sacrifice, we are loving and serving God in the very manner that He has asked from us, which means that we will love others as He has loved us.  To be sure, this is not an altogether natural thing unless we pursue the Lord, because only by His empowering will we be able to love others in the way that He asks us to.  In the end, loving others is such a huge part of the Christian life that if we do not love others we are failing to love Him!  Let us then press on to love truly as He has loved us!